The “Wall Street” panic hits fortunes… the technology rich are the...

With the sharp declines that hit stocks during the past week, many billionaires’ fortunes around the world have been affected.

The founders of Google, Oracle, Amazon and Tesla lost billions this week, leading to changes in the list of the world’s richest people.

Stocks fell broadly this week, as a series of disappointing announcements by companies came as investors feared a rate hike due to inflation.

For example, Netflix’s stock price fell more than 20% on Friday, as expectations of subscription growth disappointed analysts, and founder and CEO Reed Hastings’ fortune fell by nearly $1 billion to $4.1 billion.

A day earlier, Peloton stock collapsed more than 20%, after CNBC reported that the home exercise equipment company plans to suspend production to better align with consumer demand.

According to Forbes, co-founder and CEO, John Foley, briefly became a billionaire at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, his net worth has since fallen to nearly $480 million from $1.5 billion in April.

Peloton rival Beachbody has fallen nearly 15% this week, slashing founder and CEO Karl Daeckler’s $1.7 billion fortune he made last June when his company went public via a special purpose buyout, and his net worth is now Less than $240 million only.

And the name of Moderna CEO, Stephen Bancel, appeared among the biggest losers this week, as his net worth fell by 22% to $ 5.2 billion, as Moderna’s stock fell for 6 consecutive days, in light of increasing research indicating that the booster dose of the Covid-vaccine – 19 of the company is less effective against the omicron mutant.

Technology stocks in general have been hit hard by rate increases, and each of the three major stock indexes is down more than 4% this week, but the Nasdaq’s 7% drop has been the most severe.

Snapchat co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy have been particularly hard hit, as their fortunes plummeted more than 10% this week, or nearly $1 billion each.

In fact, all but one of the tech billionaires in the top 10 have their fortunes slumped by at least $3 billion, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

The fortunes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have fallen by more than $19 billion, which led to changes in the top three ranks of the list of the world’s richest people. Bernard Arnault’s LVMH luxury goods group is up slightly this week, adding $4.5 billion to his fortune and pushing him to overtake Bezos to the ever-volatile second place.

Net wealth has changed from market closing date Friday 14 January to Friday 21 January.

1st place: Elon Musk

Net worth: $244.2 billion, down $23.9 billion

2nd place: Bernard Arnault

Net worth: $190.7 billion, up $4.5 billion

Third place: Jeff Bezos

Net worth: $168.5 billion, down from $19.5 billion

Fourth place: Bill Gates

Net worth: $131.3 billion, down from $3.2 billion

5th place: Larry Ellison

Net worth: $112.6 billion, down $7.5 billion

6th place: Larry Page

Net worth: $111.9 billion, down $7.5 billion

7th place: Warren Buffett

Net worth: $110.5 billion, down $6.4 billion

8th place: Sergey Brin

Net worth: $107.9 billion, down $7.2 billion

9th place: Mark Zuckerberg

Net worth: $107.5 billion, down $10 billion

10th place: Steve Ballmer

Net worth: $94.7 billion, down $3.8 billion

The list of losers also included billionaires outside the list of the ten richest people in the world, and they are:

Stephen Bansel

Net worth: $5.2 billion, down $1.4 billion

Evan Spiegel

Net worth: $6.5 billion, down $970 million

Bobby Murphy

Net worth: $6.8 billion, down $1.1 billion

Red Hastings

Net worth: $4.1 billion, down $1 billion

John Foley

Net worth: $479 million, down $65 million

Karl Daeckler

Net worth: $237 million, down $41 million