Even as millions in the US lost their jobs, already rich tech billionaires added a combined $2.1 trillion to their personal fortunes as stocks of tech companies soared while others tanked. 2022, on the other hand, has sucked the steam out of the tech stocks, which have lost their pandemic momentum.
Biggest tech billionaire losers
Former CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, lost nearly $20 billion of his personal fortune which was tied largely to Microsoft stock and the software company saw a dip in its operating system sales in 2022. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who also has investments in stocks of other companies, lost $28.6 billion on account of Microsoft’s price drop of nearly 28 percent.
Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s largest supplier of batteries for electric vehicles ended 2022 with a personal fortune of $32.5 billion, having lost over $20.7 billion in the year.
Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who own nearly 86 percent of parent company Alphabet’s Class B shares, lost $89 billion together as digital advertising also took a nosedive after the US Federal Bank hiked interest rates in 2022.
Mark Zuckerberg, who set a new course for his company by rebranding it as Meta in 2021 and was looking to build a new version of the internet called the metaverse, saw his personal wealth crumble by a whopping $79.9 billion and his exit from the top 10 of the world’s richest people as well.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhang’s drop in fortune was even greater than the cofounder of Binance lost $83.3 billion, and the prices of cryptocurrencies crashed and investors withdrew billions from the platform.
.