SF Bay Area Billionaires (-1) Hit Hard by Market Turmoil

By the Curmudgeon

Backgrounder:

The SF Bay Area is home to 82 billionaires and saw a 98% increase in millionaires over the past decade, according to a newly released report from Henley & Partners, a London investment firm. No other U.S. region in the top 10 has seen its number of wealthy residents skyrocket so rapidly.

New York City saw a 45% increase in millionaires over the past decade and now has 66 billionaires. London recorded a 12% drop in wealthy individuals, while Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong remained relatively stable, with 22, 18 and 40 billionaires respectively.

Billionaires Collective Net Worth Declined After Liberation Day (with a notable Exception):

A SF Chronicle analysis of Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List revealed that the region’s tech titans lost a collective $44 billion between April 2^nd — Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day,” and April 14^th. Yet there was a very notable winner – DOGE boss Elon Musk. Isn’t that a bit suspicious?

The market volatility, turmoil and all-asset meltdown (stocks, bonds and the U.S. dollar) followed a wave of confusion and anxiety over new trade policies announced by Trump, including 145% tariffs on China.

Here’s the billionaire’s scorecard:

· Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta, saw his fortune tumble from $216 billion to $185.3 billion, a -$30.7 billion drop.

· Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chairman, wasn’t far behind with a -$24.1 billion loss.

· Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin shed -$11.1 billion and -$10.7 billion, respectively.

· Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the poster child of AI enthusiasm, lost -$2.3 billion as the AI chipmaker’s shares swooned. (NVDA stock declined over 7% on April 16 and another 4% on April 17^th).

· Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff saw his net worth slip from $9.8 billion to $9.1 billion for a loss of $700 million.

· Star Wars creator George Lucas, whose wealth is largely tied up in real estate and investments, dipped to $4.7 billion from $5.1 billion.

· Airbnb’s trio of founders — Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia — lost a combined -$9.6 billion as the company’s shares slid in response to slower-than-expected bookings growth.

· Laurene Powell Jobs (widow of Steve Jobs) lost -$1.6 billion due to the decline of Apple stock (AAPL).

· Eric Yuan, founder of Zoom, saw a comparatively modest dip of -$100 million.

Elon Musk is an Extraordinary Exception (or maybe not?):

A person in a black sweatshirt

AI-generated content may be incorrect.
Photo by Matt Rourke/Associated Press

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Since Trump’s April 2^nd tariff shocker, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) boss-man Elon Musk (aka “Disrupter-in-Chief”) gained $26 billion, pushing his net worth from $342 billion to $368.1 billion, according to the SF Chronicle article by Aidin Vaziri. Please refer to his email at the end of this blog post.

Note: As of April 17^th, Forbes lists Musk’s net worth at $363.6B.

Stakes in SpaceX (~42% ownership), Tesla, X/Twitter, xAI, BORING Co., NEUROLINK, cryptocurrencies and other ventures contribute to his wealth, making 53-year-old Musk the world’s richest man.

Google’s AI assistant said: “SpaceX's most recent valuation is $350 billion, determined by a recent share sale. This valuation is based on a tender offer where SpaceX bought back shares from insiders, effectively raising the price per share and the overall valuation of the company. The $350 billion valuation makes SpaceX the most valuable private company in the world.” CNBC reported that valuation number on December 11, 2024.

According to Forge Global, SpaceX stock price on April 17th is $202.12, leading to a valuation of $382.39 billion. However, the last closed trade price for SpaceX was $263.16 on January 30th, which represents a YTD decline of -23.2%.

Side note: on April 9, 2025, Tesla (TSLA) shares soared by 23% in a single day, immediately following Trump’s announcement to pause most tariffs for 90 days. This resulted in Elon Musk’s fortune increasing by nearly +$36 billion that day. He owns ~12% of TSLA shares excluding stock options. However, TSLA has given back most of that gain.

Again, Musk’s net worth as of April 17^th is $363.6B, according to the Forbes list.

According to CoinTelegraph.com, Musk’s fortune was $378.1B as of March 31, 2025, partitioned according to this chart:

A screenshot of a phone

AI-generated content may be incorrect.
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Computed differently, Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s List reports Musk’s net worth is now $304B and is -29.8% YTD.

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Email from Aidin Vaziri, SF Chronicle Author:

For the referenced article, we simply compared the annual billionaire rankings published on April 1, a day before “Liberation Day,” with the real-time rankings as of April 14 using these links:

https://www.forbes.com/billionaires

https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires

According to Forbes: “Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires rankings tracks the daily ups and downs of the world’s richest people. The wealth-tracking platform provides ongoing updates on the net worth and ranking of everyone confirmed by Forbes to be a billionaire. The value of individuals’ public holdings are updated every 5 minutes when respective stock markets are open (there will be a 15-minute delay for stock prices). Individuals whose fortunes are significantly tied to private companies will have their net worth’s updated once a day. In cases where an individual owns a stake in a private company that accounts for 20% or more of his or her net worth, the value of the company will be adjusted according to an industry- or region-specific market index provided by our partners at FactSet Research Systems when available. A rotating cast of the five biggest winners and losers throughout the day is featured at the top of the page, followed by the complete list of billionaires ranked in order of net worth.”

We’re aware of discrepancies in other reports regarding Elon Musk’s wealth. However, our analysis relied solely on the Forbes data linked above.

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Stay calm, be healthy, successful and good luck. Till next time….

The Curmudgeon
ajwdct@gmail.com

Follow the Curmudgeon on Twitter @ajwdct247

Curmudgeon is a retired investment professional. He has been involved in financial markets since 1968 (yes, he cut his teeth on the 1968-1974 bear market), became an SEC Registered Investment Advisor in 1995, and received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from AIMR (now CFA Institute) in 1996. He managed hedged equity and alternative (non-correlated) investment accounts for clients from 1992-2005.

Victor Sperandeo is a historian, economist and financial innovator who has re-invented himself and the companies he's owned (since 1971) to profit in the ever-changing and arcane world of markets, economies, and government policies. Victor started his Wall Street career in 1966 and began trading for a living in 1968. As President and CEO of Alpha Financial Technologies LLC, Sperandeo oversees the firm's research and development platform, which is used to create innovative solutions for different futures markets, risk parameters and other factors.

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