Trump's First Eight Weeks in Office: The List of American Billionaires Who Lost Wealth
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Trump's First Eight Weeks in Office: The List of American Billionaires Who Lost Wealth
Among the group of billionaires, none has faced a blow as intense as that endured by Elon Musk, Donald Trump's key ally.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: Grace Thomas
Translation: Lemin
At Donald Trump's inauguration, tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk took prominent positions.
It was expected that under a Trump presidency, billionaires would emerge as major winners.
Yet in the first eight weeks since Trump took office, their fortunes have sharply declined. Below are those who suffered the heaviest losses.
Donald Trump’s administration includes at least nine billionaires—more than any previous president’s cabinet.
He has many billionaire friends or supporters: 16 billionaires visited Mar-a-Lago during the election and inauguration period. In early February, Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump at the White House, and on March 12 local time, the Meta CEO reportedly visited again. Yet so far, a pro-business, pro-capitalist president—who is himself a billionaire—has not significantly benefited the ultra-wealthy. From January 20 to March 13, the S&P 500 dropped 7.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 11.8%. According to Forbes, this downturn significantly impacted America’s richest individuals: U.S. billionaires collectively lost $415 billion in wealth.
In contrast, during the same period following Joe Biden’s inauguration, the S&P 500 rose slightly by 2.4% and the Nasdaq fell just 1%. Over that timeframe, American billionaires’ wealth increased by $153 billion, or 3.6%.
Factors behind the market decline include Trump’s erratic decisions to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, creating uncertainty—an environment corporate leaders dread. Additionally, Trump’s recent 25% tariff on all imported steel and aluminum appears to have triggered a trade war, with the European Union planning retaliatory tariffs on American goods starting April 1. More alarmingly, in early March, the Atlanta Federal Reserve predicted a 2.8% contraction in first-quarter economic growth, a scenario some have dubbed a "Trumpcession."
Among all billionaires, none has been hit harder than Trump ally Elon Musk.
On January 20, Musk was the world’s wealthiest person, worth $434 billion. Since then, reports indicate Tesla’s car sales have sharply declined in Germany, China, and Australia during the first two months of 2025. Analysts at JPMorgan Chase reduced their forecast for Tesla’s Q1 2025 vehicle deliveries by 20%, down to 355,000—the lowest level since Q3 2022. Meanwhile, protests against Tesla and Musk have erupted outside Tesla stores across the country—some peaceful, others involving vandalism. Since Trump’s inauguration, Tesla’s stock has plummeted 43%, slashing Musk’s fortune by $104 billion. As of the market close on March 13, Forbes estimates his net worth stands at $330 billion.
Despite a 24% drop in his wealth, he remains the world’s richest individual.
Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird Private Wealth Management, said Musk’s wealth decline isn’t surprising—but likely has little to do with his multiple roles in recent times. “I don’t think Musk’s responsibilities in the [Trump] administration have helped his wealth… but I also don’t believe that’s the primary reason for his losses,” Mayfield said. “If we’re heading into an economic slowdown, automotive and cyclical sectors were always going to be hit hardest—and the auto industry is particularly vulnerable to cross-border trade and tariffs.”
The market slump has also severely affected other major tech stocks. Due to concerns over weakening economic conditions, the once high-flying “Magnificent Seven”—Tesla, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft—have collectively lost over $1.5 trillion in market value since January 20. Several of these companies’ leaders—including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google co-founder Sergey Brin (now under Alphabet), and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg—attended Trump’s Capitol inauguration ceremony and stood in prominent positions among the guests. Now, these tycoons rank among those who have seen the steepest wealth declines since that event.
Below are the 20 U.S. billionaires who lost the most wealth between January 20, 2025, and March 13 (net worth as of Thursday’s market close):
1. Elon Musk
Net worth: $330 billion
Loss: $104 billion
Wealth source: Tesla, SpaceX
2. Jeff Bezos
Net worth: $210 billion
Loss: $29 billion
Wealth source: Amazon
3. Larry Page
Net worth: $136 billion
Loss: $26 billion
Wealth source: Alphabet (Google)
4. Sergey Brin
Net worth: $130 billion
Loss: $24 billion
Wealth source: Alphabet (Google)
5. Larry Ellison
Net worth: $183 billion
Loss: $22 billion
Wealth source: Oracle
6. Jensen Huang
Net worth: $101 billion
Loss: $19 billion
Wealth source: Nvidia
7. Michael Dell
Net worth: $97 billion
Loss: $18 billion
Wealth source: Dell Technologies
8. Steve Ballmer
Net worth: $115 billion
Loss: $11 billion
Wealth source: Microsoft
9. Stephen Schwarzman
Net worth: $42.3 billion
Loss: $10.2 billion
Wealth source: Private equity
10. Thomas Peterffy
Net worth: $48.8 billion
Loss: $7.9 billion
Wealth source: Discount brokerage
11. Mark Zuckerberg
Net worth: $204 billion
Loss: $7.6 billion
Wealth source: Facebook/Meta
12. Rob Walton and family
Net worth: $103 billion
Loss: $7 billion
Wealth source: Walmart
13. Jim Walton and family
Net worth: $102 billion
Loss: $6.9 billion
Wealth source: Walmart
14. Alice Walton
Net worth: $94.6 billion
Loss: $6.8 billion
Wealth source: Walmart
15. Abigail Johnson
Net worth: $31.3 billion
Loss: $5.6 billion
Wealth source: Fidelity Investments
16. Brian Armstrong
Net worth: $7.6 billion
Loss: $5.2 billion
Wealth source: Coinbase
17. Robert Pera
Net worth: $14.9 billion
Loss: $4.6 billion
Wealth source: Wireless networking
18. MacKenzie Scott
Net worth: $27.4 billion
Loss: $4.5 billion
Wealth source: Amazon
19. George Roberts
Net worth: $14.2 billion
Loss: $4.2 billion
Wealth source: Private equity
20. Lynda, Stephen, Grace and family
Net worth: $26.4 billion
Loss: $4.2 billion
Wealth source: Oil and gas
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
Forbes
