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Bezos, Musk among billionaires gaining net worth in pandemic: Report
The combined wealth of America's billionaires, including Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk, increased nearly 10 percent during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin speaks during the JFK Space Summit, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, on June 19, 2019. (REUTERS/Katherine Taylor)
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he combined wealth of America's billionaires, including Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk, increased nearly 10 percent during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report published by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
The wealth surge of America's richest men happened during a period that saw as many as 22 million Americans file for unemployment.
Even as the broader economy faced a recession, tech and stay-at-home stocks like Zoom have rallied in recent weeks, due to a surge in usage of video conferencing and remote work technology, thus boosting the net worth of billionaire founders with holdings in those companies.
"This is the tale of two pandemics, with very unequal sacrifice," said Chuck Collins, a co-author of the report.
Read also: Elon Musk's SpaceX bans Zoom over privacy concerns: Memo
During the period between January 1 to April 10 this year, 34 of the nation's wealthiest billionaires have seen their net worth increase by tens of millions of dollars, the report said.
According to the IPS report, eight of these billionaires including Bezos, Zoom Video Communications Inc founder Eric Yuan and Musk saw a $1-billion jump in their total net worth.
In the last decade, US billionaire wealth jumped over 80.6 percent adjusted for inflation, the report added.
