World’s richest lost $1.4 trillion in the first half of 2022

While the world's billionaires cleaned up during the pandemic — with some of the world's richest people more than doubling their fortunes — they're finally feeling a tiny slice of the financial burden the rest of the world is experiencing.

Bloomberg reports that some of the world's wealthiest people have experienced massive cuts to their weather during the first half of 2022 - for a total of $1.4 trillion lost among the top 500.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk lost nearly $62bn, Amazon's Jeff Bezos lost nearly $63bn, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg lost more than half of his net worth.

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the Assistant Director of L Oreal, lost $24.4bn between January and June. MacKenzie Scott, an Amazon shareholder and ex-wife of Mr Bezos, lost $30.8bn in the same time frame.

Russia's billionaires have not fared much better. In total, they've lost $35.94bn since the beginning of the year, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

As of 1 July, Russia's billionaires control $354.64bn collectively.

The decline comes as regulators are raising interest rates to combat climbing inflation. This has sent some stock prices plummeting, with Tesla experiencing its worst quarter ever in the three months leading up to June.

Amazon's stock price has also dipped further than any time since the dot com bubble burst in the early 2000's.

Even with the losses, the world's top earners still control enough wealth to put their earnings well above even the top one percent of earners.

Mr Musk is still the wealthiest man on the planet with $208.5bn, with Mr Bezos a runner up with $129.6bn.

The next richest man is Bernard Arnault, controlling $128.7bn, followed by Bill Gates with $114.8bn.

Changpeng Zhao, a crypto pioneer, lost $80bn as a result of the extreme volatility in the world of digital assets.

Despite the losses, Mr Musk is still moving to make an enormous purchase — Twitter. He agreed to a $44bn deal to buy the social media giant. He offered to pay $54.20 a share, but as of Friday the stock was trading at $37.44.