The Nasdaq 100 fell more than 6 percent on Thursday, its worst day since the pandemic selloff, and the paper fortunes of the sector's most visible billionaires evaporated alongside it. Nine of the world's wealthiest tech founders saw a combined $152 billion wiped from their net worth in a single trading session after investors dumped AI and chip shares on expectations that a Democratic sweep of Congress would curb data-center spending.
Musk absorbs the bulk of the damage
Elon Musk accounted for more than half of the total decline. His net worth dropped roughly $80 billion, or 9 percent, to $785 billion after Tesla shares slid 11 percent and SpaceX stock fell 9 percent. Michael Dell matched the percentage decline almost exactly, losing $19 billion as Dell Technologies tumbled 15 percent. Jensen Huang gave back $15 billion, a 9 percent hit that left his stake worth $151 billion, while Larry Ellison saw $10 billion erased, a 6 percent decline to $158 billion, as Oracle dropped 7 percent.
The second tier weathers smaller cuts
Mark Zuckerberg's fortune fell about $8 billion, or nearly 4 percent, to $215 billion as Meta slipped. Steve Ballmer lost roughly $6 billion, a 3 percent decline to $188 billion, on a 4 percent drop in Microsoft. The Alphabet co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos each saw declines of less than 2 percent, or under $5 billion, tracking moves of a little over 2 percent in their respective stocks.
The one-day loss obscures a year of gains
Despite the rout, all nine still ranked among the 15 richest people on the planet at Thursday's close. Measured from a year earlier, most remain substantially richer. Musk is up $312 billion over the past 12 months. Bezos has added $100 billion, Dell $31 billion, and Ballmer $13 billion. The exceptions are Ellison, whose net worth is down $152 billion, or 49 percent, over that span, and Huang, who is off about $19 billion, or 11 percent. Zuckerberg is also in the red for the year, while Page and Brin are essentially flat.
Premarket bounce offers a partial reprieve
By 6:30 a.m. ET on Friday, Nvidia, SpaceX, and Oracle shares were trading higher in premarket action, suggesting some of Thursday's paper losses may be recouped before the week ends.