It was a rough quarter for billionaires: 8 of the world’s richest people lost money, too

The first quarter of 2025 hasn’t been kind to the world’s billionaires.

Among the top 10 richest people in the world, only Bill Gates and Warren Buffett added to their fortunes in this period, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Of course, anyone who has experienced the value of their own portfolios sinking during a volatile first quarter is unlikely to be crying over their losses—these are still very wealthy individuals.

Elon Musk remains the richest of all, by Bloomberg’s calculations, with a $316 billion net worth as of March 31. Still, that’s $116 billion less than the Tesla CEO—and right-hand policy advisor to President Donald Trump—had at the start of the year. It’s also $170 billion less than the $486 billion recorded as Musk’s net worth on Dec. 17, as Tesla’s share price climbed on expectations the electric carmarker would benefit from Trump’s election.

Tesla has struggled since, and on Wednesday, the car maker reported its worst-ever quarterly decline in car deliveries. Tesla delivered 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter—far short of the 378,000 vehicles anticipated by Wall Street analysts.

Musk’s fortunes are largely tied to Tesla, although he also is the owner of several other companies, including X, the social media company recently bought by xAI, an artificial intelligence lab that is another of Musk’s enterprises. The sale was an all-stock transaction that “values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt),” Musk said in a March 28 post on X.

Many of the world’s top billionaires have fortunes tied to the tech world, which has had a rocky start in the market this year as investors have shied away from riskier sectors. The tech-filled Nasdaq Composite dropped 12% in the first quarter.

As a result, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, ranked No. 2 on Bloomberg’s list, ended the quarter down $27.1 billion from the start of the year,with a net worth of $212 billion, dropping 11.3%. No. 3-ranked Meta founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth fell by only $3.35 billion or 1.6%, to $204 billion, as his company’s stock dropped only 3.9% for the quarter—far less than peers.

Meanwhile, No. 5-ranked Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, saw his wealth climb by $24.3 billion to a net worth of $166 billion, or 17.1% this year, in step with gains in Berkshire stock. The holding company’s B shares gained 17.5% to $532.5 through the first quarter. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, No. 7 on the Bloomberg list, has gained $2.03 billion this year to $161 billion despite a 13% drop in Microsoft stock.

Among the top 10 wealthiest, only two—Buffet and No. 4-ranked Bernard Arnault, the chairman of luxury goods giant LVMH—haven’t derived their wealth through tech enterprises.

But recent ups-and-downs in Arnault’s wealth reflects his 48% stake in LVMH—as reported by Bloomberg—which has faltered lately because of Trump’s tariff policies. Most of LVMH’s products are produced in Europe, which could face a range of retaliatory duties. The conglomerate’s U.S. over-the-counter shares have fallen 11.3% since reaching $794.75 on Jan. 27 to $704.91 on March 31; similarly, Arnault’s wealth dropped 20% since reaching a net worth of $209 billion on Jan. 28 to $167 billion on March 31.