US tech billionaires had a field day on Thursday after a market rally sent their wealth to record highs in a single day. After the October consumer price index (CPI) revealed that inflation had decreased, optimism that the Federal Reserve might scale down its interest rate hike led to a 7 percent increase in US stocks on Thursday.
According to Bloomberg, this added a collective $59 billion to the net worth of 32 tech billionaires, as a large portion of the billionaires' fortunes is dependent on their shareholdings in publicly traded tech companies.
The highest one-day increase in net worth went to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, whose fortune increased by $10.5 billion to $119.6 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the e-commerce giant's share prices rose 12 percent after learning that CEO Andy Jessy is conducting a cost-cutting study. According to Bloomberg, Bezos's investment in Amazon accounts for over 80 percent of his total net worth.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the wealthiest man in the world, saw his wealth increase by $9.6 billion to $184 billion on Thursday, making him the second-largest beneficiary of the tech market surge, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bloomberg also said that Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Alphabet, had their fortunes increase by $5.3 billion and $5.1 billion, respectively, while former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's net worth increased by $5.9 billion.
| Position on Bloomberg Billionaires Index | Who | What they've gained | What they’re worth |
| #4 | Jeff Bezos, founder, Amazon | $10.5 billion | $119.6 billion |
| #1 | Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla | $9.6 billion | $184 billion |
| #10 | Steve Ballmer, former CEO, Microsoft | $5.9 billion | $86.6 billion |
| #9 | Larry Page, co-founder, Alphabet | $5.3 billion | $87.3 billion |
| #11 | Sergey Brin, co-founder, Alphabet | $5.1 billion | $83.6 billion |
The year has been a slump for tech equities, notwithstanding the one-day bounce. A significant sell-off has occurred due to market sentiment being negatively impacted by rising interest rates and inflation.
The tech-focused Nasdaq 100 index ended the day 7.5 percent higher but is still off 29 percent for the year.
