The World's 500 Richest People Have Lost A Combined $1.4 Trillion So Far This Year

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and their billionaire pals are losing the big bucks.

Their fortunes have all suffered majorly in the first half of 2022.

According to Bloomberg, the world’s 500 richest people lost $1.4 trillion ($AUD 2 trillion, £1.1 trillion) in the six months of the year, which is a dizzying amount of money when you imagine it in a pile.

Or in a big swimming pool, lolling around like Scrooge McDuck.

Seriously though, Elon Musk's fortune has seen a cool $62 billion ($AUD 90.9 billion, £51.2 billion) sliced off of the top.

In May, the Tesla CEO's net worth plummeted to a measly $209 billion ($AU 294 billion, £166 billion).

But Musk isn't the only one navigating troubled waters. 

Kristoffer Tripplaar / Alamy Stock Photo

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lost about $63 billion ($AUD 92.4 billion, £52 billion) in the first six months of the year. Bloomberg also reckons that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has seen his net worth slashed by more than half.

While the big boys at the top of the food chain might be licking their wounds after a rough start to the year, you'll still have to excuse us while we try to locate our tiny violin for the ultra-rich.

The major losses for the world's richest people haven't made a dent in global wealth equality.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk is still the richest person alive, with a fortune of $208.5 billion ($AUD 305.9 billion, £172.4 billion).

Amazon’s Bezos comes in at number two with $129.6 billion ($AUD 190.1 billion, £107.1 billion) net worth.

Let's take a look at what has caused the big fish to become... slightly smaller but still pretty big fish.

Interest rates are rising to combat inflation. Oil prices are going up. Bitcoin is on the ropes. The cost of living is going up (although we're pretty sure Musk isn't snapping off broccoli stalks at Woolies).

And, the sharemarket is dipping. Even the big ones are dropping, which means those that own them are copping a beating.

Simon Serdar / Alamy Stock Photo

Tesla stocks have dropped by more than half a trillion dollars since November 2021.

Bloomberg reports that Amazon shares have also plummeted 'by the most since the dot-com bubble burst'.

Zuckerberg's metaverse gamble doesn't appear to be paying off.

According to Insider, Reality Labs, the metaverse division at Meta, is bleeding money.

It lost just under $3 billion ($AUD 4.4 billion, £2.4 billion) in the first quarter and lost a whopping $10 billion ($AUD 14.6 billion, £8.2 billion) last year, as per Business Insider.

That must suck.

But we're still looking for that tiny violin because it looks like Musk is still on track to become the world's first ever trillionaire.