As coronavirus spreads, world’s richest lose $444 bn after hellish week for markets

The drubbing more than erased the $78 billion in gains that the 500 wealthiest people had amassed since the start of the year through last week, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Last week was an expensive one for most investors, even for billionaires.

The world’s three richest people -- Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos (in photo), Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault -- incurred the biggest losses, with their combined wealth dropping about $30 billion. (AP File)

The combined fortunes of the world’s 500 richest people fell by $444 billion as the coronavirus continued to spread -- and spread fear -- rattling equity markets worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 12%, the biggest five-day slide since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis, in a rout that vaporized more than $6 trillion from global stocks.

The drubbing more than erased the $78 billion in gains that the 500 wealthiest people had amassed since the start of the year through last week, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The world’s three richest people -- Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault -- incurred the biggest losses, with their combined wealth dropping about $30 billion.

Elon Musk, the world’s 25th-richest person, rang up the fourth-largest weekly loss -- $9 billion -- as shares of his Tesla Inc. slid after a steep climb to start the year. He’s still up $8.8 billion in 2020 and has a net worth of $36.3 billion.

Health officials are struggling to contain the virus, which can cause a potentially deadly pneumonia-like illness in a minority of patients and spread from others who look healthy. The World Health Organization has thus far refrained from declaring it a pandemic.