World's Wealthiest, Including Jeff Bezos, Hit Hard by Monday's Market Plunge

Monday saw one of the biggest sell-off in stock markets worldwide after escalating tensions between the US and China spooked investors, resulting in the world’s richest 500 people losing over $117 billion in one single day, according to a report by Bloomberg. The list included the name of India’s Mukesh Ambani, who reportedly lost $2.4 billion (around Rs 17,000 crore) on Monday.

According to the report, 21 members of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index lost $1 billion or more each in Monday’s stock market mayhem, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos being the most hit as his net worth was down $3.4 billion after shares of the online retailer tumbled on stock exchanges.

The other major losers included LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault of France, whose net worth fell by $3.2 billion. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft’s Bill Gates also lost $2.8 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively.

However, the report noted that even after Monday’s losses, the 500 individuals on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index control almost $5.4 trillion, an 11% increase from 1 January.

On Monday, the Dow closed down 767 points, or 2.9%, logging its worst day of the year, after the Chinese government devalued the yuan to fall below its 7-to-1 ratio with the US dollar for the first time in a decade in order to soften the tariff blow by the US. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump had announced that he would continue to impose tariffs on Chinese imports.

Asian markets also took a beating, with India’s benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closing the session down over 1.1%. Shares of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd fell 3.5% on BSE on Monday.