COVID-19, confinement, telecommuting, mask wearing, job loss and physical distancing… The last year has been difficult, except perhaps for the 400 richest Americans, who saw their collective wealth increase by 40% during over the past 12 months, in the midst of a pandemic, to stand at more than $ 4.5 trillion, according to the magazine’s latest ranking Forbes.
2021 was “the year of the harvest”, sums up the prestigious American magazine, which notes, however, that one thing has not increased in this world of the ultra-rich: their generosity. The number of billionaires who have donated more than 20% of their wealth has declined from 10 to 8 in the past year, while the number of those who have devoted less than 1% of their wealth to philanthropic activities has increased. slight increase from 127 to 156.
Unsurprisingly, it is the founder of the giant Amazon, Jeff Bezos, who once again sits at the top of the list, with a fortune estimated at 201 billion dollars. He is followed by Elon Musk, big boss of Tesla and SpaceX, with 190.5 billion dollars, and Mark Zuckerberg, creator of the Facebook network, with 134.5 billion, or 500 million more than Bill Gates.
The wealth of the first four fortunes of the United States represents more than seven times the total revenues of the government of Quebec – or would repay four times the debt of the province.
The fortunes of these ultra-rich were calculated on the basis of the values of the shares of their companies as of September 3.
If the year 2021 was profitable for American billionaires, it was also a good time to bring in new ones: 44 people made their entry into the list of Forbes, the highest number of new faces since 2007, underlines the magazine. The entry ticket to the list also jumped by $ 800 million: you must now have wealth valued at $ 2.9 billion or more to be part of the country’s 400 fortunes.
With 30.4 billion, Miriam Adelson, 75, leads the way for newcomers to the charts. She is the widow of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who died last January at the age of 87. The couple were known to be one of the biggest contributors to the Republican Party’s campaign fund.
She is followed by the youngest of the new billionaires, Sam Bankman-Fried, who, at 29, has built a fortune valued at more than 22 billion in cryptocurrency.
After her highly publicized divorce, Melinda French Gates, ex-wife of Bill Gates, also made her debut in Forbes with a fortune estimated at 6.3 billion.
The effect of the pandemic on the American economy is still being felt with job shortages, rising prices and social consequences that the expiry of federal aid measures should very quickly exacerbate. But the health crisis has also stimulated the stock and real estate markets, from which the richest Americans have benefited.
Among the new big fortunes of the country, we find among others the trio behind the Moderna vaccine: the investor and professor of Harvard Timothy A. Springer (5.9 billion dollars); the co-founder and president of Moderna, Noubar Afeyan (5 billion dollars); and MIT co-founder and professor Robert Langer ($ 4.9 billion).
Finally, it should be noted that the former US President Donald Trump, a real estate mogul, has no more managed to stay in the White House than in the list of the 400 richest Americans, from which he comes. to be deported for the first time in 25 years. His fortune is estimated at 2.5 billion, however.
“If Trump is looking for someone to accuse, he can start with himself,” writes Forbes.
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