COVID-19 made the wealthy wealthier - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

While the jury is still out on the economic effects of the coronavirus crisis, the majority of the wealthy ended off better since the COVID-19 hit the world, says Hurun rich list founder Rupert Hoogewerf in the Business Standard. "The two biggest ‘winners’ from the Hurun Top 100 of Covid-19 were online retailers Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Colin Huang Zheng of Chinese low-end ‘social shopping’ giant Pinduoduo," says Hoogewerf.

The Business Standard:

Amazon Inc boss Jeff Bezos, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla of Pune-based Serum Institute of India saw their wealth increasing during the coronavirus pandemic, says research done by a Chinese group. 

Hurun Research's 'Wealth Impact 4mths after Covid-19 Outbreak' tracks the wealth changes of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs in the four months ending May 31. It is a follow-up on the 'Wealth Impact 2mths after Covid-19 Outbreak' looking into wealth changes in the two months ending 31 March 2020 and the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, which had a wealth cut-off of 31 January 2020. 

As many as 60 per cent of the entrepreneurs on Hurun Global Rich List Top 100 had their wealth rise or stay the same in the four months since the outbreak. As many as 40 per cent entrepreneurs saw their wealth reducing. “Whilst the first two months of the outbreak saw a massive wealth wipeout of the Hurun Global Top 100, the second two months saw a V-shaped recovery for two-thirds of the Hurun Global Top 100, reminding us that it is dangerous to bet against the world’s best wealth creators,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher. 

"The two biggest ‘winners’ from the Hurun Top 100 of Covid-19 were online retailers Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Colin Huang Zheng of Chinese low-end ‘social shopping’ giant Pinduoduo, who added Rs 1.51 trillion (20 billion US$) and Rs 1.35 trillion (18 billion US$) to their fortunes, pretty much all the gains coming in the past two months,” said Hoogewerf. 

Another big winner was Eric Yuan Zheng, 50, of popular video conferencing app Zoom, who saw his wealth triple from Rs 34,000 crore in January to Rs 98,200 crore today, propelling him up from 555th in the world four months ago to knocking on the door of the world’s Top 100 today."

More at the Business Standard.

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In a killing stock market, China has been a relative winner - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

The massive drop of stock markets has wiped away unprecedented amounts of capital, says Hurun China Rich List founder Rupert Hoogewerf at the South China Morning Post. But in that bloodbath, China has been a relatief winner, he adds.

The South China Morning Post:

While most billionaires have seen their fortunes shrink drastically amid a stock market rout brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and containment measures launched by governments, a handful have seen their wealth rise – significantly.

According to research by Hurun Report calculating the pandemic’s impact on billionaires’ fortunes, Eric Yuan, the US-based founder and chief executive of Zoom, the video conferencing software company, saw his net worth skyrocket by US$3.5 billion – or 77 per cent – to US$8 billion. This makes him the fast riser of the past two months.

Zoom has become ubiquitous as executives at companies around the world try to stay in touch while working from home. 

“The last two months have wiped out all the wealth made in the past two-and-a-half years, with the World’s Top 100 down 12.6 per cent, or US$408 billion, equivalent to each of the Hurun Top 100 losing US$75 million a day,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report’s chairman and chief researcher.

“China has been the relative winner,” he said. The country added six billionaires to the top 100 list, while India lost three and the US lost two. He said that the Hurun Report had 2,816 known billionaires before the Covid-19 pandemic, but that number had dropped by 20 per cent, as tanking stock markets wiped out net worth estimations.

More in the South China Morning Post.

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