The fortunes of eight of the top 10 richest billionaires have fallen since the start of the year. What is it

Only two billionaires from the top 10 richest businessmen in the world according to Bloomberg have managed to increase their fortunes since the beginning of 2026. One of them is Elon Musk, the undisputed leader of the list. The others were less fortunate: the assets owned by them fell in price due to growing doubts about the sustainability of the boom in artificial intelligence and the war with Iran, writes Business Insider. On the one hand, investors are afraid of a bubble in AI, on the other - of the negative impact of AI on traditional businesses.

- Larry Ellison, founder of software developer and cloud service Oracle, lost the most. By the close of trading on Tuesday, March 10, his capital fell by $47 billion - to $200 billion, reported Business Insider, citing data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That reflects a 23% drop in Oracle's stock since the beginning of the year (before accounting for its surge on Wednesday after a successful report). Investors have become more skeptical of the company's ambitious plans to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence. Some prominent investors, including Michael Burry - the hero of the book and movie "The Downgrade" - have warned that the strategy may not pay off.

- The fortune of Jeff Bezos, founder of online retailer and cloud service Amazon, has fallen by $15 billion this year to $239 billion. This is due to a drop in Amazon's stock by about 7% as investors on Wall Street are concerned about the company's huge spending on AI development. Amazon has previously said it plans to spend about $200 billion on microchips, data centers and other AI equipment.

- Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has lost about $25 billion, with his net worth shrinking to $143 billion as of Tuesday's close of trading. Microsoft shares have fallen 16% this year as investors increasingly fear that artificial intelligence tools could partially displace the company's core product, the Office suite.

- LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault has lost about $42 billion: his fortune has shrunk to about $166 billion, not because of AI, but because LVMH shares have fallen 22% since the beginning of the year amid slowing business growth and the risk that the conflict over Iran could permanently disrupt international trade and tourist flows.

- Alphabet's Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and ex-Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett are also in the negative since the start of 2026, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

- Elon Musk 's fortune has increased by $44 billion to $664 billion. The increase is attributed to a sharp rise in the value of his stakes in SpaceX and xAI, which more than offset an 11% drop in Tesla shares since the start of the year.

- Jim Walton, the heir to the Walmart fortune, has increased his capital by $12 billion thanks to the growth of the company's shares by 12%. The rise in quotes is supported by investors' interest in the development of Walmart's online business and expectations of returns from the company's investments in artificial intelligence. His brother and sister - Alice and Rob Walton - also increased their fortunes by about $12 billion each. All three are among the ten people whose fortunes have grown the most this year.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor