Money losers of 2008: Billionaires who lost billions this year

Posted Dec 24th 2008 12:30PM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Dell (DELL), eBay (EBAY), Amazon.com (AMZN), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Sears Holdings (SHLD), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Oracle Corp (ORCL), News Corp'B' (NWS), Blackstone Group L.P (BX)

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

There's no doubt about it -- times are tough. People are struggling to find work and to pay the bills as the value of their homes and savings dwindle. The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer.

Or do they? It's all relative, of course, but world's billionaires have been taking some big hits too. We take a look at Sheldon Adelson, Kirk Kerkorian, and Lakshmi Mittal in their own separate posts, but here are some other billionaires who have lost billions this year (courtesy of Forbes and Business Sheet).

Brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani of India's private conglomerate Reliance lost $32.5 billion and $28.2 billion, respectively.
Warren Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, lost $16.5 billion. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) are down about 32% since the beginning of the year.
Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen lost $12.3 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively, while CEO Steve Balmer lost $6.5 billion. Shares of Microsoft are down 46% since the beginning of the year.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, cofounders of Google Inc. (NYSE: GOOG), lost $11.9 billion and $11.7 billion, respectively, and CEO Eric Schmidt lost $3.8 billion. The share price of Google has fallen 55% since the beginning of the year.
Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), lost $8.2 billion. Shares of Oracle are down 21% since the beginning of the year.
Media maven Sumner Redstone lost $7.2 billion. Shares of his private investment firm National Amusements fell 70% this year.

Charles Ergen lost $6.1 billion. Shares of DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) have fallen 71% since the beginning of the year.
Financier and activist investor Carl Icahn lost $5.1 billion. Shares of Icahn Enterprises are down 62% since January.
Eddie Lampert, chairman of Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD), lost $5.0 billion. Shares of Sears are 62% lower since the beginning of the year.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos lost $4.6 billion. Shares of Amazon are down 44% since the beginning of the year.
Oil and gas magnate Dan Duncan lost $4.1 billion. Shares of Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) have fallen 33% since the beginning of the year.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch lost $4.0 billion. Shares of News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) are 57% lower since the beginning of the year.
Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) lost $3.8 billion. Shares of Blackstone are down 73% since the beginning of the year.
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) founders Min Kao and Gary Burrell lost $3.4 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively. Shares of Garmin are 80% lower since the beginning of the year.
Michael Dell, founder and CEO of his eponymous computer company, lost $3.3 billion. Shares of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) are down 55% since the beginning of the year.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) founder Pierre Omidyar lost $3.2 billion. Shares of eBay have fallen 56% since the beginning of the year.
Micky Arison, CEO of Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) lost $2.6 billion. Shares of cruise ship operator are 46% lower since the beginning of the year.
Former American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) chairman and CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg lost $2.3 billion. Shares of the bailed-out insurer have fallen 97% since the beginning of the year.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) founder and CEO Steve Jobs lost $2.3 billion. Shares of Apple are down 55% since the beginning of the year.
Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) lost $2 billion. Shares of the casino and hotel operator are 62% lower since the beginning of the year.
Oleg Deripaska, Russia's richest man, lost $1.5 billion when he was forced to sell his stake in a Canadian auto-parts company to meet a margin call.

Others who fell off the list of billionaires include Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang, former Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) CEO Sanford Weill, former AIG executive Leslie Gonda, AIG executive Ernest Stempel, Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) board member Ernest Rady, and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) shareholder Clemmie Dixon Spangler Jr. Here's hoping all the former billionaires can get by as mere millionaires.

Be sure to check out more Money Losers of 2008.

Tags: AAPL, AIG, Amazon, Amazon.com, AMZN, Anil Ambani, Apple, BAC, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, bilionaires, Bill Gates, Blackstone Group, BRK.A, BX, Carl Icahn, Carnival, CCL, Charles Ergen, Citigroup, Clemmie Dixon Spangler, Dan Duncan, DELL, DISH, Dish Network, eBay, Eddie Lampert, EPD, Eric Schmidt, Ernest Randy, Ernest Stempel, featured, Garmin, Gary Burrell, GOOG, Google, GRMN, Hank Greenberg, Jeff Bezos, Jerry Yang, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Leslie Gonda, Michael Dell, Micky Arison, Microsoft, Min Kao, Money Losers 2008, MSFT, Mukeshi Ambani, News Corp., NWS, Oleg Deripaska, Oracle, ORCL, Paul Allen, Pierre Omidyar, Rupert Murdoch, Sanford Weill, Sears, Sergey Brin, SHLD, Stephen Schwarzman, Steve Balmer, Steve Jobs, Steve Wynn, Sumner Redstone, Wachovia, Warren Buffett, WB, WYNN, Wynn Resorts, Yahoo, YHOO

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-24-2008 @ 2:17PM

pooh pooh said...

it's tought losin all that money but lucky for them they still got more than all of us put togeather.

12-24-2008 @ 5:43PM

UNCLE JOHN said...

Your reporting paper losses, I would like to know what the actual losses are.

12-25-2008 @ 8:28PM

Beltway Greg said...

And the American consumer? If you combine housing and equities about $5.0-5.5 trillion dollars and counting. And that doesn't even take into account the affect that this will have in GNP in the coming years. Trust me, the fine folks on this list won't lose their mortgages.

12-26-2008 @ 5:11PM

Ryan Schwebel said...

What about all these Middle Eastern oil tycoons? The net worth of some of these guys must be tied up directly with oil prices and I'd think some of the losses they must have incurred JUST IN THE LAST 5 MONTHS would dwarf any of these other losses for the year. Also, FWIW, Michael Dell has actually lost 3.3 billion in just the last 3 months.

12-27-2008 @ 5:38PM

fafa22 said...

People who lose their jobs actually lose something (and something vital). The "loss" of the people in your article is only virtual: they would have lost *money* IF they had bought all of their shares at their one year ago nominal value (assuming this was possible) and selling all of them now (and again, assuming this would be possible). And they still would be very, very, rich.

12-30-2008 @ 12:59PM

t.cedu said...

It should be right to ask just few questions: where and how the hell this big chunck of 'money' has gone? Who made the profits from these disclosed losses all these smart and savvy guys have been making? Were there any bells and whistles blowing that some hidden forces were quietly syphoning these sums out of their wealth if not the markets? Ultimately, who will pay for this?

Your article has inspired my post you can find here: http://slavisqarats.com/economy/stocks-bonds-derivatives-vs.-wealth-management.html