Billionaires do well during the pandemic

Billionaire wealth soared to a record $10.2tn at the end of July after asset values bounced back following a coronavirus-induced dip, according to a report from Swiss bank UBS and accountancy firm PwC. The plunge in the equity markets in February and March, triggered by the realisation that the pandemic was going to be a global disaster, caused combined billionaire wealth to fall 6.6% to $8tn.

The number of individual billionaires fell by 43 to 2,058, the report said. But from the end of March equity markets began to bounce back, driven by huge fiscal stimulus and quantitative easing from global governments. By the end of July, the surge in asset prices had pushed global billionaire wealth back above its 2019 level. Total billionaire wealth globally climbed by a quarter (27.5%), reaching $10.2tn up from $8tn at the start of April. This set a new record high, surpassing the previous peak of $8.9tn reached at the end of 2017. The number of billionaires reached 2,189 up from 2,158 in 2017.

Commentators believe Billionaires did well during the Covid crisis and they not only rode a storm but also recovered pretty dramatically because of their discipline and the way they were managing their money. The report shows that the billionaire cohort is storming ahead. What we have seen during Covid is those who are disciplined and captured asset allocation intact were riding the storm and riding the upside. Billionaires in mainland China €” ground zero for the coronavirus pandemic €” weathered the storm best, growing their wealth by a fifth after coronavirus infections receded in the country in March causing equity markets to rally.