Amid Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which he announced on April 2 during his Liberation Day speech, global markets have been rattled and billionaires around the world have lost billions of dollars in wealth. However, one man has weathered the storm – Warren Buffett. The Oracle of Omaha has added $11.5 billion to his net worth this year, despite a $14.5 billion dip from his recent peak, bringing his fortune to $153.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
This makes him the fourth-richest person in the world and the only billionaire in the top 10 to have added to their wealth this year. Shares of Buffett’s conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., have dropped 8.8% since April 2, yet that’s still better than the 10.7% drop in the S&P 500 over the same period.
The 94-year-old investor offloaded $134 billion worth of stocks and shifted to a record $334 billion cash pile reserve, mostly in short-term US Treasury bills. This strategic shift helped shield Berkshire Hathaway from the worst of the recent market crash.
Not just this, Buffett also reduced Berkshire’s Apple stake by two-thirds just before the stock dropped 28%, largely due to its exposure to China amid Trump’s new tariffs. He also trimmed holdings in Bank of America and Citigroup, both of which have declined more than 20% so far this year.
Other billionaires who have added to their wealth
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the heiress to the L’Oréal fortune, is one of the few others to have recorded gains. She is the only other person in the top 20 who gained billions amid the market bloodbath and is ranked at number 19 on Bloomberg’s ranking. She added $1.8 billion to her wealth.
Zhang Yiming, the co-founder of TikTok’s parent company – ByteDance – is the biggest gainer on Bloomberg’s list. The 42-year-old saw his wealth rising by $13.6 billion, placing him at number 23 on the list. However, Trump faces pressure from the Trump administration. The US has warned the company to either find a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok or face a ban in America after a 2024 order that mandates its separation from its parent company ByteDance.
The US President said that China was pretty close to finalising the deal but pulled back in response to sweeping tariffs. Washington has slapped an additional 34% tariff on all Chinese imports to the US.
Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault hit hard
While Buffet, Meyers and Yiming were able to add to their wealth despite the market crash, not all tech titans fared so well.
Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, saw his net worth fall below $300 billion for the first time since November due to Tesla’s stock losses. He lost $4.4 billion in a single day, and a staggering $134.7 billion year-to-date, largely due to Tesla’s stock plunging more than 50% since mid-December, Bloomberg reported.
The financial troubles for Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk come from his role at DOGE, which is aggressively cutting $1 trillion in federal government spending. Anti-Musk sentiment is growing, with protest stickers and vandalism at Tesla dealerships emerging across the country. One anti-Musk sticker pasted on a car read, “I bought this before Elon went crazy.”
Musk is the sixth biggest loser on Bloomberg’s list of the world’s 500 richest people on Monday. Overall, the index fell $271 billion – its third-worst day ever.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the owner of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, also saw their wealth in red. The Facebook CEO, who has a net worth of $183 billion, lost $24.5 billion as Meta’s stock plummeted. Jeff Bezos suffered a $42.6 billion loss as Amazon shares plunged. Bezos, who started the company from his garage, has a net worth of $196 billion. His company’s stocks peaked in February and are now down by more than 25%.
Bernard Arnault, who is the fifth richest person in the world, lost $26.2 billion in wealth. The 76-year-old who oversees 76 luxury and cosmetic brands has a net worth of $150 billion.
The 500 richest people in the world have lost more than $500 billion in collective wealth in two trading sessions after Trump announced tariffs on all countries of the world, except for Russia.