Having money is good. Having a lot of money is good, good. But keeping it… It’s better. Realizing that you’ve squandered your entire fortune must hurt. But waking up one billionaire morning, then going to bed the same night ruined… Wow. Very happy to have no risk of experiencing such an upheaval.
1. Sam Bankman-Fried, Founder of FTX
FTX is the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange. On Friday, November 11, she announced her filing for bankruptcy and the resignation of her boss. At the beginning of November, Sam Bankman-Fried was still recognized as “the most important personality in the world of cryptocurrencies”, according to The Economist and his fortune peaked at 15 billion dollars. But damn! In just a few hours, he lost everything. EVERYTHING. In question: the revelations of a specialized information site which accused him of having used more than half of the 16 billion dollars of capital deposited by his clients, to finance Alameda: his own crypto company. According to the Wall Street Journal, this company owes FTX $10 billion. Reuters, he says that at least a billion was drawn from customer deposits and has completely disappeared.
2. Ye West
Following several problematic statements, including openly anti-Semitic remarks, the ex of Kim K saw his personal fortune drop in a few days. Indeed, some brands have decided to end their collaborations with him, including Adidas. This last breach of contract will have caused the American rapper to lose more than 1.5 billion dollars in just 24 hours. In mid-October, he was still one of the greatest fortunes in world show business, according to Forbes. A few days later, he was no longer a billionaire.
3. Bill Hwang, a former billionaire trader
Before losing everything, Bill Hwang was one of the greatest traders, as rich (20 billion dollars of personal fortune) as discreet. He was notably the founder of “Archegos Capital Management”, a “wealth management office”, which imploded in March 2021, for technical issues, but basically: federal prosecutors said that Hwang used Archegos as an “instrument market”, “manipulation and fraud”. In the idea, the guy made an imp and lost 20 billion dollars in 2 days. It stings. He has since also been arrested and charged on 11 counts, including racketeering conspiracy and securities fraud.
4. Mark Zuckerberg
Okkkk we are not on a ruined guy either, but still! At the end of January 2022, in a single day, the creator of Facebook lost… 31 billion dollars, after the fall in the value of Meta stock. Frankly, in 24 hours, that’s still a lot of money gone. Following this, he left the top 10 of the Forbes ranking of the richest people on the planet, to land in 12th place. No, we’re not going to pity him more than that, but we recognize that it’s still a hell of a shitty day.
5.Huang Wenji
As of 2017, Huang Wenji is the chairman of “China Jicheng Holdings”, an umbrella manufacturing company, based in Hong Kong. He then holds 75% of the shares with his wife. In the second half of the same year, a big stock market crash caused the shares of his company to plummet by… 91% in just two days. In 48 hours, he also lost 1.9 billion dollars on his personal fortune. (Source)
6. Elizabeth Holmes
In 2004, at only 19 years old, Elizabeth Holmes founded “Theranos”, a company promising to carry out complete blood tests at low cost, and by taking very little blood. The concept appeals, and the young woman quickly raises 700 million dollars from investors. 10 years after the launch, his company is estimated at 9 billion dollars, and the main shareholder, not yet thirty, is already at the head of a fortune of 3.6 billion dollars. But here it is… It was simply a scam! The groundbreaking technology never really worked, and Elizabeth was content to outsource the analyzes to other labs. Put in public by a journalist in 2015, she closes the company in 2018, finds herself ruined in a few months and is condemned, at the beginning of 2022, for having set up the biggest scam in Silicon Valley. A dazzling rise, a dazzling bankruptcy too.
7. Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson
Bjorgolfur (don’t ask me how it’s pronounced) was the second richest person in Iceland before the 2008 financial crisis. . In 2008, he was 1014 on the Forbes list of the world’s richest, with a personal fortune of $1.1 billion. At the outbreak of the crisis, he lost his presidency of Landsbanki, then declared personal bankruptcy, only a year later. 365 days to go from over $1 billion to zero.
8. Eike Batista
In 2011, he was the richest man in South America, and the seventh richest person in the world in 2012. At that time, the Brazilian economy was booming, and investors were scrambling to put their money in his empire. raw material. He was then at a fortune of 30 billion dollars. When the country’s economy fell, its money evaporated. Two years later, he had “no more than” $200 million. Well… It’s fine, anyway.
9. Bonus: Pecresse
Do you remember when Pécresse only won 4.78% of the vote in the 2022 presidential elections, and therefore had to repay the 5 million euros invested in her campaign, even if it meant having to commit her own small fortune? But thanks to the kindness and donations of her dedicated (albeit rare, oops) constituents, she was able to return the money without infringing on her personal fortune, and all without following any of our advice! I’m currently opening an online kitty to pay back the coffees I owe my friends for 10 years, don’t hesitate!