As the corona virus (COVID-19 Virus) is taking a hit all over the world, people are curbing their travel plans immediately. A number of flight tickets have been cancelled as more and more precautions are being taken into consideration to avoid this deadly epidemic. Naturally, 10 of the world’s richest individuals lost a combined amount of $18.8 billion last week!
Who are these Billionaires?
These billionaires lost their net worth drastically as their business is fueled by customers worldwide. The first among the lot is none other than Mark Zuckerberg whose Facebook advertising revenue dropped to $67 billion from 4.1 billion. Since the revenue was generated from sectors under ‘high exposure’ from the corona virus, at least 30 to 45% off the income was substantially reduced since Facebook caters to the entertainment, travel, retail and consumer packaging markets.
Similarly, Mukesh Ambani was hailed as the second biggest loser this season as his net worth swooped down to $47.8 billion from $3.2 billion. He is the richest man in India and heavily runs the oil and gas giant in the country, which is currently exposed to a cut back due to the virus. There is an oversupply of oil but no market to cater to as travel plans are being cancelled on and on by a new customer everyday.
Contrary to this scenario, the billionaires from the US saw their lives taking a hit in the past week. COVID-19 has led to more than 1 lakh confirmed cases in 90 countries so far and 3,500 deaths worldwide. Sergey Brin and Larry Page – the co founders of Alphabet – expect a decline of Google ads revenue as the travel niche is the fourth largest segment of Google which will reduce immensely as long as this epidemic goes on.
The owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corp, Robert Goldstein keeps an optimistic approach through it all as he believes this too shall pass soon. However, it is noteworthy to see that the world famous Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson too suffered a loss in the past week as the Las Vegas Sands Corp was shut for a at least 15 days in Macau due to the corona virus outbreak. 60% of the company’s revenue is generated from its Macau venture alone.
The Top 10 Billionaires Affected by Corona Virus
The entire list of all Top Billionaires losing their net worth due to the corona virus outbreak are as follows:
- Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, U.S.
-$4.1 billion - Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries, India
-$3.2 billion - Larry Ellison, Oracle, U.S.
-$2.2 billion - Larry Page, Alphabet, U.S.
-$1.7 billion - Sergey Brin, Alphabet, U.S.
-$1.6 billion - Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Sands Corp., U.S.
-$1.5 billion - Georg Schaeffler, Schaeffler Group, Germany
-$1.3 billion - Harold Hamm & family, Continental Resources, U.S.
-$1.2 billion - Ernie Garcia II, Carvana, U.S.
-$1 billion - Thomas Peterffy, Interactive Brokers, U.S.
-$1 billion
Source: Forbes’ Last Week’s Biggest
