Following the decision from British voters to leave the European Union last Friday, worldwide stock markets have been crumbling. According to a report from Bloomberg on June 24, the world’s 400 richest people are the unexpected casualties from the Brexit referendum as they lost $127.4 billion following the fallout of the financial markets on that same day, a sum that represents 3.2 percent of their total net worth which is estimated at $3.9 trillion.
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates was one of the ten people who lost more than $1 billion in investment value in just one day, along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Both men saw their net worth decline from $1 billion, though this could have been worse as their report states that Spanish business magnate and Europe’s richest person Amancio Ortega lost more than $6 billion.
One month before the vote, Microsoft UK CEO Michel Van Der Bel took side and explained that “the UK remaining in the EU supports important criteria for continued and future investment by Microsoft and others.”.
