Market Crash: Nine In Top 10 Billionaires See Red Over A Year But Warren Buffett Is An Outlier

In one of the sharpest wealth plunges seen this year, the world’s ten richest individuals collectively lost over $82 billion in a day as global markets nosedived following a shock policy move by the United States. Moreover, when seen on a year-to-date basis, their losses read at $353.78 billion. However, Warren Buffett has managed to buck the trend making him the only billionaire in the list to still be in the green during this period.

The sell-off was triggered after US President Donald Trump announced a fresh round of tariffs under what he called "Liberation Day", rattling investor confidence across continents.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the 500 wealthiest people in the world lost a total of $536 billion during this period. Between Thursday, April 3 and Friday, April 4, the top 10 richest individuals saw massive dents in their fortunes.  

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who saw the most significant decline and topped the list among the billionaires facing a sharp drop in their net worth, lost $19.9 billion. His total net worth dropped to $302 billion. His year-to-date (YTD) loss stands at $130 billion, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the second richest man, lost $7.59 billion, reducing his fortune to $193 billion, with a YTD loss of $45.2 billion. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t spared either, shedding $9.44 billion, with his net worth now at $179 billion.

French luxury mogul Bernard Arnault, who controls the LVMH empire, saw $5.23 billion wiped off his wealth, bringing it down to $158 billion, while Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates lost $6.45 billion, bringing his fortune to $155 billion.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison lost $10.1 billion, bringing his total down to $150 billion, while Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin saw their fortunes drop by $4.65 billion and $4.38 billion, respectively. Page’s net worth now stands at $134 billion, and Brin’s at $126 billion.

Also hit was former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, whose fortune fell by $4.36 billion, bringing down his net worth to $127 billion.

Warren Buffett, however, is holding strong. With $155 billion, the Oracle of Oklahoma has seen his fortune increase by $12.7 billion this year, even as markets burn. This makes Buffett the only billionaire among the top 10 to record a gain during a period marked with financial downturn.

On Thursday, Donald Trump announced new tariffs, setting a 10% baseline on most imports from key trading partners. Some goods will face even higher duties. He called it a patriotic move to bring back economic fairness, claiming, “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom … I think it’s going very well.”

However, investors didn’t share his confidence. The S&P 500 dropped 4.85% - one of its worst single-day losses since 2020 - closing at 5,395.92 level. The Nasdaq Composite plunged nearly 6%, and the Dow Jones fell by almost 4%.