The world's top 10 billionaires saw their combined wealth increase by $135 billion on April 9 after US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariff hikes for most countries.
Elon Musk, the world's richest person, was the biggest gainer, with his net worth rising by $35.9 billion to $326 billion. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw the second-biggest gain, up $25.8 billion to $207 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos added $18.5 billion to his fortune, bringing his total to $210 billion.
Investing legend Warren Buffett's fortune rose $8.1 billion to $162 billion, while former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's increased $15.5 billion to $159 billion. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates saw his net worth rise $4.8 billion to $152 billion.
Google's Larry Page and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer are now both worth $142 billion, after gains of $11 billion and $11.2 billion, respectively. Google billionaire Sergey Brin added $10.2 billion to his fortune, bringing his total to $134 billion.
Of the top 10 richest people, only LVMH tycoon Bernard Arnault saw his net worth fall, falling $5.7 billion to $148 billion.
On the afternoon of April 9, Mr. Trump unexpectedly announced: "I have granted a 90-day pause," while noting that more than 75 countries are negotiating trade terms and have not retaliated against his recent tariff hike.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later clarified that the US would suspend "retaliatory" tariffs on key trading partners, but the 10% tariff on most imports would remain in effect. Existing tariffs on cars, steel, and aluminum also remained unchanged.
However, Mr. Trump said he would increase tariffs on Chinese imports to 125% from the 104% imposed earlier this week.
The move sent Wall Street's "Magnificent Seven" stocks soaring again, adding more than $1.5 trillion in market value overnight. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite recorded their biggest daily percentage gains in more than a decade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7.87%, the S&P 500 rose 9.52% - its biggest daily gain since October 2008 during the global financial crisis - and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 12.16%, marking its biggest one-day gain since January 2001 at the height of the dotcom bubble.
Just a day after President Trump announced new tariffs on April 2, the total wealth of the top 500 billionaires fell by a combined $208 billion, with the three richest people - Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos - losing nearly $45 billion. The event marked the fourth-largest one-day decline since Bloomberg began tracking billionaires' fortunes 13 years ago and the worst since Covid-19. More than half of the billionaires saw their net worth decline, with an average decline of 3.3%.