Nvidia shares rose as an analyst changed their rating to overweight, while shares of commodities trader Glencore took a hit.
Some of this week’s biggest winners are the cofounders of graphics chipmaker Nvidia and Google. Shares of the two companies ticked up amid their ongoing efforts to incorporate AI into their software and computing platforms.
Nvidia shares rose 12% in the week through March 17, boosting cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang’s fortune by $2.2 billion..
On Tuesday, Google announced that it will add generative AI tools to its Workspace applications–meaning Google Docs and Sheets. Shares of parent company Alphabet rose 3.2% on Wednesday and ended the week up 12.6%. That lifted the fortunes of Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Not everyone had a great week. Shares in GitLab tumbled nearly 24% on Tuesday after it reported slower than expected revenue growth estimates and a decrease in its estimates for quarterly earnings. The drop in GitLab shares over the course of the week knocked down the fortune of CEO and founder Syste “Sid” Sijbrandij of the Netherlands.
Natural resources and commodities trading firm Glencore’s shares took a hit this week as well amid news that the firm will not renew a deal to buy aluminum from Russian firm United Co. Rusal International because of pledges to not engage in any new business with Russia due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The mid-week drop caused the net worth of several of Glencore’s high-profile members to decline.
Here is how some of the fortunes of the world’s richest fared this week:
Jensen Huang
Net Worth: $23.3 bil 🟢 Up $2.2 bil
Country: United States | Source Of Wealth: semiconductors, Self-Made | View profile
Huang, the Nvidia CEO, cofounded the firm in the 1990s to design graphics processing units serving the video game industry. Now Nvidia is considered a supplier to the AI revolution, providing graphics processing units (GPUs) used for machine learning. On Friday March 10th, investment bank Morgan Stanley upgraded Nvidia to overweight; this past week the stock surged 12%. That bumped Huang’s fortune up by $2.2 billion to $23.3 billion, making him the 63rd richest person in the world, according to Forbes’ list of Real Time Billionaires.
Larry Page & Sergey Brin
Larry Page Net Worth: $87.9 bil 🟢 Up $8.7 bil
Sergey Brin Net Worth: $84.2 bil 🟢 Up $8.2
Country: United States | Sources Of Wealth: Google, Self Made | View profile, View profile
The fortunes of Google’s cofounders increased by billions of dollars this week following an announcement from parent company Alphabet that it will introduce generative AI tools for its Workspace applications such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Meet. Shares in Alphabet increased nearly 12.6% in the week through March 17, causing the fortunes of Page and Brin to surge by 11% and 10.9%, respectively. Page is now ranked No. 9 on Forbes’ list of Real Time Billionaires and Brin is ranked No. 11.
Sytse “Sid” Sijbrandij
Net Worth: $1.0bil 🔴 Down $177 mil, -9.8%
Country: Netherlands | Source Of Wealth: software, Self Made | View profile
The cofounder and CEO of GitLab is worth nearly 10% less than a week ago after the firm shared estimates of revenue growth that was lower than analysts had forecast. That prompted a sharp decline in the stock price.. Shares in GitLab dropped 23.9% on Tuesday, causing a plummet in the net worth of Sijbrandij. However, as the week went on, GitLab shares recovered some of their losses. Sijbrandij lost $177 million, a 9.8% drop.
Ivan Glasenberg
Net Worth: $8.4 bil 🔴 Down $558mil, -6.2%
Country: Switzerland | Source Of Wealth: mining, Self Made | View profile
Tor Peterson
Net Worth: $2.2 bil 🔴 Down $171 mil, -7.2%
Country: United States | Source Of Wealth: commodities, Self Made | View profile
Aristotelis Mistakidis
Net Worth: $3.0 bil 🔴 Down $203 mil, -6.3%
Country: Greece | Source Of Wealth: mining, commodities, Self Made | View profile
Alex Beard
Net Worth: $2.0 bil 🔴 Down $94 mil, -4.5%
Country: United Kingdom | Source Of Wealth: mining, commodities, Self Made | View profile
Glasenberg, a Swiss citizen and retired CEO of Glencore, the world’s largest commodities trading firm, saw a drop in his net worth this week. Shares of Glencore tumbled 10.4% on Wednesday and recovered slightly in the following days. On Wednesday, news broke that Glencore would cease conducting business with a Russian aluminum firm, United Co. Rusal. Glasenberg, who retired as CEO of Glencore in 2021, still owns a stake in the firm. His fortune net worth dropped by nearly $600 million, a 6.2% decrease since last Friday.
Several other billionaires associated with Glencore also saw their net worths decrease this week, including head of operations Tor Peterson, Greek trader and former director of the firm’s copper business Aristotelis Mistakidis, and head of worldwide oil operations Alex Beard.