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- Ten of the world’s tech billionaires lost a combined $575 billion in 2022 as stocks tumbled.
- Inflation, a strong US dollar, and a tough digital-ad market took a toll on tech companies.
- Here are the tech billionaires who lost the most money, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
Net-worth figures are as of December 30.
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The wealth of Ballmer, who was the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, is mainly tied up in shares of the tech behemoth. After this year’s loss, he’s worth $86.2 billion.
In 2022, the company’s growth slowed as it faced less demand for personal computers and a stronger US dollar. Sales of its Windows operating system fell, and its stock followed, falling by 28% over the year. Microsoft told investors to expect weak sales of personal computers into the new year.
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Most of Zeng’s wealth comes from his 23% stake in Contemporary Amperex Technology, the largest supplier of electric-vehicle batteries. His net worth rounding out the year is $32.5 billion.
In April, the company reported its sharpest decline in quarterly earnings, with net income falling by 24%. Earlier in the year, prices for nickel, a major component of electric-car batteries, and other raw materials were unstable.
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With a net worth of $110 billion, Gates has investments spread across companies, real estate, and land, but his shares of Microsoft are his most valuable single holding.
Microsoft’s stock lost close to 30% of its value this year, as sales of Windows fell and the company predicted slow growth for its cloud revenue.
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Like that of her ex-husband Jeff Bezos, Scott’s net worth suffered from Amazon’s stock drop this year. Most of Scott’s wealth comes from a 3% stake in Amazon, whose shares tumbled by 50% this year. She’s now worth $19 billion.
She said in a blog post in November that she’d given nearly $2 billion this year to 343 organizations supporting underserved communities.
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Brin and his cofounder Larry Page lost a collective $89 billion this year as Alphabet and other tech companies dealt with a difficult year for digital advertising. Brin’s net worth sits at $79.5 billion.
Like Page, Brin gets most of his wealth from his stake in Alphabet, Google’s parent company. As of the end of last year, Page and Brin together owned 85.9% of Alphabet’s Class B shares, meaning they held a little over 50% of the company’s voting power.
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Both Brin’s and Page’s net worth fell this year as Alphabet struggled with digital advertising. Most of Page’s wealth — he’s now worth $83.1 billion — comes from his 6% stake in Alphabet.
Alphabet slowed its hiring this year and reportedly cut back on employee travel and offsite perks.
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At the end of last year Zuckerberg was the sixth-richest person in the world, but he ends 2022 at No. 25 on the list, with $45.6 billion.
Revenue at Meta, formerly Facebook, fell this year as it faced a potential economic recession and a hard year for digital advertising.
Meta laid off 11,000 employees this fall to cut expenses as it works on building the metaverse.
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Most of Zhao’s $12.6 billion net worth comes from his controlling stake in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Since the collapse of FTX, which sought help from Binance before it filed for bankruptcy, the crypto market has faced scrutiny from investors worried about their assets.
This month, Binance customers withdrew billions from the crypto platform. Because of the withdrawals and fluctuations in crypto prices, Binance held about $54.7 billion worth of digital assets in mid-December, while over a month earlier it held $69.5 billion worth of assets.
The Department of Justice is said to be investigating the firm over allegations of money laundering.
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Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s CEO last year, is still the company’s largest shareholder. But tech stocks fell this year, and the value of Amazon’s shares fell by 50%. Bezos is now worth $107 billion.
The company has dealt with high inflation and slow growth in sales. Amazon was among several tech companies that laid off staff this year, cutting about 10,000 jobs, the most in its history.
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Musk recently lost his title as the richest person in the world to Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH. Now the second-richest person on Earth, Musk has a fortune of $138 billion.
He lost more money than any other billionaire this year.
A lot of Musk’s wealth is tied up in shares of Tesla. The electric-car maker’s stock plummeted by almost 70% this year, in part because investors grew concerned by Musk’s takeover of Twitter.
Tesla’s stock was also a victim of weakening demand for electric vehicles, specifically in China, one of Tesla’s largest markets.
