The top five wealthiest men on the planet lost a whooping Ksh.40.5 trillion on Monday alone on the backdrop of inflation fears and rising rates.
Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao saw the biggest lost the most amount of wealth at Ksh.10 trillion prompted by crypto market losses. Tesla boss Elon Musk lost Ksh.8.5 trillion, while Amazon chief Jeff Bezos lost an amount of Ksh.7.6 trillion, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet lost Ksh.7.5 trillion and Ksh.6.6 trillion respectively.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, The 500 wealthiest people in the world have lost a combined Ksh.164 trillion in six months to June this year as global financial markets buckle under the weight of higher interest rates and inflation anxiety.
It is a stark contrast to last year, when soaring markets boosted the world’s population of High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) by about 8 percent, including 13 percent in North America, according to a Capgemini World Wealth report released on Tuesday.
The data shows that the ranks of the wealthy in the Asia-Pacific increased by only 4.2 percent, trailing Europe and falling further behind North America after dominating the growth of rich people for the past decade.
However, the data also suggests the COVID-19 pandemic and monetary response benefited the economically elite and where they predominantly reside.
Also, even among the world’s high-net-worth individuals, the very rich saw the most benefits.
People with investable assets of Ksh.3.5 billion or more saw their wealth expand 9.6 percent compared with 2020, the fastest pace among the cohorts studied by the report. Those with Ksh.117.1 million to Ksh.585.9 million defined as “millionaires next door’’ – had the slowest wealth growth at 7.8 percent.
The report also highlighted how women across all brackets are set to inherit 70 percent of global fortunes over the next two generations.
The massive wealth created from sky-high valuations of tech companies and start-ups also gave rise to more young and rich individuals, including those in the crypto space.
