The wealthiest 400 Americans saw their collective net worth crash by a staggering $300 billion over the last year, CIG has learned. The Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans, released earlier this week showed some shocking losses, but there were also the die-hards who, whilst also feeling the pinch, managed to maintain their positions on this prestigious list.
According to the information available to CIG, Bill gates hung on to the number one spot for an astounding 16th straight year, with a $50 billion fortune, having lost only $7 billion, while Warren Buffet took one of the hardest knocks, loosing $10 billion on Berkshire Hathaway stock, his own business.
The Top 10 richest stayed almost unchanged, when compared with 2008, and although Buffet suffered grievous losses he still managed to maintain 2nd position, sitting on a $40 billion nest egg. In 3rd, worth $27 billion was Oracle Corp founder Lawrence Ellison, the only member of the top 10 not to loose significantly.
The U.S. stock market, monitored by the S&P 500 Index, lost around 43% from September 2008, when the financial crisis began, through March, dropping $5 trillion in market value, CIG research shows.
The top 10 combined lost almost $40 billion, said the Forbes list editor. The net worth of all 400 combined fell 19 percent, to $1.27 trillion from $1.57 trillion.
