In a bruising day for some of the world’s wealthiest individuals, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and three other tech titans collectively lost $34.4 billion in net worth as technology stocks took a sharp downturn.
According to Forbes’ real-time billionaire index, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg suffered the steepest decline, seeing his fortune shrink by $8.8 billion.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos followed closely, losing $7.9 billion.
Oracle’s Larry Ellison, along with Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, saw their fortunes drop by $5.7 billion, $5.8 billion, and $6.2 billion, respectively.
The losses came as U.S. markets reeled from fresh inflation data that rekindled fears of stagflation—an economic scenario marked by slowing growth and persistently high prices.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, came in higher than expected, sparking a selloff in major technology stocks.
Meta Platforms Inc. saw its shares drop 4.29% to $576.74, while Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) declined 4.29% to $192.72. Oracle’s stock, already under pressure in 2025, shed another 3.47%, bringing its year-to-date decline to 9%. Investors are increasingly wary of the company’s aggressive spending on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure amid broader concerns over tech sector profitability.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., also suffered, with its Class C shares (GOOG) tumbling 4.89% to $156.06. The stock now trades 25% below its 52-week high of $208.70, reached in February. The losses marked Alphabet’s third consecutive day of declines and underperformance compared to tech rivals, including Microsoft, which fell 3.02% to $378.80.
The downturn comes at a pivotal moment for tech billionaires, many of whom had seen their fortunes surge in recent years. The market selloff raises questions about whether tech’s long-standing dominance in the stock market is entering a more volatile phase, as investors reassess valuations in light of macroeconomic uncertainties.
What to know
For much of the past year, the world’s richest tech executives had been riding the wave of soaring stock prices, fueled by AI optimism and a resilient economy. However, this week’s market slump underscores the fragility of those gains in the face of economic uncertainty.
The selloff is reminiscent of previous downturns that have periodically erased billions from the net worth of tech billionaires. While their fortunes remain vast, such losses highlight the volatility of wealth tied to stock performance.
As inflation concerns persist and the Federal Reserve weighs further action, the coming weeks will be critical for the tech sector. Investors are now watching whether this is a short-term correction or the start of a prolonged period of instability.
