Tech tycoons scoop £180bn Covid bonanza
THE billionaires behind America’s tech giants have increased their fortunes by £180bn this year, astonishing figures show.
Despite coronavirus hammering traditional parts of the economy, the founders and bosses of Facebook, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Tesla and Twitter have grown their combined wealth from around £392bn to £572bn.
Tech stocks have rocketed in value this year – with just a few companies driving a huge rally on US markets.
With many venturing out less often, they have shopped online, streamed films and worked from home.
On Thursday night Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook posted a combined £177bn in revenues and £29bn in profits for July to September.
Analysts said the pandemic had accelerated the shift towards digital spending, cementing the US giants’ dominance.
Off the back of the strong sales, Amazon’s share price has rocketed by more than 60pc so far this year – lifting the fortune of founder Jeff Bezos f rom £88.8bn to £146bn.
The 56-year- old is the world’s richest man, with an 11.2pc share of Amazon. His ex-wife Mackenzie Scott ( pictured), who also owns shares in the company, has seen her f ortune j ump f rom £28.7bn to £47bn.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth has increased from £ 6 0 . 6 bn to £81.9bn as the social media giant’s shares have surged 28pc.
And Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have seen their combined worth r i se f r om £127.3bn to £146.3bn as parent company Alphabet’s shares surged by 21pc. Netflix founder Reed Hastings has gone from being worth £3.3bn to £4.7bn, while Microsoft founder Bill Gates has seen his fortune edge up from £87.3bn to £91.9bn. The biggest j ump in net worth has been that of Elon Musk, boss of electric car maker Tesla, who has gone f r om £21.3bn to £79.6bn as shares rose by more than 350pc this year. Wall Street was gripped by turbulence this week, with soaring coronavirus cases and fading hopes for an economic stimulus package prompting a selloff. Without Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet, the S&P 500 would be down about 4pc in 2020, compared with the index’s 2pc year-to-date rise, according to analysts.