Think back: There really was a time when no one wore sweatpants on Zoom calls with clients. Or even dreamed about buying a used BMW on Carvana.com. Or had to remember which shot — Pfizer, the first time? Moderna, the second? — they got.
In a little less than three years, Covid-19 has changed everything: how we live, work and play, educate our kids. And, it turns out, how vast wealth can be made — and lost — faster than anyone might’ve thought possible, Bloomberg reports in a new analysis.
The roll-out of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine propelled scientist Stephane Bancel’s net worth to $15 billion as the shares soared almost 2,400%. Eric Yuan, denied a US visa eight times before moving from China, watched his fortune hit $29 billion as Zoom Video Communications Inc. became the world’s go-to video-conferencing tool. And the father-son duo behind online used-car seller Carvana Co. amassed a $32 billion fortune at the peak.
The men belong to an exclusive club of 58 billionaires whose wealth multiplied at an eye-popping pace thanks to changes brought about by Covid and cheap money, only to plummet even quicker.
Their rise and subsequent slump were sharper than the other 131 members of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index whose net worth more than doubled, but wasn’t as reliant on how Covid altered lives across the globe. Read more.
