The COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the news for more than a year now and it has impacted everyone's lives – and wallets – in some way. But as the world turned to online shopping, virtual meetings and electric cars, some super-wealthy individuals profited spectacularly. Using Forbes data as a guide, click or scroll through as we look at how some billionaires' fortunes have skyrocketed since 18 March 2020. All dollar values in US dollars and all current net worth values accurate as of 13 August 2021.
Amazon has enjoyed stellar sales during the pandemic, which has sent its share price into the stratosphere, as well as Scott's personal fortune. However, the world's third richest woman has actually been trying to reduce her wealth. Scott announced in July 2020 that she had given $1.7 billion (£1.2bn) to 116 charities since her divorce and went on to donate more than $4 billion (£2.9bn) to 380 charities in the last four months of the year, bringing her total giving for 2020 to almost $6 billion (£4.4bn). In June 2021, Scott announced a third round of charitable gifts, through which she distributed $2.7 billion (£1.9bn) between 286 groups and charities. Scott also signed Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge just one month after her divorce from Bezos came through. Nonetheless, her net worth has still grown by $19.4 billion (£13.9bn) over the pandemic to $55.4 billion ($39.8bn).
Phil Knight founded sportswear behemoth Nike in 1964 with just $500. The brand started out as Blue Ribbon Sports and was born out of Knight’s love of running track during his studies at the University of Oregon. Today, Nike's annual revenues surpass $37 billion (£26.6bn). Knight and his family control around 20% of the company and own approximately 230 million shares through holding company Swoosh, as of July 2020. A later filing shows that Knight himself owns an additional 35 million shares.
On 5 August 2021, Nike's share price hit its highest-ever level at $173.85 (£125) as the sportwear manufacturer weathered the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on online sales. The company’s digital sales now make up 21% of Nike's direct-to-consumer revenue. In March 2020, Phil Knight and his family boasted a net worth of $29.5 billion (£21.2bn), but the family fortune has more than doubled since then to hit a remarkable $61.6 billion (£44.2bn).
Another billionaire riding high from Microsoft’s success is Steve Ballmer, who joined the company in 1980 as its 30th employee and worked as its CEO for 14 years from 2000. Now retired from the computer software company, Ballmer still reaps the profits of his past work through a huge quantity of shares in the firm.
Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 and just a decade later was one of the richest men in America. As the COVID-19 pandemic pushed everything from work to socialising online, Microsoft's online software made big gains and its share price continues to reach all-time highs on a regular basis. Its share price on 13 August was a record-breaking $292.85 (£210). On 24 June, the company became the second American company to reach a $2 trillion market valuation, an elite club of which only Microsoft and Apple are members.
As a result, Gates has seen his net worth soar. Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak the Microsoft founder’s wealth has swelled by $32.7 billion (£23.5bn) to an enviable $130.7 billion (£93.9bn), making him the fifth richest person on the planet. The billionaire does use his powers for good though and he is believed to have donated more than $50 billion (£36.8bn) to charity over his lifetime, predominantly through his own charitable fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. However, Gates' wealth could be about to take a hit now that he is getting divorced from wife Melinda after 27 years of marriage, although the financial details haven't been revealed publicly.
Warren Buffett is celebrated as one of the most successful investors of all time, and it’s not hard to see why. The Nebraska-born billionaire runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 of America’s biggest companies, including battery marker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen. The conglomerate hit a record valuation on 10 May 2021 when its shares reached a closing price of $439,460 (£215.6k) as it has reaped the financial rewards of the global vaccination rollout and broader economic recovery bolstering the stock market.
As a result, Buffett, known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, is one of the billionaires who has seen his wealth seriously skyrocket since March 2020. Buffett is worth $104.9 billion (£75.3bn) at the time of writing, which is a staggering $37.4 billion (£26.9bn) more than his pre-pandemic fortune. Buffet does use his money for good though. In 2010 the expert entrepreneur founded the Giving Pledge, whereby the world’s wealthiest people commit to donating the majority of their wealth to good causes. Buffett himself has agreed to give away more than 99% of his fortune, most of which is made up of Berkshire Hathaway shares.
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From one oracle to another. Larry Ellison is the founder and majority shareholder of Oracle, a computer software company which generated revenues of $39.5 billion (£30.7bn) between April 2019 and April 2020. Total revenue dipped slightly in the most recent fiscal year to $39.1 billion (£28.1bn), but the fortunes of its founder saw a definite uptick…
Ellison has a diverse portfolio that includes a third of Redwood City in California, a sailing team and real estate, including Hawaii’s Lanai island, but his most profitable investment is his stake in Tesla. Ellison purchased the equivalent of 15 million shares in the electric vehicle company before joining its board in 2018. As Tesla’s value soared during the pandemic, Ellison racked up an incredible $12 billion (£8.6bn) return by January 2021. Factoring in all his stakes, this tech mogul’s fortune has grown by $58.4 billion (£41.9bn) since 18 March last year, leaving him with an enviable net worth of $117.4 billion (£84.3bn).
In March 2020, Page’s net worth was slightly higher than Brin’s at $50.9 billion (£39.6bn). His wealth has seen the same upward trajectory as Google’s market value has skyrocketed thanks to long periods of lockdown prompting more people to use its services than ever before. Larry Page is worth $118.1 billion (£84.8bn) at the time of writing, which is a $67.2 billion (£52.2bn) increase since the start of the pandemic.
It’s incredible that the world’s best-known and most-used online retailer started out as a small garage bookshop in 1994, and its founder, Jeff Bezos, has accumulated an incredible fortune to match. Amazon sales have flourished while brick-and-mortar stores have been forced to shut and the gargantuan company reported that profits had tripled since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. It’s as if Amazon was designed to thrive during a pandemic, with everything from its video streaming platform to its grocery delivery service seeing an uptick in usage.
At various points throughout the crisis Jeff Bezos took the title of the biggest billionaire winner of the pandemic, but he has since been pushed down into second place. The second richest person in the world according to Forbes – Louis Vuitton chairman Bernard Arnault and his family occupy the top spot at the time of writing – Bezos’ net worth has increased in tandem with Amazon's success, and it is up by $77.7 billion (£55.8bn) since 18 March 2020, despite his huge divorce settlement. Bezos is forecast to be the world’s first trillionaire by 2026.
The maestro behind the stock market sensation that is Tesla is unsurprisingly top of the pile when it comes to billionaire winners of the pandemic, as the electric car manufacturer has swerved the plummet in demand that has impacted more traditional automakers across the world. In fact, the company earned record profits in the first quarter of the year, and shares hit an astonishing record price of $883.09 (£634.19) on 26 January 2021, despite the CEO's penchant for penning damaging tweets, including the one he put out in May last year claiming the Tesla share price was “too high”, which caused it to tank by 10%.
The South African-born billionaire became the world's second richest person last year, overtaking Bernard Arnault, and even surpassed Jeff Bezos' wealth at the start of the year to take the top spot. However, he has since dropped down to third place. One way he has beaten Bezos though is the sheer increase in his wealth in the past year. Since March 2020, his fortune has grown by a huge $162.7 billion (£116.8bn) as Tesla's share price has skyrocketed and he has unlocked a series of performance-related rewards. He is now worth $187.3 billion (£134.5bn) according to Forbes.