FX.co ★ America’s least favourite billionaires

Technoking takes lead

The collective net worth of US billionaires has soared by 45% since March last year. An absolute leader on the list of super-rich Americans whose fortune grew during the pandemic is surely Elon Musk. His wealth spiked by almost 560%, or $137 billion. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is the second billionaire in the ranking. His net worth expanded by 58%, or $65 billion. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the third most successful businessman on the list. His fortune surged by 85%, or $47 billion, in twelve months.

Big abyss between them

ATF reported on 43 new billionaires in the United States in 2020. Currently, there are 657 billionaires in the country. At the beginning of 2021, 18 million people lived on an unemployment benefit, while hunger exceeded levels unseen in decades. It comes as no surprise that Americans become increasingly hostile towards the rich. This fact is proven by Vox analysts who conducted a survey in order to find out what ordinary Americans think about the expanding wealth of billionaires during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Appalling injustice

The majority of Americans surveyed (72% vs 19%) thought that it was unfair that billionaires became richer during the pandemic. Meanwhile, 49% of respondents said they have a strong feeling of antipathy towards the ultra-wealthy and 36% assured that they do not feel hostility towards them. At the same time, 23% of surveyed admitted that they consider billionaires to be good role models, while 65% gave a negative answer to this question.

Unpopular Mark Zuckerberg

The Vox survey shows that Americans dislike Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg the most. As of April 1, Zuckerberg is ranked fifth on the world’s billionaires list according to Bloomberg. He has a net worth of $111 billion. There is a $70 billion gap between Facebook’s CEO and the world’s richest billionaire, Jeff Bezos. Anyway, Americans still scorn Mark Zuckerberg. Only 31% of surveyed like the billionaire, while 55% detest him.

Mixed feelings towards Bezos

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tops the world's billionaires list. According to Bloomberg, he has a net worth of $182 billion. Bezos earned a third of his fortune during the pandemic. US Senator Bernie Sanders has recently severely criticized the billionaire for that. He noted that Bezos denied paid sick leaves to hundreds of thousands of his employees. This unpleasant fact from his biography has split the Americans surveyed: 38% of respondents condemn and dislike Bezos, while the other 38% support the entrepreneur.

Men favor Musk

In early April, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk earned $171 billion. He is currently the second richest person on the world's billionaires list. Surprisingly, only men (66%) admire the technoking. Conversely, women do not approve of the billionaire. Only 21% of women surveyed favor Elon Musk. Overall, 50% of respondents like him, while 23% loathe the business magnate. In fact, Americans despise Tesla’s CEO less than any other billionaire.

America’s favourite billionaire

According to Bloomberg, Bill Gates has a net worth of $141 billion. Microsoft's founder lags behind Elon Musk on the world’s richest billionaires list, but surpasses him in the sympathy rating. The famous philanthropist gained support from 55% of surveyed. This makes him America’s favourite billionaire. The Vox survey shows that one in four Americans likes Gates, while every third citizen, that is 35%, admits disliking him.