New York –
Wednesday wasn’t just a good day for Donald Trump. The wealth of the world’s 10 richest people also soared by a record amount, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.
The biggest gainer was Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and one of Trump’s most outspoken and dedicated supporters, whose wealth jumped US$26.5 billion to $290 billion Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ wealth grew $7.1 billion a week after defending his decision to withhold the Washington Post’s endorsement of Vice-President Kamala Harris. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, another Trump supporter, saw his net worth rose $5.5 billion Wednesday.
Other gainers include former Microsoft executives Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, former Google executives Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. Although none of those billionaires endorsed a candidate this year, they have spoken in favour of Democratic candidates and causes in the past.
Collectively, the top 10 richest people gained US$64 billion.
Bloomberg notes it’s the “biggest daily increase” of wealth it’s seen since the index began in 2012. The market rallied Wednesday as the election concluded swiftly and with expectations that Trump will usher in a new era of deregulation and other pro-business laws and policies investors believe could benefit the stock market overall — especially billionaires who hold much of the world’s wealth.
“There is this huge perception of business friendly, tax-friendly regime coming into place, especially with them winning the Senate,” said Michael Block, chief operating officer at AgentSmyth.
Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group, Trump’s social media company, also cashed in with shares skyrocketing in value after CNN and other media outlets projected Trump won. The stock rose as much as 35 per cent at one point before fading.
Trump is the dominant shareholder in the conservative social media company, which has scant revenue and is losing money. The president-elect’s 114.75 million shares were worth about US$5.3 billion briefly based on those early gains, up from $3.9 billion when trading ended on Election Day.