Donald Trump has associations with some of the wealthiest people on the planet, including Elon Musk, but they may feel somewhat disgruntled now, it is understood
Some of the richest people on the planet – including Elon Musk – have seen their wealth tumble by more than £160 billion thanks to market turmoil from Donald Trump’s trade war.
The President was sworn in for a second term in the White House on January 20 with the stock market riding high and confidence in the US booming. This buoyant mood was underlined by the presence of the world’s biggest technology tycoons – Tesla’s Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and the chief of Facebook owner Meta Mark Zuckerberg – at the inauguration in Washington DC.
But they – and Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire behind the LVMH empire that includes Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany – might feel somewhat disgruntled now as their wealth has fallen. Mr Musk, nicknamed “First Buddy” for his close relationship with Mr Trump, has suffered losses of £115billion since inauguration day.
While the stock markets rallied in the weeks after Mr Trump’s election victory in November and into the early part of this year, the situation now looks very different, with fears of recession mounting and shares tumbling.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, yesterday said: “The Trump bump has gone.” Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities, said the mood has switched “from exuberance about growth to absolute despair.”
The S&P 500 – a key stock market benchmark in the US – has fallen 9 per cent since last month’s peak and 6 per cent since the inauguration in January. The slump means the group of five men are now £162billion poorer than they were as they took their seats at the inauguration, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mr Musk has been hardest hit, with Tesla now worth half what it was at its peak less than three months ago. But Mr Trump has some support to his righthand man by pledging online to buy a new Tesla car “as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American”.
The First Buddy remains the world’s richest person with a wealth of £233 billion despite the recent slump. Mr Bezos is worth £167 billion after losing £22 billion under Mr Trump while Mr Zuckerberg has seen his fortune fall £4 billion to £164 billion.