Billionaires have seen their fortunes hit record highs during the pandemic, with top executives from technology and industry earning the most, according to a report from Swiss bank UBS.
BBC business writer Simon Read reported that, according to the UBS study, the world’s richest saw their wealth climb 27.5% to $10.2trn from April to July this year.
That was up from the previous peak of $8.9trn at the end of 2017 and largely due to rising global share prices.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk – both multi-billionaires – saw their wealth hit new highs this summer thanks to growth in the price of their companies’ stock.
According to UBS, the biggest winners this year have been industrialists, whose wealth rose a staggering 44% in the three months to July.
‘Industrials benefited disproportionately as markets priced in a significant economic recovery [after lockdowns around the world],’ the bank said.
Tech billionaires have also had a good pandemic, seeing their wealth soar 41%. UBS said this was ‘due to the corona-induced demand for their goods and services’ and social distancing accelerating ‘digital businesses [and] compressing several years’ evolution into a few months’.
[Picture: Steve Jurvetson, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21166413]