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Business – TrueNewsBlog- December 29, 2020
TrueNewsBlog- TNB
By: Nathaniel Ballantyne
(TrueNewsBlog) – As millions battle poverty and turn to foodbanks for their next meal, a group of American financial elites have seen their personal fortunes rocket to unimaginable new heights As lockdowns plunged struggling Brits into poverty and has them relying on food banks, a handful of billionaires saw their personal fortunes rocket. Coronavirus has ravaged the world and families across the globe are living on the breadline. But for 614 billionaires in America, their bank balances have increased by a mega $931 billion since the virus first took hold.
The economy has tanked so far this year with millions of jobs on the line and budgets for many tighter than ever.
In the UK, food banks are being used more than ever – with figures showing a 61% increase in food parcels being given out.
For context, that is six parcels being given to a starving family every minute.
Meanwhile, the bosses at tech companies like Microsoft, Google and Zoom saw their profits increase during lockdowns, UniLad reported.
USA Today identified the 30 billionaires who profited the most during the pandemic, including Elon Musk, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Their combined $90.1 billion growth in wealth accounts for almost 10% of the total increase enjoyed by American billionaires in 2020 alone.
Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, watched as his wealth rocketed $70bn to a eye-watering $185bn – primarily as millions of households were locked inside relying on deliveries.
Elon Musk, the maverick behind Tesla and outspoken internet personality, also saw financial benefits, as did Google’s Larry Page and social media guru Mark Zuckerberg.
Since the virus first emerged it is estimated that 50 healthcare leaders have become billionaires, with 28 hailing from China.
These includee Uğur Şahin, the physician who co-founded BioNTech, which helped develop the Pfizer vaccine, and Stéphane Bancel, the CEO of Massachusetts-based Moderna.
Studies have found that Coronavirus caused a sharp rise in UK poverty, with one report suggesting poor households had increased by 700,000 to 15.2 million as a result of the pandemic.(DailyStar).
