Tech billionaires lose $44 billion; Amazon’s Bezos, Tesla’s Musk see sharpest decline

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk lost $9 billion and $8.5 billion of their net worths, respectively.

The world’s richest tech billionaires lost a significant chunk of their combined net worth after US shares tanked on September 3.

The 10 billionaires saw their combined net worth drop $44 billion, with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk losing $9 billion and $8.5 billion, respectively, according to a Bloomberg report.

Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, too, saw a decline of $3.2 billion in her fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Even with the losses, Bezos’ net worth has risen $83 billion in 2020 while Musk is richer by nearly $69 billion, the report said.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s second-richest tech billionaire, saw a decline of $2.9 billion in his net worth.

According to the report, former Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer’s wealth shrunk by $4.8 billion and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg lost $4.2 billion

Both Musk and Zuckerberg recently became centibillionaires amid the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Goggle co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin lost $3.6 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively, the report added.

NASDAQ’s biggest drags on September 3 came from heavyweights Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla and Nvidia, Reuters reported. The index closed around 5 percent lower than the previous session.

Tesla’s shares plunged 9 percent, declining for the third consecutive session, the report added.