Billionaires’ wealth swells to record $10.2 trillion during pandemic
The world’s billionaires got a whole lot richer during the pandemic, seeing their collective fortunes rocket to a record height of $10.2 trillion (£7.9 trillion) in the height of the coronavirus crisis.
The super-rich cashed in on lockdown shopping trends and a V-shaped economic rebound to boost their wealth more than a quarter from April to July, according to the latest Billionaire Insights report from investment bank UBS.
The hike helped the world’s richest figures surpass their previous record of $8.9 trillion set in 2017, while the number of billionaires also hit a new high of 2,189 — up from 2,158 in 2017.
“Billionaires did extremely well during the Covid crisis — not only [did] they ride the storm to the downside, but also gained up on the upside as stock markets rebounded,” said Josef Stadler, the head of UBS’s global family office department.
The biggest gains during the pandemic were made by billionaire entrepreneurs in the technology, healthcare and industrial sectors, which all saw a surge in demand during the crisis.
UBS said the pandemic had accelerated a growing divide between those billionaires and other business people focused on less dynamic sectors such as property, entertainment and financial services.
“Fortunes are polarising as business innovators and disrupters deploy technology to be among the leaders of today’s economic revolution,” said the report. “The Covid-19 storm accelerated the divergence.”
The report showed technology billionaires’ total wealth soared 42 per cent to $1.8 trillion during 2018, 2019 and the first seven months of 2020, helped by booming tech shares as office workers were forced to swap commutes for computers during the pandemic.
A surge in online shopping during lockdowns around the world boosted the fortune of Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man.
Amazon has added $401.1bn to its market capitalisation so far in 2020, sending shares up 65 per cent this year.
Other sectors saw their rate of growth diminish, with real estate tycoons seeing a rather more modest 13.1 per cent rise in fortunes amid doubts over future demand for offices and urban property in the wake of the pandemic.
“Those that are the innovators and the disruptors, the architects of creative destruction in the economy, are still increasing their wealth. Other billionaires, on the wrong side of economic, technological, societal and environmental trends are becoming less wealthy,” said the report.
UBS said many billionaires had donated large sums of money to help with the fight against Covid-19 and the financial impact of lockdowns on families.
“Our research has identified 209 billionaires who have publicly committed a total equivalent to $7.2bn from March to June 2020,” the report said, without naming specific entrepreneurs.
“They have reacted quickly, in a way that’s akin to disaster relief, providing unrestricted grants to allow grantees to decide how best to use funds.”
UK billionaires donated significantly less than those from other countries. In the US, 98 billionaires donated a total of $4.5bn, while Chinese 12 billionaires gave $679m, and just nine British billionaires donated a total of $298m to pandemic relief.