Tech moguls who grinned behind Trump at inauguration lose billions in wake of his tariffs announcement

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Friday 04 April 2025 00:15 BST


Tech billionaires whose companies donated millions of dollars to Donald Trump lost billions of dollars on Thursday, as the stock market plunged in reaction to his sweeping “Liberation Day” agenda of worldwide tariffs.

As of 6:30pm Eastern time, Meta stock was down 8.96 percent, Amazon was down 8.98 percent, Google had fallen 3.92 percent, while Apple had plunged over 9 percent. White House adviser Elon Musk’s marquee companies also felt the pain, with Tesla sliding 5.47 percent and X down 8.14 percent.

As a result of the sell-off, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg personally lost $17.9 billion, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s wealth declined $16 billion and Musk was down $8.7 billion, according to an analysis from Forbes. All told, the market plunge wiped away $208 billion from the world’s richest 500 people, per the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, the fourth largest one-day decline in the tracker’s 13-year history.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday a market decline was a sign of investors correcting for months of AI hype and over-priced tech stocks, calling it a “Mag 7 problem, not a MAGA problem,” a reference to the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and chip-maker Nvidia.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-tariff-bezos-musk-zuckerberg-b2727147.html

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a “Mag 7 problem, not a MAGA problem,”

So he just bit the hand that fed him and threw them right under the bus.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. "a Mag 7 problem" - and yet, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies is the first to enter bear territory

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1116100095

Bessent is willing to lie however many times it takes to make Trump look better.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Never thought

we'd get to the point of having someone worse than Paulson and Mnuchin but here we are.

[lonely bird]

8. Bessent is an idiot.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[Lonestarblue]

13. I'm sure his threats to other countries not to retaliate went over well.

He’ll be ignored just like all the other incompetent jerks in this administration.

[mdbl]

3. Billionaires can stand to lose 98.5% of their wealth

and still will be wealthy. They don't give a shit.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Although at that level of wealth

a lot of their "self worth" is based on their "financial worth", and they can be snubbed out of certain circles when they start dropping down the Forbes list.

[MiHale]

6. Biggest turds are the last down the bowl...

They have their own circle.

[Bengus81]

14. Yep...I'll guarantee the $22M that Musk blew on the Wisconsin election is eating

on him. People like to think the rich don't care if they lose money. Ha...it eats them alive,more so than the rest of us. If they didn't care then they wouldn't want to kill off every social program in Government just to line their pockets with more cash.

[radical noodle]

28. If he's too bothered by it

he can always jump out a window. It would be the most popular thing he's done in a very long time.

[Bengus81]

35. Funny though...he seems to have disappeared since that Wisconsin election

or am I missing something?

[radical noodle]

42. He's certainly be more quiet

Haven't heard the chainsaw running recently.

[mountain grammy]

40. Yep

[WmChris]

15. They're getting richer

Now that markets are crashed they will cash in on fire sale prices and ride it out until the market comes back.

[Deminpenn]

5. An interesting unintended consequence

would be if these tariffs help put Amazon on the road to ruin.

While I personally don't think either Apple or Microsoft are evil tech, the others certainly qualify. It won't bother me at all if the other companies go the way of the dinosaurs.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Actually that is an interesting thought

especially since other governments are far more heavy-handed when dealing with entities like Amazon (and Meta and Alphabet, etc) compared to us looking the other way.

[Deminpenn]

25. Amazon apparently sells a lot

of stuff made in China to keep their prices low or at least to initially attract customers. If those prices rise, they could lose business. There are a ton of marketplaces now, you don't have to rely on Amazon, but people get hooked on convenience.

Google ads are a big reason for the shrinking number of newspapers. They can't compete with the low rates google offers advertisers

[BumRushDaShow]

26. But they are not just selling here

but also globally. They have a presence in Canada, the UK, etc. So those countries might have some retaliatory leverage over Amazon, which is an American company, and could restrict them (or at least make their life more miserable). I expect China might muscle in with some incentives to those other countries too.

[Deminpenn]

41. Sears was once in Amazon's position

Now they barely exist. Just sayin'...

[BumRushDaShow]

43. Sears squandered the perfect opportunity to take their "mail order" model

and modernize it. I think QVC (and other "TV home shopping" companies) are going through that now.

