US Tech Billionaires Enjoy Best Day on Record After Brutal 2022

(Bloomberg) -- US tech billionaires just had their best day ever, adding $59 billion to their fortunes following Thursday’s stock market rally.

Jeff Bezos was the biggest winner among those on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, bumping his net worth by $10.5 billion after news that his successor at Amazon.com Inc., Andy Jassy, is looking for ways to cut costs. That sent Amazon shares up 12%, the most since February.

Meanwhile, Larry Page, co-founder of Alphabet Inc., notched a $5.3 billion increase, while Steve Ballmer, former chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., gained almost $6 billion. Elon Musk, who’s splitting his time between newly acquired Twitter and Tesla Inc., added $9.6 billion as shares of his electric vehicle maker climbed.

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The S&P 500 rose 5.5% and the Nasdaq 100 jumped 7.5% after the release of data showing US inflation cooled in October by more than expected, which sparked bets that the Federal Reserve can back off its aggressive interest-rate hikes. Technology stocks, which have been badly battered this year, led the rally.

That’s good news for the 32 US tech billionaires on the wealth list, who generally made their fortunes through the companies they founded. About 80% of Bezos’s $120 billion net worth comes from his Amazon holdings. But even with the big one-day gain, Bezos’s wealth has dropped almost $73 billion this year amid the broader tech stock decline.

The Bloomberg index tracks the wealth of the world’s 500 richest people, who collectively added $168 billion to their fortunes on Thursday — the fourth-highest total on record.

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