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The coronavirus COVID-19 decreases the immense fortune of the world’s richest | International | News

NY –

Amid the coronavirus pandemic COVID-19, panic seized the financial markets on the planet this week, with Wall Street registering its Thursday worst day since the stock crash of October 1987.

And while there was a spectacular rebound on Friday, tens of billions of dollars in market capitalization evaporated.

“We went down after having risen extremely for the last ten years. It is brutal but it must be said that the Stock Exchange took three steps forward and one backward”, summarizes Gregori Volokhine, from Meeschaert Financial Services.

These are the big losers of the stock market debacle:

The five richest in the world

Billionaires, whose fortunes are invested in the stock markets, especially the companies they run or are major shareholders in, are the biggest losers.

Jeff Bezos, The richest man in the world saw his fortune sink from $ 117 billion to $ 109 billion, or 8 billion in seven days, according to the magazine’s real-time figures. Forbes.

The fortune of Bill gates, the Microsoft co-founder, went from 108.2 billion to 103 billion in one week.

The French Bernard Arnault, LVMH CEO, lost by his side 14,000 million, to fall to 84,600 million.

Businessman Warren buffett It was especially hit by the fall of the airlines, in which its Berkshire Hathaway group is a major shareholder. His fortune went from 81.6 billion to 76.3 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, which completes the top 5, saw its fortune lose 9.2 billion to 62 billion, after the fall in Facebook.

Those losses are only virtual because the big fortunes did not sell their shares and they will be able to recover the money if the markets recover.

Savers, retirees and entertainment companies

Meanwhile, panic in the markets pushed large numbers of investors to take refuge in assets considered safe, such as debt securities, especially US Treasuries.

This stampede caused the yields on these securities to drop, which affected traditional life insurance and variable annuity life insurance contracts, in which the amount invested in the subscription evolves according to the results of the Stock Market until retirement. of the insured.

The 30-year Treasury bill rate, the one with the longest maturity, was 1.5% on Friday.

51.9% of Americans own shares, directly or through funds, according to the latest Federal Reserve survey.

Those assets are frequently within 401 (k) retirement plans.

Individual investors will no doubt see their virtual “fortune” dramatically decrease, threatening to influence their consumer behavior. Consumption is the engine of the American economy.

“They are no longer going to buy the latest iPhone model they were planning to buy, and that is where the impact will be lasting,” says Volokhine.

Their losses are also virtual because they do not sell their securities and invest in the long term.

Their assets invested in stocks suffered enormously and those in debt receive less because the yields on the securities fell.

There is a third of the assets whose performance is unknown: the money invested in investment funds. To have a clear idea, we will have to wait for the end of the first quarter, when the funds publish their results.

In addition, although many companies will record a specific deficit, this is not the case for the film, theater, cruise, travel and restaurant industries, which will not be able to compensate for the income not received.

Disney is therefore a big loser of the week. (I)

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