With the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of millions of jobs worldwide is occurring… As the wealth of billionaires grows by leaps and bounds. Here is why and the data about it.
The Coronavirus pandemic has affected companies in (almost) every industry and done unimaginable damage to the world economy.
While millions and millions of people are earning significantly less than in 2019, and just as many have lost their jobs or find themselves in the Supplementary Pension Fund, it seems, however, that American and European billionaires are not affected by the crisis but, on the contrary, have somehow benefited from it.
As you can probably imagine, we are talking about Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and many others who have seen their wealth skyrocket particularly during the past year.
Numerous market research studies speak for themselves: despite the fact that the unemployment rate has risen to 7.7 percent in Europe (with, Italy leading the way) and reached 9.4 percent in the U.S., the wealth of the big players has grown by about 29 percent.
But what is the reason for these differences and by how many billions has the wealth of the world’s richest grown?
Why during the pandemic did billionaires see a sharp rise in their wealth?
According to the market research concerning the wealth of billionaires, such as our investigation of the Top Billionaires in the World in 2020, Forbes 400 of Forbes and U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surges Past $1 Trillion Since Beginning of Pandemic of the Institute for Policy Studies, it appears that the world’s richest Americans and Europeans have collected 845 billion in combined assets, thus leading to strong growth in its assets.
For example, in 2020 Amazon ‘s stock saw an increase of more than 60 percent, so much so that CEO Jeff Bezos saw his net worth increase by more than $55 billion from February to September 2020. With a total net worth of about $200 billion, Jeff Bezos of confirmed as the richest man in the world.
The luxury goods company LVMH, owned by Bernard Arnault, ranks first in Europe and third globally. The Arnault family’s wealth is, as of December 2020, $146 billion.
As you can see from our report, under How has wealth changed over the years? , it is interesting to discover how from 2018 to 2019 Arnault’s wealth grew by $4 billion, while from 2019 to the unfinished 2020 it grew by as much as $70 billion.
What is its secret?
It seems that in the past year, luxury companies have adopted some particularly winning strategies. Patrizia Arienti, Deloitte EMEA Fashion & Luxury Leader, says the companies’ expansive strategies have focused on entering new market segments, production diversification and acquisitions aimed at portfolio differentiation.
Another major player who grew in 2020 during the pandemic was Elon Musk, whose average capitalization over the past 6 months stood at $250 billion.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s fortune has increased by about $117 billion in the past year, enough to make him the third richest person on the planet, preceded only by Bezos and Arnault.
During 2020, moreover, one particular sector grew tremendously compared to others. Let’s see which one.
Read also: The numbers of racism in Italy in 2020: what we found out
What is the richest sector in 2020?
Despite the pandemic (indeed, probably because of the pandemic) one sector in particular has experienced colossal growth in the past year. We are talking about the Tech sector, the biggest exponent of which is Elon Musk, which has experienced a growth of almost 600 percent from 2019 to 2020.
This is followed by E-commerce (about 60 percent), fashion (55 percent), oil (about 54 percent), cosmetics (47 percent) and social media (45 percent).
Although the technology sector grew tremendously during the 2020s, the richest sector in the world is software, as you can see in the chart below:
Do you want to know who, instead, are the richest people in the world in order of wealth? Turn to the following paragraph.
Read also: Statistical sample used in market research: here’s why it is now obsolete
Top 15 richest people in the world as of 2020
Here are, below, the 15 richest billionaires in the world as of December 2020:
- Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
- Bernard Arnault (Louis Vuitton)
- Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX)
- Bill Gates (Microsoft)
- Mark Zuckeberg (Facebook)
- Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway)
- Larry Ellison (Oracle)
- Larry Page (Google)
- Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries)
- Sergey Brin (Google)
- Amancio Ortega (Zara)
- Steve Ballmer (former Microsoft CEO)
- Francoise Bettencourt Meyers (L’Oreal)
- Alice Walton (Wallmart)
- Jim Walton (Wallmart)
We will see if, in 2021, Elon Musk’s foresight will carry him to the top of the…
Did you like this article? Then share it on social media and check out the full report: Top Billionaires in the World: who are the richest and who got richest in 2020 .
You will find all the details regarding the wealth (and its growth over the years) of the world’s most powerful billionaires.
