Market Watch: Tech's billionaires just lost a fortune

Posted at 3:34 AM, Nov 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-21 05:34:26-05

Stocks are tanking, and the tech world's richest executives are losing billions.

Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are getting hammered as investors sell their shares and retreat into safer territory.

The founders, CEOs and top investors in those companies are losing money quickly.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has lost roughly $42 billion since his net worth and peaked in early September at $168 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Amazon's stock (AMZN) has dropped more than 25% since then and is currently trading around $1,500 a share, leaving Bezos with a $126 billion nest egg.

It's not all bad news for him: Bezos is still the world's richest person.

On Tuesday, Bezos and wife MacKenzie donated $100 million to two non profits that aim to end homelessness in America. It's part of the pair's pledge to donate $2 billion to fund existing nonprofits that help homeless families and to create a network of preschools in low-income communities.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's wealth is also taking a beating. He's lost roughly $34 billionfrom his peak worth in late July and is now worth $52 billion. He ranks as the seventh richest person in the world.

Facebook has been rocked this year with a cascading series of problems, including a proliferation of hate speech on its platform, Russian political interference and the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal.

Facebook's (FB) stock has lost 40% of its value since July and is currently trading around $130 a share. The company continues to struggle with executive departures and damaging exposés.

Like Bezos, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged 99% of their wealth to their organization for philanthropic needs. They also recently donated $214 million to another nonprofit.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who still owns 1% of the tech company, has lost $5 billion from his high in early October. He's still worth roughly $95 billion and ranks as the second richest person the world, according to Bloomberg.

Famed investor Warren Buffett — who counts as the largest shareholder of his company Berkshire Hathaway — is still the world's third richest person. He's only lost about $4 billion since his wealth hit a peak of $93.4 billion in early February. Berkshire Hathaway is the largest holder of Apple stock, which has declined by 23% from its all time high. Apple has been hurt by reports that it cut orders for its iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

Google execs Larry Page and Sergey Brin have lost a combined $20 billion from their peak wealth in July. Its stock (GOOG) has shed 20% of its value since July, and on Monday it closed in a bear market for the first time since 2011.