Billionaires who supported Trump, including Musk and Zuckerberg, lost $209 billion
Between Donald Trump's election victory in November 2024 and his inauguration in January 2025, many billionaires were able to increase their fortunes thanks to their connections to the newly elected US president. However, as Bloomberg reports, the situation has changed, and five billionaires, including Musk and Zuckerberg, have lost a total of $209 billion.
After Trump's victory, many of his supporters, as well as stocks of various companies, saw record gains in value. Elon Musk's Tesla stock rose 98% in the first week after the election. Musk himself increased his fortune to a record $486 billion in December, but now one of Trump's main allies has suffered the biggest loss - $148 billion. The sharp changes were the result of Tesla's share price falling due to Musk's support not only for Trump but also for a far-right party in Germany and other controversial decisions made by the billionaire.
Mark Zuckerberg, who blocked Donald Trump on Facebook in 2021, also increased his fortune after his election victory in 2024. Meta shares rose 9% before the inauguration and another 20% in the first week. However, all the gains have now disappeared, and Mark Zuckerberg himself has lost $5 billion.
Jeff Bezos, who clashed with Donald Trump during his first term over his delivery service and The Washington Post, has welcomed the president-elect and donated $1 million to his inauguration in December. He was also one of the billionaires who dined with Trump. But that support hasn't helped Bezos so far, either - the Amazon founder has lost $29 billion after the company's shares fell 14%.
Sergey Brin, who co-founded Google and still owns a 6% stake, protested against Trump in 2017, but after his second victory in the presidential election, he had dinner with him at the Mar-a-Lago estate. However, this did not affect Google's poor financial results in the last quarter, due to which Brin lost $ 22 billion. In particular, the company did not receive any support from the government, which is still trying to split Google into two parts.
The latest billionaire and longtime friend of Donald Trump to suffer losses since the start of his second presidential term is French businessman Bernard Arnault. The CEO of LVMH, which owns brands such as Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Hennessy and others, lost $5 billion after the imposition of tariffs on European luxury goods of 10% to 20%.