Featured Image Credit: Erik Pendzich / Alamy Stock Photo/Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Money, Elon Musk
Niamh Spence
Topics: Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Money, Elon Musk
Billionaire Warren Buffett has climbed up the American rich list and surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos thanks to his billionaire fortune.
The 92-year-old businessman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is also reportedly hot on the heels of Microsoft entrepreneur Bill Gates, and if he overtakes him, then he will be the second richest American behind Elon Musk.
The new wealth ranking for Buffett comes as Berkshire Hathaway stock has risen about 2 percent this year while Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla shares have plunged.
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Buffet's fortune is now worth an estimated $108 billion, sitting just in front of Bezos who is worth $107 billion and not far behind Gates' fortune of $110 billion.
However, Musk still sits supreme at second place with a massed fortune of $138 billion.
Buffett technically could have been worth even more except he donated nearly $5 billion of his Berkshire stock to good causes this year.
Since 2006, the billionaire has given away nearly 52 percent of his Berkshire shares. If he'd held onto all of his wealth then he could have been worth an estimated $223 billion today, making him the world's wealthiest person by a huge mile.
However, 92-year-old Buffett now sits in the top three of the wealthiest Americans on the list .
According to the Metro’s Tech/Science Editor Jeff Parsons, Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg had lost a combined $297 billion (£245bn) in the past 12 months, 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'.
Musk’s net worth fell by $132bn (£110bn), with the Tesla owner also losing his title as the world’s richest person earlier this month. The Twitter CEO was instead overtaken by Bernard Arnault, the French business magnate and chief executive of luxury brand Louis Vuitton's parent company LVMH, and his family.
In fact, 2022 has been a pretty devastating year for Musk in terms of his finances. According to The Independent, he has suffered the ‘biggest loss of wealth in modern history’ this year.
The news outlet claims Musk's net worth has plunged by more than USD $200 billion (AUD $295b or £165.9b) in 2022. Not just that, but the Bloomberg Billionaires Index also reported that the South African business magnate had lost around $310.8 million (AUD $470.5m or £173.7m) from his net worth every day this year.
Ouch.