Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ wealth increase during pandemic

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• As millions of people all over the world struggle in poverty and relied on food banks, a group of American moguls has grown their riches to incredible heights.
• According to USA Today, the billionaires who earned the most during the pandemic include Tesla’s Elon Musk, Amazon head Jeff Bezos, and Facebook magnate Mark Zuckerberg.
• Reports also show that 50 healthcare executives became billionaires, including the CEO of Moderna and the co-founder of  BioNTech, which developed a COVID-19 vaccine with Pfizer.

As lockdown measures threw distressed Brits into poverty and made them depending on food banks, some billionaires increased their wealth in unimaginable proportions.

COVID-19 has infected the globe and families all over the world are stricken with poverty.

But for America’s 614 billionaires, their finances have grown by $931 billion since the start of the health crisis.

The economy has plunged this year, leaving millions jobless, and the budget of many families is tighter than ever.

In the UK, the need for food banks giving out meal packages increased by 61%, bringing the average to six parcels for every family per minute.

Meanwhile, UniLad analysis showed that chiefs at tech giants such as Google, Zoom, and Microsoft, saw their earnings upsurge during the pandemic. 

USA Today reports that the 30 billionaires who benefited the most during the lockdowns include Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.

The joint $90.1 billion increase of the three’s wealth makes up at least 10% of the total by all American billionaires only this year.

Amazon Founder and CEO, Bezos, saw his profit went up from $70bn to $185bn while millions of families were stuck at homes depend on food aid deliveries.

The eccentric behind Tesla and internet star, Elon Musk, also watched his finances grow,  in the same way as Facebooks’ Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Larry Page.

Since COVID-19 first appeared,  it is projected that at least 50 medical and healthcare bosses became billionaires, with 28 coming from China.

These include Stéphane Bancel, Massachusetts-based Moderna CEO and Uğur Şahin, physician, and co-founder of BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer to help develop the coronavirus vaccine.

Research showed that COVID-19 was the reason for the growing poverty in the UK, with one report indicating that the number of poor families had increased to 15.2 million from 700,000 because of the epidemic.

Source: Daily Star