The five richest men to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration have seen their wealth tumble by more than £160billion thanks to market turmoil from his trade war.
The Republican victor was sworn in for a second term in the White House on January 20 with the stock market riding high and confidence in the United States booming.
The buoyant mood was underlined by the presence of the world’s most successful technology tycoons – Tesla’s Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg.
Also sitting behind Mr Trump in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington DC was Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire behind the LVMH empire that includes Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany.
The self-styled Masters of the Universe were no doubt hoping their association with the President would boost business – and their wealth through rising share prices.
But while the stock markets rallied in the weeks after Mr Trump’s election victory in November and into the early part of this year, the outlook is now very different with fears of recession mounting and shares tumbling.
‘The Trump bump has gone,’ declared Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, while Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US interest rate strategy at TD Securities, said the mood has switched ‘from exuberance about growth to absolute despair.’
The S&P 500 – a key stock market benchmark in the US – has fallen 9 per cent since last month’s peak and 6 per cent since the inauguration.
Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk attend the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
The buoyant mood was underlined by the presence of the world’s most successful technology tycoons – Tesla ’s Elon Musk , Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Google co-founder Sergey Brin (pictured) and Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg
On Monday night, the tech-focused Nasdaq index fell 4 per cent, its worst performance since 2022.
The slump means those five billionaires are now £162billion poorer than they were as they took their seats at the inauguration, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mr Musk – a close ally of Mr Trump who has been dubbed the ‘first buddy’ – has been hardest hit with losses of £115billion as Tesla shares tumble.
The electric carmaker has now lost more than half its value since its peak less than three months ago in mid-December.
In total, the companies represented by the five billionaires – Telsa, Amazon, Google owner Alphabet, Meta and LVMH – have seen their stock market value fall by more than £1trillion since the inauguration.
Concerns over the outlook are deepening as Mr Trump slaps tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China while also threatening the European Union and Britain.
It is feared a global trade war between the world’s largest economies will hammer corporate profits, drive up prices, hit living standards – and even tip the US into recession.
Mr Trump himself refused to rule out such an outcome in the US over the weekend – triggering the latest wave of turmoil on financial markets.
Also sitting behind Mr Trump in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington DC was Bernard Arnault (pictured), the French billionaire behind the LVMH empire that includes Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany
Mr Musk – a close ally of Mr Trump who has been dubbed the ‘first buddy’ – has been hardest hit with losses of £115billion as Tesla shares tumble
Mr Bezos is worth £167billion even after losing £22billion
Mark Zuckerberg has seen his fortune fall by £4billion to £164billion
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, warned marketes are being ‘heavily hit by fears that Trump trade and international policies would have a terrible economic and geopolitical fallout in the US and beyond its borders’.
She added: ‘The recession bets are rising by the day, the companies are giving murkier forecasts due to tariffs, the US’ biggest trading partners respond. Trump optimism is far gone.’
Mr Musk remains the world’s richest person with a fortune of £233billion despite the slump in his wealth.
Mr Bezos is worth £167billion even after losing £22billion under Mr Trump while Mr Zuckerberg has seen his fortune fall by £4billion to £164billion.
Mr Arnault’s wealth is down by the same £4billion to £142billion.
They take the top four places on the Bloomberg Billionaires List while Mr Brin is at number nine having seen his fortune fall by £17billion to £110billion since the inauguration.
