Jeff Bezos lost $20.5 billion under 24 hours

Jeff Bezos lost $20.5 billion.

The world’s second-richest guy lost this much in 24 hours. This massive loss occurred on the 29th of April.

However, the entrepreneur’s net worth remained at $148 billion as of April 30, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. Jeff Bezos is now over $100 billion richer than Elon Musk.

The French industrialist Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH (Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Hennessy, etc.) now threatens his silver medal. Arnault’s net worth is $136 billion. Bill Gates is fourth with $125 billion.

Except for Arnault, all of the Top 10 richest people on the planet lost money on April 29, a bad day for Wall Street. Six of the world’s 10 richest persons are in IT. Other non-tech billionaires include Warren Buffett ($117 billion), Gautam Adani ($122 billion), and Mukesh Ambani ($103 billion).

According to FactSet, Jeff Bezos’ net worth is mostly linked to his 9.81 percent share in Amazon.

Investors Fear Amazon

Amazon reported a quarterly loss of $3.8 billion, or $7.56 per share, compared to a profit of $8.1 billion, or $15.79 per share, a year ago.

Revenues increased 7% to $116.4 billion, the weakest annual growth in almost a decade.

Amazon expects operating profits of -$1 billion to +$3 billion on revenues of $116 billion to $121 billion, below Refinitiv’s expectation of roughly $125 billion.

CEO Andy Jassy says the pandemic and subsequent war in Ukraine have brought unprecedented growth and challenges. No longer chasing physical or staffing capacity, our teams are focusing on improving productivity and cost reductions across our fulfillment network. We’ve done this before.”

We see good progress on several customer experience dimensions, including delivery speed performance, since we’re already nearing levels not seen in the months immediately preceding the pandemic in early 2020, he added.

Investors were surprised by the data and comments because they thought Amazon could withstand the end of the online shopping boom.

But the economy’s reopening hasn’t spared Amazon’s retail operation. At the same time, Amazon’s operating costs continue to rise. Amazon, in particular, has had to add warehouse workers, raising logistical and labor expenses.

A $7.56 loss per share, or about $16.00 below the Street’s profits per share forecasts, was the company’s first quarterly loss since 2015.

On April 29, Amazon shares plunged 14.05 percent to $2,485.63, their lowest since July 2006. In 24 hours, the market cap of $206 billion vanished. But its market cap is still $1.26 trillion.