Jack Ma
Bill Gates
Jeff Bezos
Michael Bloomberg
Charles Koch
Giovanni Ferrero
Elon Musk
Billionaires of the Pandemic
Billionaires. You love to hate them. But in a pandemic, well, everyone hopes they do something useful.
And some of them did. You can decide where it was 'good' or not. Certainly many billionaires felt the call to do something,
whether
it was donating a lot of money, a little bit of money, or simply making waves with terrible, terrible takes
(looking at you, Elon).
So who put their money where their mouth is? See for yourself in the interactive below.
Jack Ma
Bill Gates
Jeff Bezos
Michael Bloomberg
Charles Koch
Giovanni Ferrero
Elon Musk
China's Superhero
He was China’s richest person. Now, he may also be one of its most well-known, particularly in countries receiving medical supply airdrops stamped with his last name.
Since February, Ma has liberally moved much needed medical equipment around the world. When Iran was an epi-center, there came Ma with 1 million masks to contribute. When South Korea got hit by its first wave, it was the same
story. Italy, Malaysia, Thailand, Ethiopia, the United States, each one has been a recipient of Ma’s goodwill.
He’s taken on the mantle of the billionaire the world needs. Still, not everyone’s sure about his motives. Are his donations as genuine as his Twitter account would like us to believe? Or are his actions another arm of Chinese
soft power abroad?
Take his many donations to countries in Africa, a continent which China has played a significant role in developing through loans and trade in the 21st century. Even African thinkers have questioned if his donations are really
what Africa needs, or if they are simply a way for Ma to curry goodwill towards China on the continent.
It’s not hard to imagine why. The sheer economic might of Alibaba in Asia has made Ma a big player in Chinese politics. And while he’s been sending ventilators around the world, many other top Chinese players have been playing a
different diplomatic game: deflecting blame for coronavirus onto countries like the United States through state-run media channels. The facelift on China’s image, tarnished by the outbreak in Wuhan, has more than form.
Regardless, his presence in the global fight against COVID-19 has been ubiquitous. Over 150 countries have received his donations, according to data from Alizila. He’s donated over 120 million facemasks, 4 million testing kits,
and 3,700 ventilators.
Estimated contribution: $144.2 million
Net Worth: ~ $41.7 billion
Source: Candid.Org
Can I get my Nobel Prize, already?
If he could save the world with a check, he would have by now.
Gates has long been a leading figure in the world of international relief. He was on the forefront of Ebola relief in 2014. A year later he went on to give a now famous Ted talk that would prove prescient. It’s title: “The Next Outbreak?
We’re not ready.”
By contrast, Gates has sought to model preparedness. His foundation is heavily funding vaccine trials around the world. It’s also looking ahead to the heavy lift of manufacturing and distributing some 7 billion doses around the world. His
vaccine organization, Gavi, will likely be a key player: the nonprofit coordinates vaccine distribution in developing countries.
Simply by having been so involved for so long in this wheelhouse, Gates has established himself as a global health expert in his own right. He’s often on cable news, and his press releases now get wide replay across news sites of all
stripes.
Including, of course some conspiracy theories, like that Gates engineered the virus to turn a profit. Those theorists have proposed his vaccine distribution network is how he would do that. People who actually know science have pointed
out how vaccines are ‘dramatically less profitable’ than people think. Touche, Johns Hopkins.
Gates has publicly stated he will happily lose billions to make this vaccine happen. As it stands, he’s funding 7 different trials, with the plan of abandoning the five least promising.
“It’ll be a few billion dollars we’ll waste on manufacturing for the constructs that don’t get picked because something else is better. But a few billion in this situation we’re in, where there’s trillions of dollars...being lost
economically, it is worth it,” Gates said.
Estimated contribution: At least $900 million
Net Worth: ~ $100 billon
Source: Inc
Hmm, how can this make me richer?"
Amazon's was the stock that kept on rising.
As empire's crumbled around the world, Bezos's shipping, logistics and sales megabusiness kept doing business. On May 19th, Amazon shares are trading at $2,463. And Bezos
worth has gone up by at least $25 billion since the year began.
Bezos has been on a tear since 2020 begun, dampened only by a variety of worker-safety protests at his warehouses across the country. Workers protested a lack of safety measures in Amazon warehouses,
and the companies absent sick-leave policies drew national attention. Nine senators, including former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, penned a letter to Bezos demanding he explain why Amazon whistleblowers were being fired.
