A report said that the richest billionaires in the United States are getting richer even as the coronavirus pushes millions of American workers to unemployment and a deep recession looming on the economy.
In first quarter of 2020, even as panic swept through the markets, 34 of the richest billionaires saw their fortunes increase significantly, according to the report of billionaires Bonanza 2020.
Meanwhile, the report indicated that eight billionaires have seen their wealth increase by more than a billion dollars.
However, Forbes data showed that the wealth of US billionaires dropped from $ 3.1 trillion to $ 2.9 trillion in 2020 as of March 18, yet, the new billionaire Bonanza report that looks at the wealth of billionaires from the beginning of January to April, shows that billionaires have much wealth this year.
Within 23 days between March 18 and April 10, the wealth of a billionaires in the US increased by $ 282 billion, or 9.5%, as 22 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits.
Billionaires witnessed an increase in their net worth in those weeks as stock markets rose sharply, rewarding those who have significant investments in the stock market.
Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, the richest man alive, has seen his fortune rise, according to Bonanza 2020 report, by $ 25 billion since the start of the year.
The report said that no one has benefited like Bezos, whose fortune rise was unprecedented in the history of modern markets.
Bezos has grown more than $ 25 billion since January 2020 and $ 12 billion since the start of the US pandemic breakout last February.
List of the biggest winners during coronavirus outbreak:
- Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, saw his fortune increase by $ 25 billion as of April 15, 2020.
- CEO of Tesla and Founder of SpaceX Elon Musk’s wealth surged by up $ 5 billion.
- MacKenzie Bezos, philanthropist, and former wife of Amazon CEO wealth rose by $ 8.6 billion
- CEO and Founder of Zoom Eric Yuan added $ 2.58 billion to his fortune.
- Owner of Los Angeles Clippers Steve Ballmer’s fortune increased by $ 2.2 billion
- John Albert Sobrato, real estate developer and founder of Cupertino saw his wealth increase by $ 2.07 billion
- Joshua Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management and American private equity investor wealth surged by $ 1.72 billion
- Rocco Commisso, founder and CEO of Mediacom Communications accumulated alone $ 1.09 billion during the pandemic period
The report also says that taxes paid by billionaires dropped by 79% between 1980 and 2018.
“As we emerge from the epidemic with trillions of additional national debt, it will be imperative to make significant tax increases. The rich must bear their fair share of these increases,” the report concluded.
