World's richest lose $35bn after markets hit by US turmoil

Global stock indexes tumbled as political turmoil enveloped the White House

Bill Gates, the world’s richest person with $86.8bn, lost $1bn as shares of Microsoft Corp., his largest holding, tumbled 2.8 per cent, the most in almost a year (Reuters)

The world’s richest people lost $35bn Wednesday when global equity markets were rocked by political turmoil in the US, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bill Gates, the world’s richest person with $86.8bn, lost $1bn as shares of Microsoft, his largest holding, tumbled 2.8 per cent, the most in almost a year. Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, who came within $4bn of taking the top spot from Gates earlier this week, dropped to No.3 after losing $1.7bn as shares of the online retailer slid 2.2 per cent. Spanish retailing tycoon Amancio Ortega lost $355m to end the day in the second position with $83.2bn.

Global stock indexes tumbled as political turmoil enveloped the White House, with President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia and his firing of FBI Director James Comey under scrutiny. US stocks posted their steepest declines since September, led by the Nasdaq Composite’s 2.6 per cent slide. The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 1.2 per cent, and bank stocks were the worst performers.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was hardest hit in the tumult, dropping $2bn when the social media giant dropped 3.3 per cent. Zuckerberg is the fifth-richest person on the planet with $62.3bn, according to the index. Mr Trump, the first billionaire to serve as US president, has a net worth of $3bn and does not have a spot on the Bloomberg index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. They have a combined net worth of $4.9 trillion, up $455bn in 2017.

Bloomberg