Despite COVID-19 Crisis, Jeff Bezos Still Richest In The World As Bill Gates Is Second

COVID-19 lockdown has affected a lot of businesses around the world. And this has also translated into many people losing their net worth on a global scale. Forbes recently revealed its annual list of the world¡¯s richest people.

Reuters

This year, the COVID-19 crisis has pushed 267 entrepreneurs across the world from this list however, one man still claims to hold the top spot despite incurring considerable losses is Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

He¡¯s lost money not just through loses incurred due to COVID-19, but also in the divorce settlement with ex-wife, bringing his net worth down from $131 billion to $113 billion.

Reuters

And while the divorce shrank his funds, it gave rise to a new billionaire -- MacKenzie Bezos made her debut on the list at number 22 with a total net worth of $36 billion.

Bill Gates also maintains his spot as the second richest man in the world ($1.5 billion up from last year), despite contributing millions of dollars to help combat COVID-19.

He pledged $100 million to help in efforts containing the novel coronavirus. He has also funded 15,000 medicinal molecules to be shipped to a lab in Belgium to test a potential cure to the novel coronavirus. He also donated Rs 37 crores for at-home testing kits for COVID-19 for people in Washington.

Reuters

The third spot, however, was taken by Bernard Arnault -- Chairman and CEO of LVMH Mo?t Hennessy Louis Vuitton. He passed by Warren Buffet with a fortune of $76 billion -- same as last year.

Warren Buffet, on the other hand, lost $15 billion this year, bringing his net worth to $67.5 billion Oracle founder Larry Ellison claimed the fifth place at $59 billion.

According to Kerry A Dola, assistant managing editor of wealth at Forbes, ¡°The world¡¯s richest are not immune to the devastating impact of the coronavirus. The drop in the number of billionaires this year reflects the economic impact the pandemic is already having.¡±