Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg lost a combined $300 billion in 2022

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg have lost a combined $300 billion this year, thanks to a dive in the stock market.

The trio are among the world’s wealthiest people thanks to their ongoing dominance in the world of tech.

But according to the Metro’s Tech/Science Editor Jeff Parsons, the moguls lost a combined $297 billion (£245bn) in the past year, citing a number of factors that made 2022 a ‘tough year for tech’, including ‘supply chain issues, dwindling consumer spending and less engagement from people as Covid-19 lockdowns came to an end’.

Elon Musk’s net worth fell by $132bn (£110bn), with the Tesla and Twitter boss also losing his title as the world’s richest person earlier this month.

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Jeff Bezos, meanwhile, lost $84bn (£70bn), and Zuckerberg’s net worth dropped by $81bn (£67bn), despite his best efforts to trudge forth with the ‘metaverse’.

That brings the total losses for the big three to $297bn – a number that jumps to $414bn (£342bn) when you add in the respective losses for Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page ($44.6bn/£37bn and $43.4b/£36bn) and those of Microsoft boss Bill Gates ($29bn/£24bn).

Earlier this month, Musk lost his place as the world’s richest man when he was overtaken by Bernard Arnault, the French business magnate and chief executive of luxury brand Louis Vuitton's parent company LVMH, and his family.

Shortly after, Musk jumped up to first place again, only to then fall back down, proving things are rockier than usual for the Tesla boss.

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The news came after the value of Musk's Tesla stake dropped as investors dumped shares on the electric vehicle company over concerns he would be more focused on his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.

Then, of course, he announced he’d be stepping down as the head of the social media site, following a public vote online.

Musk had asked followers if he should stand down in a Twitter poll, saying: "I will abide by the results of this poll."

The final results came in as 57.5 percent in favour of Musk quitting, compared to 42.5 percent against it.

He later confirmed he would be true to his word, writing: "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software and servers teams."