Friday’s Market Rally Added Nearly $20 Billion To The Fortunes Of These 10 Billionaires

THE CHANGING FORTUNES OF THE WORLD’S RICHEST

^Wall Street rallied on Friday after a better-than-expected jobs report revealed that the United States added 2.5 million jobs in May–the largest such increase on record. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Index ended the day up roughly 3% each, and global markets also pushed higher, as bullish investors celebrated the continuing reopening of retail and businesses around the world. It was especially good news for a group of 10 billionaires, whose largely stock-based fortunes climbed by a whopping $19.4 billion on Friday alone.

Leading the way for domestic gains, and perhaps most indicative of a changing tide, Warren Buffett’s fortune jumped $3.4 billion on Friday as shares of Berkshire Hathaway posted their biggest single-day gain in more than two months, climbing 5%. The storied conglomerate’s post-crash performance has lagged the broader market due in part to its portfolio’s reliance on stocks in heavily hit industries like financials and–until last month–airlines. Though Berkshire shares are still down 12% from February highs, when Buffett’s net worth was close to $89 billion, the stock has climbed about 25% since late May, as shares of U.S. financial firms similarly picked up some steam. The esteemed investor’s fortune climbed to $79.1 billion on Friday, up from $67.5 billion when U.S. financial stocks bottomed out on March 23. Buffett’s net worth increase was the day’s second largest.

Meanwhile, LVMH chairman and chief executive Bernard Arnault’s fortune continued its upward trajectory on Friday, as shares of LVMH jumped nearly 4% following news that the luxury fashion conglomerate would maintain its $16 billion bid for Tiffany & Co–leaving what’s believed to be the largest luxury brand acquisition ever in tact for now. Arnault ended as the day’s biggest gainer, up by $3.8 billion from Thursday to a net worth of $110.9 billion.

Fellow French luxury goods tycoon François Pinault is also among the day’s biggest gainers, nabbing the third-largest net worth increase, up $1.8 billion. Shares of his company Kering, which owns Gucci and Balenciaga, closed Friday up almost 6%. Pinault is now worth $40 billion, according to Forbes estimates. Both Kering and LVMH are components of the CAC 40, a benchmark stock index tracking 40 of the largest French stocks. The index climbed 4% on Friday, reaching its highest level since markets tanked in early March and continuing a days-long rally, after the Thursday announcement that the European Central Bank was adding an additional $676 billion (600 billion euros) to its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program, an economic stimulus package now totaling roughly $1.5 trillion.

Many of the day’s other largest gainers are global titans in tech–an industry in which share prices have been mostly unscathed, and in some cases bolstered, by the pandemic. Most illustrative of these newfound gains is Pinduoduo founder and CEO Colin Huang Zheng, who became China’s third-richest person during the pandemic. Shares of his Nasdaq-listed e-commerce giant rose by about 5% on Friday, reversing a minor decline in the preceding week and hitting their highest closing price ever. Zheng was the day’s fourth-largest gainer, adding $1.8 billion to his fortune, which now totals $36.1 billion.