The world’s billionaires experienced a major shift in their net worth on Friday, with a collective decline of USD 134 billion. Among those significantly impacted was Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose net worth dropped by a staggering USD 15.2 billion, or Rs 127320 crore, in a single day following a steep fall in Amazon’s stock price.
This marked Amazon’s worst trading day in over two years, with its shares plummeting by 8.8% amidst a broader market selloff. The decline pushed Bezos’ net worth down to USD 191.5 billion (around Rs 1604140 crore), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
This marked Bezos’ third-worst wealth wipeout, with the largest occurring on April 4, 2019, when his wealth tumbled by USD 36 billion due to his divorce settlement. Another significant drop occurred in April 2022 when Amazon shares plunged by 14%.
Despite this significant setback, Bezos still holds the title of the world’s second richest person, trailing only Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Bezos has been actively offloading Amazon shares this year, selling stock worth approximately USD 8.5 billion over nine trading days in February. Last month, as Amazon reached a new record high, he revealed plans to sell an additional 25 million shares, amounting to USD 5 billion. According to Bloomberg’s calculations, these additional sales would bring his total share sales for the year to roughly USD 13.5 billion. Even after these sales, he would still retain almost 912 million shares, representing about 8.8% of Amazon.
