The wealth of the 10 richest people in the world – a list dominated by US tech billionaires – increased by a record amount after Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, according to a widely cited index.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated that the world’s 10 wealthiest people gained nearly $64bn (about £49.5bn) on Wednesday, the largest daily increase since the index began in 2012.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, registered the largest increase with a $26.5bn addition to his fortune, which now stands at $290bn. The prominent backer of Trump’s campaign, benefited from a surge in the share price of Tesla, the electric carmaker where he is chief executive and in which he owns a 13% stake.

  • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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    7 days ago

    It seemed really obvious, like, I had this thought before the election was called that I should start grabbing some stonks because the uncertainty dipped everything for a minute.

    But I don’t have money for stocks right now, I’m simply not in the position. (Okay I own like one, for my favorite (not starbucks) coffee chain lol)

    And then everything jumps massively after his “win”, because all the corpos are probably anticipating massive deregulation.

    I probably would’ve been gutted on short term gains fees anyway lol.

    That’s how it works though isn’t it? The secret is to already have a bunch of money and stock and general capital…then when it dips, it’s not so bad, and when it surges, you win such a payout!

    How ingeniously simple! /s

  • uncertainty@lemmy.nz
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    7 days ago

    I don’t see in the article what percentage of this increased ‘value’ was actually spent on stocks. It seems such a house of cards to say the unrealised value of retained holdings is worth anything like the figure you get if applying the most recent trade’s value to all existing shares. A value beyond a percentage of the company’s assets and projected yield makes for a pretty risky game of hot potato for anyone buying in at the end and the potential for ridiculously overblown paper losses for anyone who got in at the start of the pyramid scheme with knock-on effects that propagate out to the real economy through the contagion of doomsaying. Bonds are a far more transparent way of raising funds and incentivise productive endeavours with good fundamentals as the company needs to pay from profits rather than offloading rewards to the system of finding another sucker (which can happen with bonds as well if sold before maturity in the belief that the issuer will be unable to fulfill their promise).

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      Dems for decades failed to properly address social inequality, while proudly parading their politically correct talk about “communities”, “affirmative action” etc. This is a feel-good talk for their white middle-class demographics, while actual people in actual “communities” felt like animals in a zoo with a bunch of aliens around them figuring out what’s the best name to call them. At the same time no meaningful change ever happened.

      Trump won Latino votes in Miami. Just think about how much distrust the other side must have built.

      Stop blaming the voters. Look into the mirror and ask yourself how could this have happened.

      • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        What’s really funny about Trump winning Latino votes in Florida is that when surveyed, they went Trump for “the economy”. So… my comment stands.

        But yes as a Canadian, the results of the US election and the performance of the Democratic party are things I’ll personally need to “look in the mirror” about.

        Alternatively, I can appreciate how dumb American voters are, as 70 million of them vote to actively make their lives much worse. <3

        • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          Just wait for the next elections to hit your country with a right-wing populism like a truck.

          It’s the same shit all over the developed world. Looking down on people who are upset with the current system and the democracy itself.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Thats the problem with Anarchy is they have resources and you don’t so in open warfare they win every time.

      You could try to form a large organization pooling resources for a specialized fighting force but…

      Oh look, half of the USA just voted alongside the Billionaires. Looks like we’re outnumbered.

      • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Meh it only takes one person pulling a trigger to end a billionaire’s life. Not that I am advocating that, but there is no real way to protect themselves from the masses unless they go hide in a bunker.

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          We’re at 5 and counting potential Donald Trump assassins thwarted so far. Thats at least 500% over estimate, yikes.

          Elon Musk probably isn’t that much easier of a target, I’m sure he pays good money to be guarded, but maybe.

          • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            One kid with no help or formal training almost blew his head off. They are way more vulnerable than you can imagine.

    • LustyArgonian@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      600,000 people diagnosed with terminal cancer each year in the US. 800 billionaires. Just saying, they will likely die before they even get sentenced. And it’s entirely likely the billionaires own or supported companies that caused that cancer in the first place, or supported medical systems that didn’t allow people to properly be screened or treated for cancer.

      It’s like if Walter White wanted to help others

    • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Total net worth of top 10 richest is ~$1.6 trillion: https://ceoworld.biz/2024/03/15/richest-people-in-the-united-states-2024/

      That makes a net worth increase of $64 billion an increase of ~4%…which is the same amount the S&P 500 is up over the past few days.

      “Stock market surges following Trump’s victory and billionares’ stocks go up the same amount as everyone else’s” just doesn’t make as good a headline, huh?

      This is a big pile of nothing, nice job taking the clickbait and spreading it. The outrage farmers thank you.

      • notannpc@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        The cool thing is, my statement still works no matter how much or how little their net worth increases. Billionaires should not exist. The world would be better without them.

        • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Billionaires should not exist.

          You’re going to have to come to grips with the fact that there is always going to be someone with the most wealth. And in an economy that is constantly creating new wealth, the peak will also be constantly growing.

          This is an incredibly naive and ignorant sentiment.

          • notannpc@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            If you truly believe that it is naive or ignorant to have a problem with any individual hoarding so much wealth that they could solve just about any problem where money is the limitation while still living like a king and having a fortune to pass down to their children, then I don’t think we can have a meaningful conversation.

            • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
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              7 days ago

              If you truly believe that it is naive or ignorant to have a problem with any individual hoarding

              Well, here’s an example of the ignorance I was referring to: no billionaire is “hoarding” anything. Their net worth comes from the value of their investments, investments into businesses that function within the economy. And investing into a business, and in turn owning a piece of it, is absolutely not “hoarding” that piece. To define it that way would be to define that owning anything equals “hoarding” it.

              Ownership and hoarding are not the same thing. The fact that I have something you don’t doesn’t mean I’m “hoarding” it. That is a ridiculous notion.

              so much wealth that they could solve just about any problem where money is the limitation

              You have zero perspective on just how costly those problems are, nor the fact that there is almost no major problem that an injection of funds can fix all by itself.

              The US government spends more each and every year than the net worth of every US billionaire combined. Over $1 trillion (which is ONE THOUSAND TIMES the amount of wealth that ‘qualifies’ someone as a billionaire) was spent last year on welfare programs alone.

              It’s just not as much as you think it is, in the grand scheme of things.

              I don’t think we can have a meaningful conversation.

              Until you become more familiar with the facts of the matter, I definitely agree.

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
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    8 days ago

    Good, these poor poor billionaires need more. I mean it’s a goddamn travesty they aren’t trillionares!

    Geez people how fucking greedy do you need to be to accept a paycheck from these people when working for them? Can’t you just be charitable for once and help them become decillionares?

    I swear we’re so greedy.

    • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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      8 days ago

      This is what the American people voted for. They voted to give their money away to people who don’t need it.

      We’ve been warning people of this for more than 8 years now, trying to soften the blow. At some point we gotta realize that protecting these people might not actually be helping, it might just be enabling the grift by providing convenient cover.

      Maybe we ought to just step aside and let these voters suffer the full consequences of their actions. Democrats need to learn that unlike them, many people only learn about consequences by experiencing them.

      Sure, many others who voted against will suffer the consequences too. What are we going to do about it? This is how democracy is designed to work.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        7 days ago

        Maybe we ought to just step aside and let these voters suffer the full consequences of their actions.

        If we could do this without also suffering the full consequences of their actions I’d be all for it.

        But at this point, in a hypothetical dystopian future, those voters would be reduced to scavenging in the slums, every public station owned by the GOP, not a Democrat in sight… and they’d still be able to get away with “blaming the liberals” for everything they directly caused right before everyone’s eyes.

        I’ve been aghast reading all these comments on like, Nextdoor, of people shaking their heads saying “The left is always the party of divisiveness and violence.”

        They’ll believe anything at this point. They literally can’t seem to comprehend the consequences of their votes.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        7 days ago

        Maybe we ought to just step aside and let these voters suffer the full consequences of their actions.

        If we could do this without also suffering the full consequences of their actions I’d be all for it.

        But at this point, in a hypothetical dystopian future, those voters would be reduced to scavenging in the slums, every public station owned by the GOP, not a Democrat in sight… and they’d still be able to get away with “blaming the liberals” for everything they directly caused right before everyone’s eyes.

        I’ve been aghast reading all these comments on like, Nextdoor, of people shaking their heads saying “The left is always the party of divisiveness and violence.”

        They’ll believe anything at this point. They literally can’t seem to comprehend the consequences of their votes.

      • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
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        8 days ago

        Yup. We all vote on the meal we will eat and lots of folk don’t like the week old pumpernickel so won’t vote for it and for some reason lots of folks like to vote for the dogshit with ground glass mixed into it because they think its funny to watch other people eat it.

        • Asafum@feddit.nl
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          for some reason lots of folks like to vote for the dogshit with ground glass mixed into it because they think its funny to watch other people eat it.

          The majority of the political videos showing up on my YouTube feed after the election was just right wingers laughing at “the left.”

          Their whole identity is hating others.

          • fluxion@lemmy.world
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            8 days ago

            Interesting they all of a sudden have absolutely zero concerns that our “deep state” will roll in any second now to undo the election

            • Asafum@feddit.nl
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              8 days ago

              Trump on election night: “MASSIVE FRAUD IN PENNSYLVANIA, POLICE INCOMING!”

              He wins big: “teehee, what fraud? I never said that.”

              • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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                7 days ago

                Trump is unaccountable, that’s apparently his identity. It doesn’t matter if he did say or didn’t say anything.

  • nucleative@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    So Musk’s investment in election interference of what, a million bucks a day? towards bribing people to vote now looks like an utter pittance relative to what he made back in just one day.

    Of course these guys know that investing in elections has a good ROI.

    • tb_@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      For added perspective: spending a million as a billionaire is the same as spending $1 when you have $1000 in your bank account.

      It is utterly meaningless.

      • nucleative@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        Especially if you did it only 45 times or so at $45 invested and got $26,500 back a day after the election

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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      7 days ago

      Surely, now everyone will be hiring for all kinds of jobs and competing fiercely for who pays the best and offers the sweetest benefits, across all industries… Right? :D

      /s

      :(

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    We’re just being kicked while we’re already down. The idiots who voted for him don’t realize they’re in the ground with us.