Musk, Bezos and Bill Gates lose $115 billion in worth in 5 months

In the past five months, as the U.S. stock market has tumbled, the super-rich have lost a lot. The world’s richest man Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates lost a combined $115 billion in net worth.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk’s fortune has shrunk by $46.4 billion, Bezos has shrunk by $53.2 billion, and Gates’s by $15.1 billion.Musk had a net worth of $224 billion as of Friday, Bezos $139 billion and Gates $123 billion.

Bernard Arnault, chairman of the French luxury goods group LVMH, is currently the third-richest person in the world. His fortune has shrunk by $44.7 billion to $133 billion since January.

Much of Musk’s and Bezos’ fortunes are tied to the shares of Tesla and Amazon, respectively, where they are current and former CEOs. Still, Gates’ stake in Microsoft, which he co-founded, is now relatively small.

Musk’s 15.6 percent stake in Tesla, worth about $122 billion, has fallen nearly 37 percent so far this year.

In April, Musk bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, prompting investors to question his ability to focus on managing Tesla, sending Tesla shares tumbling. Musk has sold $8.4 billion worth of Tesla stock to fund its acquisition.

Gates’ more diversified portfolio has helped him survive the stock market sell-off. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the charitable organization Gates co-founded with his ex-wife, invests primarily in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, whose shares have risen this year 5%.

But Gates’ other investments, including his investment firm Cascade Investments, which invests in tech companies such as Apple, have had more bumpy rides. Tech stocks have suffered a sharp pullback in recent months in the face of inflationary pressures and slumping consumer confidence.

Bezos currently owns about 50 million shares of Amazon, worth about $115 billion. The stock has lost nearly a third of its value this year, but it still has a market value of nearly $1.2 trillion. Tesla shares are now worth about $786 billion after falling nearly 37%.