500 wealthiest people including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg lose $2 trillion

The world’s richest people - including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos - have lost a whopping amount after financial markets plunged.

The 500 wealthiest people in the world have lost a whopping $US1.4 trillion ($A2 trillion) combined this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

On Monday, the group suffered a brutal loss of $US206 billion ($A299 billion) after global financial markets plunged amid concerns over higher interest rates and rising inflation.

It’s a reversal to the world’s richest fortunes, which previously soared by 8 per cent last year amid a booming share market.

Elon Musk saw $US73.2 billion ($A106 billion) wiped from his wealth this year just as he is set to buy Twitter, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has had $US65.3 billion ($A94.7 billion) erased from his fortune.

Meanwhile, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has taken a $64.4 billion ($A93.4 billion) hit to his wealth.

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Jeff Bezos has had $US65.3 billion ($A94.7 billion) erased from his fortune. Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

Tech company bosses like Mark Zuckerberg have taken a hit. Picture: Nicholas Kamm / AFP

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has experienced one of the biggest hits with $US85.6 billion ($A124 billion) erased from his wealth.

Then there’s Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury products group, who has seen his wealth drop by $US56.8 billion ($A82.4 billion) this year.

It comes as US tech and consulting company Capgemini latest wealth report showed the US, Japan, China and Germany are the top countries where most of the world’s wealthy live, with the four nations home to 64 per cent of the globe’s high-net-worth individuals.

Yet, the US stock market hit its lowest point since January 2021 and was down more than 20 per cent from its record, with warnings a global recession could hit.

“It’s going to get a little uglier,” said Victoria Greene, chief investment officer at US company G Squared Private Wealth told Bloomberg. “

“It’s going to be very hard for stocks to rally when the (US) Fed continues to put hawkish pressure. There’s no way they can slam on the brakes with inflation without slamming on the brakes economically speaking. It’s funny we still have recession deniers.”

Hancock Prospecting Group executive chairman Gina Rinehart saw an estimated $2.4 billion wiped from her fortune. Picture: Supplied

In Australia, the nation’s wealthiest took a $11 billion blow to their fortunes, including iron ore magnates Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest, as well as Atlassian tech giant founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar.

Ms Rinehart saw an estimated $2.4 billion wiped from her valuation, while shares in Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group plunged by 9 per cent, taking $2 billion from his wealth, while the Atlassian founders lost $1.3 billion each.

On Tuesday, $116 billion was wiped out on the Australian Stock Exchange, which experts have predicted are only a taste of the pain to come for the nation’s economy amid warnings we are headed towards a crippling 1970s-style “stagflation”.