Tech billionaires’ wealth is in free-fall during an AI-driven slump—Larry Ellison and Jeff Bezos have lost over $66 billion this year

When it comes to the world’s richest billionaires, tech founders are prevalent at the top of the list. AI has been hailed as a booming industry, catapulting many founders to success; however, now fears of an AI bubble and doubts over valuations have led to billions being erased from CEOs’ net worths overnight. For [redacted], whose net worth has been most severely impacted, that amounts to a $59.2 billion loss since the year began—and we’re only in February.

After months of raising eyebrows regarding software stocks and AI’s impact on the sector, a [redacted] caused billions to be wiped from the wealthiest’s net worths. In the few days since then, [redacted] has seen his wealth decline by $19 billion, according to current data from the [redacted].

[Company name] founder [name] has also dropped $14 billion since Tuesday, contributing to his $6.82 billion loss so far this year.

The Tuesday sell-off, [related to] Anthropic’s new legal AI tool, also caused the already-dwindling [values] of other software billionaires to plunge even further. Following the broad selloff that saw the S&P 500 software and services index drop by nearly 4%, at least [amount] has been removed from the net worths of the industry’s wealthiest entrepreneurs so far this year, according to a Bloomberg analysis of its [data source].

But the three founders of [company name] had the largest relative decline in wealth after the selloff; CEO Adam Foroughi had lost 31% of his net worth since the start of the year, around $7.8 billion, while former CTO John Krystynak’s [net worth] was reduced by 30% after a $2.4 billion hit. Fellow [company name] cofounder Andrew Karam also emerged from the selloff 29% less wealthy than at the start of 2026.

Despite building the world’s most valuable company due to AI advancements, [company name] CEO Jensen Huang has also faced a decline; he’s lost $7 billion since the selloff earlier this week and is down nearly $12 billion this year. And the net worth of Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of [company name], has been through a rough patch this week. Compared to his peers, he’s only lost a relatively small $5 billion after Tuesday—but since the start of 2026, almost $29 billion has been erased from Ballmer’s fortune.

Tech CEOs have thrived during the AI boom—but have also suffered significant setbacks

Technology has become a gold rush, with the industry creating new entrepreneurial millionaires and billionaires annually. Look at the top 10 richest U.S. billionaires, [comparing] their net worths between 2024 and 2025 according to a 2025 [source], and the sector’s financial power becomes apparent.

Most of the top 10 wealthiest Americans are the poster children of the tech industry: including [company name] cofounder Larry Ellison, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, [company name] cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, [company name] CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and Dell founder Michael Dell. Each of them gained nearly $70 billion last year—833,631 times more than what the typical American household earns.

The world’s wealthiest have been able to capitalize on tech as the industry is still growing rapidly—but the fast-evolving promises also leave room for concerns about an AI bubble. “Second thoughts” can result in rapid multibillion-dollar losses.

No one understands this better than Oracle cofounder Ellison himself.

Last year briefly, the 81-year-old entrepreneur dethroned [company name] CEO Elon Musk as the richest person in the world. Ellison, who owns 40% of Oracle, experienced an astonishing $101 billion wealth surge overnight after his business’ breakout earnings report that sent shares soaring by 36%.

But the high [point]; Ellison’s estimated net worth dropped by $34 billion just two days after Oracle’s stock surge, while Musk had a $35 billion gain, putting him back on top. Ellison’s loss was triggered by “second thoughts” regarding the company’s cloud deal with OpenAI, as J. Bradford DeLong, a U.C. Berkeley economist, [explained] last year.

A rapidly expanding AI market also means new, fierce competitors who can throw vast [markets] into disarray.

In January of last year, billionaires saw their [wealth increase] every day. But just one month later, the honeymoon period was over; during February 2025, Musk’s net worth dropped from $433 billion to $349 billion. Meta CEO Zuckerberg slipped from $243 billion to $232 billion in the same period, and Larry Ellison lost about $9 billion. The reason? Chinese tech underdog DeepSeek disrupted the market with its low-cost R1 model, wiping billions off the stock market, with $600 billion disappearing from Nvidia’s market value alone.

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