As Haute Living’s first-ever Haute 100 New York City list is being rolled of the press at the printers in Las Vegas (set to his news stands next week!), Vanity Fair releases some disheartening news about the individuals contained on the magazine’s annual power ranking, dubbed The Vanity Fair 100. It seems many of those than the magazine has deemed the most affluent and influential individuals in the country are in fact just like the rest of America in that they have lost money in the market free fall. But unlike the rest of America, the movers and shakers of the VF 100 ranking have lost a completely ridiculous amount.
Five of the power players on VF‘s top 10 list have lost a combined total of $43 billion. VF‘s Peter Newcomb breaks it down as follows:
The people occupying five of the top 10 slots on the list have lost a combined total of $43 billion. Rupert Murdoch (No. 2) shed $4.2 billion; Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt of Google (No. 3) are down $14.7 billion; No. 4 Steve Jobs saw his shares in Apple and Disney shrink by $2.2 billion; Jeff Bezos (No. 6) of Amazon lost $4 billion; and Warren Buffett (No. 5) has given up a whopping $18 billion-the most of anyone on the list. (Fortunately, the Oracle of Omaha still has another $48 billion left to play with.)
Newcomb also breaks down how things have played out for those who own large stakes in publically traded companies. Here’s a hint: Not good. Charter Communications, of which Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen owns some 370 million shares, has plummeted 86 percent, shrinking Allen’s $16 billion fortune by $660 million. Rupert Murdoch, who is also listed on our Haute 100 New York City, saw his sock drop by 63 percent.
The article is accompanied by a chart that lists the percent that the stock has dropped, the company, and the entrepreneur affected. Quite a sad sight, and a reminder that even billionaires aren’t fully recession proof. But even though their total net worth may be shrinking, in some cases, the millions lost is a mere drop in the overflowing bucket of wealth.
Via Vanity Fair
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