Even the billionaires who kept their lips firmly sealed about the U.S. presidential elections are benefitting from the outcome, with their fortunes ballooning as the market rallies.
While a host of notable names came out in favor of either president-elect Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, a significant proportion kept their opinions to themselves.
Among them was Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Alphabet co-founder Larry Page.
With the S&P 500 rallying 2.5% in the past 24 hours and the Nasdaq similarly jumping 3% following the confirmation of a second Trump presidency, the wealth of the richest people on the planet has similarly leapt.
Indeed, the world’s 10 richest people—including the likes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg—saw their daily wealth surge hit a record-breaking $64 billion according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
Warren Buffett: Up $7.6 billion
The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway remained determinedly silent on whether he would prefer a Harris or Trump administration—despite the best efforts of AI deepfake creators who attempted to make avatars of his endorsement.
In fact, the 94-year-old grew so tired of the fake images circulating he pushed Berkshire Hathaway to make a rare statement on the matter.
In late October the investment conglomerate issued a statement via its unusually antiquated website, reading: “In light of the increased usage of social media, there have been numerous fraudulent claims regarding Mr. Buffett’s endorsement of investment products as well as his endorsement and support of political candidates.
“Mr. Buffett does not currently and will not prospectively endorse investment products or endorse and support political candidates.”
Irrespective of the distance Buffett put between himself and politics, his assets have still ballooned by nearly $8 billion overnight.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Buffett’s fortune grew $7.58 billion—6.3%—in its update overnight to Nov. 7.
His year to date net worth increase has been $28 billion, giving him a total valuation of $148 billion. Berkshire Hathaway’s share price is up 5.3% on the day of writing.
Jensen Huang: Up $4.8 billion
The CEO of Nvidia has already seen his net worth soar by a blistering $83 billion so far this year, with Bloomberg’s index showing it has rallied a further $4.8 billion in its latest change.
Huang’s net worth now sits at $127 billion, with Nvidia rallying 4% today.
The Big Tech boss has also kept his hands clean of political endorsements either towards red or blue.
When asked about a preference towards one candidate or another in terms of stability in the business environment, Huang told CNBC: “One of thing that’s really important is… to have a stable policy. Of course, policy has to adapt to the changing environment and in our world the changing environment is literally real time.
“I appreciate the challenges it has on the administration and meanwhile we have to simultaneously seek and strive for American technologies to be the safest choice, to be the best choice, and we want the rest of the world’s industries to be built on top of our industry.”
When asked about proposed policies like Trump’s 10% import tariff, Huang was similarly bipartisan. He said: “I’m not very informed about most of that stuff. I think our company, of course, serves industries globally and we’re one of the few companies in the world that serves every AI company in the world.
“All of these matters are complicated and requires nuanced thinking from the administration so I trust that they’re going to make great decisions,” he continued.
Larry Page: Up $5.53 billion
Alphabet co-founder Larry Page saw his wealth balloon by more than $5.5 billion as tech stocks bounced on Trump’s regulation-light approach to technology.
But despite the former Google CEO having seen a huge increase to his fortunes on the back of a second Trump administration, he too stayed quiet on which candidate he would have seen installed in the Oval Office.
Page’s silence on politics is a marked difference from the approach of his former friend, X owner Musk.
Speaking on Fox News last year, Musk made it clear the partnership between himself and the fellow tech titan had soured, saying an alleged disagreement over AI regulation was the “final straw” in the downfall of their friendship.
Musk and Bezos
Musk’s fortunes have—unsurprisingly—rallied massively following Trump’s victory. The world’s richest man donated heavily to Trump’s campaign and has been promised political roles as a result.
The mutual support between Musk and Trump has led to huge gains in EV-maker Tesla’s shares, with Musk’s wealth leaping by a corresponding $26.5 billion.
Elsewhere, Amazon founder Bezos’s wealth has leapt by more than $7.1 billion.
While Bezos didn’t endorse either Trump or Harris, he was embroiled in the political battle after blocking the Washington Post—a paper he owns—from making its regular endorsement.
Defending the decision in an op-ed on the WP’s website, Bezos wrote: “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias.”
He added: “While I do not and will not push my personal interest, I will also not allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance—overtaken by unresearched podcasts and social media barbs—not without a fight.”
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