Stock Market Plunges Due to Mass Layoffs and Tariffs
Musk Hit Hardest... $148 Billion Loss
The wealth of five billionaires who attended the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump has decreased by approximately $209 billion (about 305 trillion won) since then. Although there were high expectations that they would benefit from the Trump administration's pro-business policies, the stock market plunged due to massive federal government layoffs and tariff shocks.
According to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index on the 10th (local time), Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon; Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google; Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta; and Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton Mo?t Hennessy (LVMH), lost a total of $209 billion in wealth after President Trump's inauguration.
Executives from major technology companies (Big Tech) attending the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Photo by AFP Yonhap News
Before Trump was elected in November and inaugurated on January 20 this year, the S&P 500 index repeatedly hit record highs, greatly benefiting companies. Investors expected Trump's policies to favor businesses and flocked to the stock and cryptocurrency markets with large sums of money.
The biggest beneficiary during this period was Musk, a close associate of President Trump. Tesla's stock price rose about 98% in the weeks following the election, reaching an all-time high. LVMH's stock price rose about 7% during the week before the inauguration, increasing Arnault's wealth by $12 billion. Meta's stock price, led by Zuckerberg, who was considered an 'archrival' of Trump, rose 9% before the term began and increased an additional 20% during the first four weeks after the inauguration.
However, these market expectations were reversed. After Trump's inauguration, the S&P 500 index fell 6.4% due to mass layoffs of federal employees and tariff concerns. On that day, it closed down about 2.7%. The market value of the five companies they lead decreased by $1.39 trillion (about 2,027 trillion won) since the last trading day before the inauguration on January 17.
The most severely affected was Musk. His wealth decreased by $148 billion after the inauguration. On December 17 last year, his net worth reached a peak of $486 billion due to Tesla's significant stock price increase following the U.S. presidential election. However, he has recently given back all those gains. Recently, crimes targeting Tesla stores and vehicles have been occurring frequently in the U.S. In Europe, sales plummeted as resentment spread over Musk's support for far-right parties.
The second most affected was Bezos. During Trump's first term, he clashed with President Trump due to his ownership of The Washington Post (WP), but this time he appeared to have grown closer since the election. He blocked WP's endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris and issued pro-Trump reporting guidelines. He also dined with President Trump and donated $1 million to the inauguration. However, since January 17, Amazon's stock price has fallen 14%, and Bezos's wealth has decreased by $29 billion.
Brin's wealth decreased by $22 billion. Alphabet, Google's parent company, saw its stock price fall more than 7% in early last month. Zuckerberg's wealth decreased by $5 billion. Meta's stock price rose 19% from mid-January to mid-February but then gave back all those gains.
Arnault, a friend of President Trump, also saw his wealth decrease by $5 billion. LVMH's stock price rose more than 20% from the U.S. election until the end of January but has since continued to decline. Morningstar analysts have predicted that a 10-20% tariff on European luxury goods could reduce sales.
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