Amazon's Bezos, Facebook's Zuckerberg are real winners of post-election market rally
US billionaires gained more than $57 billion on Wednesday
Even though President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are still battling over the 2020 election, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg could be considered winners in their own way.
A total of 167 U.S. billionaires gained $57.4 billion on Wednesday, which saw the best-ever post-election gains for the Nasdaq and S&P 500, Bloomberg reported. Bezos had the biggest gain, $10.5 billion, and Zuckerberg increased his wealth by $8.1 billion, according to Bloomberg.
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Bezos also sold one million shares of Amazon this week ahead of Wednesday's market rally, which adds up to $3 billion, according to SEC filings. He still owns approximately 53 million shares of Amazon stock.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin speaks during the JFK Space Summit, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, June 19, 2019. (REUTERS/Katherine Taylor)
Bezos' stock sale is particularly notable, given the dollar amount. In the past, Bezos has used Amazon stock sales to fund his space exploration company, Blue Origin, to the tune of approximately $1 billion per year.
In October, Blue Origin said it was working with the U.S. Air Force to continue investing in the development of its New Glenn rocket. In 2018, the Air Force awarded a contract to Blue Origin "for development of the New Glenn Launch System." The initial segment of the National Security Space Launch certification process was completed.
In May, NASA announced it would rely on Blue Origin and SpaceX to build lunar landing systems to carry astronauts for Artemis moon missions.
Bezos and other billionaires' gains in the midst of the electoral chaos feed into concerns about America's richest getting richer and its poorest getting poorer during the coronavirus pandemic. A study published in July found that billionaires' wealth increased during the pandemic in all but two states. As for Bezos, he topped the Forbes 400 richest list for the third consecutive year in 2020.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 179.62 | +5.95 | +3.43% |
| FB | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
Meanwhile, Biden has repeatedly said Trump's mishandling of the economy exacerbated income inequality in the nation and contributed to a so-called "K-shaped" recovery — in which wealthy Americans are experiencing a shorter recession and a faster rebound, while low- and middle-class Americans are still living on the brink.
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"We all know it didn't have to be this bad," Biden said in September. "It didn't have to be this bad to begin with, if the president just did his job."
FOX Business' Audrey Conklin and Megan Henney contributed to this report.
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