The wealth of the world’s ten richest people soared by $64 billion in one day after Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, according to a major wealth index.
The rise, equivalent to £49.5bn, marks the largest combined rise in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which began in 2012 and is dominated by US tech billionaires.
Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, saw the biggest increase in his wealth, with $26.5 billion added to his fortune, which now stands at $290 billion.
The prominent Trump ally, who has campaigned alongside the Republican in recent weeks, benefited from a rise in the share price of Tesla, the electric car maker of which he is CEO and owns a 13 percent stake. .
The gains for the richest came largely due to the rise in US stocks on Wednesday, as investors anticipate that the new administration will have low taxes and limited regulations on fiscal policy.
Prominent Trump ally Elon Musk, who has campaigned alongside the Republican in recent weeks, benefited from a rise in Tesla’s share price.
Trump yesterday received congratulations from tech moguls, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook founder and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and Apple boss Tim Cook.
Bezos, the second richest person in the world, added $7 billion to his fortune, taking it to $228 billion.
Meanwhile, the third richest person, Zuckerberg, took an $81 billion hit yesterday, although his wealth remains a staggering $202 billion.
The only other member of the top 10 to suffer losses was French luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault, whose fortune fell by almost $3 billion.
Almost all of those who saw their wealth soar were tech bosses, with the exception of world-renowned investor Warren Buffet, who added $7.5 billion to his fortune, taking it to almost $150 billion.
Larry Ellison, a former Republican supporter and president of the software company Oracle, increased his wealth by almost $10 billion to $193 billion.
According to estimates, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer also made significant windfalls.
Meanwhile, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin each increased their wealth by more than $5 billion.
Jeff Bezos, the second richest person in the world, added $7 billion to his fortune, taking it to $228 billion.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates saw his wealth increase by almost $2 billion, according to estimates
This despite Trump attacking Google during the election campaign, claiming that the search engine showed negative articles about him but not his opponent Kamala Harris.
In September, he took to social media and threatened to order the Department of Justice to launch criminal proceedings against the tech giant in response.
Neil Wilson, chief analyst at broker Finalto, told The Guardian that US stocks rose on Wednesday due to what he called a “pure Maga trade”, with investors buying shares on the clear likelihood of Trump winning.
“It was the prospect of lower taxes, deregulation in a broader range of sectors, such as banks and energy and technology, plus a huge outpouring of reflexive relief that the election result was clean and indisputable “, said.
“The outcome of the red wave was what every American capitalist would have favored and was by no means a certainty before the election, so the reaction was decisive.”
It wasn’t just billionaires who cashed in yesterday, as one cryptocurrency enthusiast claimed the industry raked in a whopping $100 billion in just 24 hours as the odds began to tilt in Trump’s favor during the US election.
In an interview with MailOnline, Bitcoin investor Dan Held said he believes cryptocurrencies are rising because Trump and Musk signaled their plans to reform government agencies.
