According to the newly-released Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, as of December 31, 2018, a total of 451 billion U.S. dollars evaporated from the fortunes of the top 500 billionaires in 2018, a stark contrast with the one-trillion-U.S.-dollar increase of 2017.
Losers
Mark Zuckerberg suffered the biggest loss as he lurched from one crisis to another. The stock price of Facebook nosedived in the wake of personal data breach. His net worth dropped by 20 billion to 52 billion U.S. dollars.
Mark Zuckerberg. /VCG Photo
China's Wang Jianlin, Jack Ma and Pony Ma saw their wealth drop by 294 billion U.S. dollars collectively.
Jack Ma./VCG Photo
50 billionaires fell off the index completely, including 11 from the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong SAR, nine from the U.S. and four from Russia.
Winners
The downbeat financial market in 2018 has not stopped some of the super wealthy from getting even wealthier.
As of December 31, 2018, there are 31 new additions to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.
"It was a good year for wealth creation," said Michael Zeuner, managing partner of WE Family Offices. "It was a tough year in financial markets, but for people who are creating wealth through companies, the economy itself is very strong."
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and the richest man in the world, was 2018's biggest winner for the second consecutive year. His fortune grew about 25 billion to 125 billion U.S dollars, comfortably sitting at the top of the league and confirming his status as the richest man of all time.
Jeff Bezos. /VCG Photo
Lei Jun, founder of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp, trailed only Bezos among the biggest winners of 2018, adding 8.6 billion U.S. dollars to his fortune.
Lei Jun. /VCG Photo
Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are the top three richest people in the world, with fortunes of 124.9, 90.4 and 83.8 billion U.S. dollars respectively.