Amazon Stock Plummets $134 Billion, Bezos Loses $15.2 Billion in Net Worth

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, saw a significant drop in his net worth by $15.2 billion, bringing his total to $191.5 billion, as reported by the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. This sharp decline is part of a broader downturn affecting the tech sector.

The Nasdaq 100 Index fell by 2.4%, impacting the fortunes of several tech billionaires. Elon Musk’s net worth decreased by $6.6 billion, and Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison experienced a $4.4 billion reduction.

Tech giants Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Mark Zuckerberg each saw their fortunes diminish by over $3 billion due to a drop in Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet shares. In total, these losses amounted to $68 billion according to Bloomberg’s wealth index.

Amazon.com Inc. shares declined by 8.8% amid a broader market selloff, contributing to Jeff Bezos’ reduced net worth of $191.5 billion. This loss is the third-largest one-day decline for Bezos, following a $36 billion drop on April 4, 2019, due to his divorce settlement, and a 14% fall in Amazon shares on April 29, 2022.

Investor concerns are growing that this year’s substantial gains from AI may be overestimated or that the market is overly concentrated on a few companies. Amazon’s stock experienced its steepest drop since April 2022 after the company announced plans to continue heavy investments in AI, even at the cost of short-term profits.

At 60 years old, Bezos has been actively selling Amazon shares this year, including $8.5 billion worth in February and a planned sale of 25 million shares worth $5 billion last month when Amazon’s stock hit a new high.