Here's How Much Money Mark Zuckerberg Has Lost During The Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has jeopardized the livelihoods of millions of people across the planet. Because social distancing is vital to mitigating transmissions of the novel coronavirus, businesses are shutting their doors, workers are shutting themselves indoors, and national economies are shuddering at the thought of the economic upheaval yet to come.
As reported by the Associated Press, the U.N.'s International Labor Organization warned that the pandemic has the potential to eliminate almost 25 million jobs worldwide and as much as $3.4 trillion in income by the end of 2020. NBC highlights the plight of the U.S., where "the job market is in free fall," according to Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi. By the end of March 2020, it's foreseeable that the number of unemployment filings could surpass 2 million. Moreover, Americans who contract COVID-19 could find themselves saddled with massive medical debt from coronavirus treatments, heightening their economic uncertainty. For example, a woman named Danni Askini, as Time describes, saw her plans to start a new job in D.C. obliterated by COVID-19, and then received a $34,927.43 bill for treatment.
With millions of people confronting the prospect of unexpected expenses and unprecedented levels of unemployment, you might be asking yourself: How is billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg doing financially, during all of this?
Mark Zuckerbeg will be better than fine
In case you were staying up at night, worrying about how Mark Zuckerberg will afford to keep the lights on in the coming months, you can rest easy. He has a financial cushion that can handily withstand the impact of a crashing economy. The South China Morning Post reports that during the historic stock market tumble of March 2020, Zuckerberg's wealth fell 9 percent, and he was still worth $57.4 billion. He took a $5.7 billion hit, which isn't even close to the biggest financial blow he has ever absorbed. Remember when Zuckerberg lost $15.1 billion over the course of 5 minutes in 2018? Time Magazine remembers, and back then, the loss dropped his net worth to $71 billion.
If you were worried about the other richest people on the planet being adversely affected by the pandemic, well, they're okay, too. The top 500 richest people lost a combined $238.5 billion, but the Bill Gates and Jeff Bezoses of the world are still billionaires, despite what must have been a somewhat inconvenient few months for their robust bank accounts. Meanwhile, some companies are even benefiting from the coronavirus pandemic. Shockingly enough, behemoth corporations and the filthy rich will be fine financially.