World’s 5 Richest People Lost $50-B in Broad Market Selloff

The five richest people in the world were worth nearly a combined $46 billion less due to a market sell-off spurred by dumping of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, mixed fourth-quarter results from Disney, and general economic uncertainty as the longest government shutdown in American history came to an end, Mary Whitfill Roeloffs reported for Forbes.

The net worth of Oracle’s Larry Ellison was down $12.5 billion. (Photo: Ilan Costica, Wikimedia Commons) 

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 2.5%; the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 650 points, or 1.35%; and the S&P 500 was down 1.6% at one point last week. 

As a result, the richest men in the world saw their net worths tumble, led by Tesla’s Elon Musk (down $17.1 billion) and Oracle’s Larry Ellison (down $12.5 billion), according to Forbes estimates.

The next seven richest people in the world on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List also each lost billions, with the top nine losing $58.6 billion altogether by 2 p.m. EST.

The Walt Disney Company, a component of both the Dow and the S&P 500, was among the biggest losers after missing revenue expectations—though it beat analyst estimates on earnings—and after warning of a potentially prolonged fight with YouTube TV over distribution of its cable channels.

Disney was down nearly 8% as of just after 2:30 p.m. EST, while Shopify, Tesla and Palantir Technologies were all down more than 6%.