"What Did They Go For"...Billionaires Who Attended Trump's Inauguration Lost $209 billion

Recent US stock market declines have reduced the personal assets of the world's wealthiest individuals who attended President Donald Trump's inauguration by $209 billion (approximately 304 trillion won) since the ceremony.

According to Bloomberg and other sources on the 10th (local time), Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has emerged as a key figure in Trump's second term, has seen his stock wealth shrink by $148 billion since the inauguration. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lost $29 billion, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg lost $5 billion. Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), also lost $5 billion, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin lost $22 billion.

Until they attended President Trump's inauguration, their wealth had been growing significantly. Between Donald Trump's victory in last November's US presidential election and his inauguration on January 20 this year, the US stock market was strong, with the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index breaking record highs multiple times. The buying spree in stocks expected to benefit from President Trump's policies was dubbed the 'Trump Trade.'

However, the US stock market lost momentum after President Trump took office. Investors have expressed fatigue, particularly due to mass layoffs of government employees and fluctuating tariff policies. The S&P 500 index has fallen 6.4% since the inauguration and dropped an additional 2.7% on the 10th.

Tesla, Musk's company, experienced the steepest decline. The closing price on that day was $222.15, down 47.91% from January 17 ($426.5), just before the inauguration. While Musk's net worth had grown to $486 billion when Tesla's stock price peaked at $479.86 on December 17 last year, it has now shrunk to less than half that amount. Tesla has been directly impacted by declining sales in the European market due to growing antipathy toward Musk, who has been increasingly vocal within the Trump administration.

Bezos, who had a contentious relationship during Trump's first term, changed his approach this time by donating $1 million to the inauguration fund and dining with President Trump, but Amazon's stock has fallen about 14% since the inauguration.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin also showed pro-Trump behavior, such as dining with then President-elect Trump in November last year. However, the stock price of Google's parent company Alphabet has fallen more than 7% since it missed quarterly revenue expectations early last month. Brin still holds a 6% stake in Google.

Meta, led by Zuckerberg, continued last year's upward trend after President Trump's inauguration, but has now given back all those gains. This is due to the simultaneous collapse of the 'Magnificent 7' major tech companies' stock prices as President Trump's tariff policies take effect.

LVMH's Chairman Arnault is considered a longtime associate of President Trump. As a result, LVMH also became a target for Trump Trade, but it has weakened since the end of January. If the US imposes 10-20% tariffs on European luxury goods, LVMH's sales are expected to slow further.

The market capitalization of the five companies—Tesla, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and LVMH—has decreased by a total of $1.39 trillion (approximately 2,028 trillion won) since January 17, just before President Trump's inauguration.

Han Kyung-woo, Hankyung.com reporter case@hankyung.com