[GenThePerservering]

46. Chinese sellers are propping up half of Amazon's US sales

the tariffs will definitely affect that, but Amazon makes most of its money with web services.

[lonely bird]

30. Won't happen

https://www.investopedia.com/how-amazon-makes-money-4587523

Amazon is continuing to diversify by seeking more revenue streams. I have seen ads for Amazon Medical.

Also government contracts…

https://potomacofficersclub.com/articles/list-of-top-government-contracts-won-by-amazon-web-services/

[orangecrush]

7. Good

[mountain grammy]

10. Get back to me

When they start jumping out of windows or selling apples on street corners.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. "or selling apples on street corners."

This time of year, they would probably be imported, so would cost more due to the import tariffs!

[mountain grammy]

20. Good point

[BumRushDaShow]

21. We are getting all those Galas, McIntosh, Fujis, etc., shipped in from Chile this time of year

and they are now under a 10% tariff.

(I bought a Gala yesterday for my oatmeal batch for next week)

[MLWR]

12. So he just bit the hand that fed him and threw them right under the bus.

And they still don't get it: trump cares ONLY about trump. No one else matters to him in the least: "I don't care about you; I just want your vote." That was meant for everyone.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. They didn't particularly care about him either

But as natural "opportunists", they have been using HIM for their agenda. But they keep forgetting that he is an unstable and untameable "wild card".

[mwmisses4289]

16. Good.

Edited to add:

Were they coerced? Did they believe its lies? Did they close their eyes? So many of us saw this coming when it was elected, but I guess their greed overrode any modicum of sense they had left.

[Layzeebeaver]

18. 10, 20, 30 billion?

That’s nothing be to these folks.

They play a long game. When stocks go low they just buy it all up and sit on it.

This is good for them.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Oh they care

because $$$ and getting/keeping more of it is their obsession. They have their own hierarchy within their circle and it is a measure of "success" or "failure", and whether they run their businesses "smart" or not.

[Crowman2009]

22. These tech billionaires were never the geniuses the press made them out to be.

Now that they let the Orange Assclown into their lives, everything they accomplished will turn into shit.

[Attilatheblond]

24. Seems many of them are limited savants and/or socially inept

[Attilatheblond]

23. It's OK. He likely doesn't like them any more than he likes us. He's good with them losing money he doesn't get.

[IronLionZion]

27. They probably hope to get something from him in return

like cloud and AI contracts in government.

[wolfie001]

31. Bezos lost the free packaging that all of us were paying for his company

Indirectly through China. That's gonna bite. I have 64oz of coffee being delivered today at a great price. That may very well be my last chance at a great price.

[IronLionZion]

32. Tariffs will create lots more coffee growing jobs in the US

[wolfie001]

33. There were some small farms in So. Cal. I believe

Micro plots if you will. I'd Google it but I'm sure the cost is prohibitive. I always found the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee was interesting. Just the right perfect conditions. I'm a coffee fiend but I have to watch my budget. Cheers

[IronLionZion]

34. Hawaii and Puerto Rico grow coffee

Southern California is very small. Coffee growing needs a tropical climate. So Cal is very dry. Maybe we can try greenhouse growing.

[wolfie001]

38. That's right! Kona!

I'll have to check the Puerto Rican brand too! Thanks

[BumRushDaShow]

39. Or you can grow your own coffee arabica plant

Last edited Fri Apr 4, 2025, 03:56 PM - Edit history (1)

I am!

I put it outside in summer (but let it grow under the shade of other plants).

(fixed the "upi" lack of being on the right home keys )

[wolfie001]

45. That's so awesome! nt

[wolfie001]

29. Zuck the F_ck was too busy staring at Bezos' plastic wife to even notice

Last edited Fri Apr 4, 2025, 11:57 AM - Edit history (1)

[GenThePerservering]

47. So is the dude looking over her shoulder! nt

[wolfie001]

48. She caused quite the "stir"

Her before and after pics are mind-blowing. Sad, really.

[republianmushroom]

36. Screw them.

[FakeNoose]

37. Oh noes! They forgot to read the Project 2025 manifesto that was distributed on their websites

[Miguelito Loveless]

44. Paper losses

which I am sure they made up for by shorting the market.