Bezos, who makes over $200 million a day, personally announced a $100 million donation to US Food banks. He's also donated $25
million to a relief fund for Amazon employees, as well as an untold sum of millions to support All in Seattle.
About half of what Jeff Bezos makes in one day.
Estimated contribution: $125-150 million
Net Worth: ~ $145 billon
Source: Businesss Insider
Remember when I was running for President? No? Good.
Entrepreneur, politician, businessman, writer, philanthropist, and politician again (with the recent brief 5-month long campaign as democratic candidate for the U.S. Presidency), and back to philanthropy in the era of
COVID-19.
Bloomberg never stops. Not during a pandemic, not ever.
With an estimated net worth of $58.6 billion, he ranks as 9th richest person in the United States and 16th globally.
As COVID-19, touch upon different countries around the world, Bloomberg stood up to take action. In mid-March he pledged that through Bloomberg Philanthropies they’d be supporting “immediate action” in Africa. He then launched an
initiative to create a repository for all actions taken by US leaders in response to the pandemic, as well as a program to support local administrations and mayors across the country and world respond rapidly to the emergency. With $6
million he provided free daily meals to workers in 16 hospitals and long-term care facilities in New York. And then went on to donate over $75 million to social services and cultural non-profit organizations across New York City.
With this staggering number of donated millions and initiatives Bloomberg seems to have gone above and beyond.
Nonetheless, he did go back on one of his promises. Having said he’d keep his campaign staff employed until November, with the decision to abandon the presidential bid he seems to have left behind a few unemployed individuals.
Finding themselves with no salary or health insurance they ended up filing suits seeking overtime, full pay and benefits till November as well as punitive damages.
Estimated contribution: $61 million
Net Worth: ~ $50 billion
Source: Reuters
Freedom? Freedom means making me money.
Who was the most surprised by an international pandemic?
Charles Koch would be a safe bet, if only because the man has spent so long trying to defund the CDC. In 2018, Koch’s Americans For Prosperity lobbied for $1 billion in cuts to the CDC. They argued the organization's funding had grown
significantly in 15 years, and that its public health services were ‘duplicative’.
When Covid-19 hit, the AFP then began advocating against stay-at-home orders across the country. In several statements, the group called the orders the “wrong approach” and that “all businesses are essential.” That advice contradicts
medical experts at the top, and yet despite that, some say that languages has found a receptive ear in the president. Trump has also publicly toyed with the idea of reopening.
At a net worth of 40 billion, Charles Koch’s influence is massive. The AFP is just one arm of his network that is mixed up in the coronavirus response. Koch industries employs over 130,000 workers. Koch also owns Georgia-Pacific, a
toilet-paper producer - sorry, “bath tissue” - among other things. It also owns Phillips Medisize, a medical device producer that makes test kits. In a statement, the company said they would be ‘transforming production lines in order to
meet the growing demand for life saving medical devices.”
So Koch is either innovating his way through an economic collapse, or simply positioning himself to hold all the cards when the federal demand for test kits soars.
One of Koch’s orgs, Stand Together, has announced that they are donating a total of $5 million dollars directly to families in sums of $500 each. It’s also donating over $5 million to community-based nonprofits.
Notably, a small amount of that pot has come from Koch’s own coffers. Most of it is raised publicly.
Recently, the AFP has broken with former tea-party groups who’ve supported shutdown protests across the country. The decision not to take part in shutdown protests was notable. Americans for Prosperity CEO Emily Seidel said she “did not
believe rejecting the advice of public health experts made sense.”
The same health experts Koch has long tried to defund.
Estimated contribution: ~ $5-10 million
Net Worth: $44 billion
Source: The Intercept
Here's $15 million. Call it a Kinder surprise.
You probably grew up reading of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory, but guess what? He actually lives in Italy.
Giovanni Ferrero built his sweet empire one kinder egg at a time and is now the richest man in Italy. With a net worth estimated at $24.6 billion he is 32° in global ranks. Clearly proof that people around the world eat too much
Nutella every day.
When his country unexpectedly became one of the world’s COVID-19 epicenters Ferrero stepped up. Through the Ferrero Foundation €10 million (equivalent to $10.8 million) were donated to the National special commission that had been
set up to face the local emergency.
His efforts didn’t stop there. €5 million were donated to the hospital of Alba-Bra, in Verduno, which serves the area where Ferrero’s HQ is located. This became a COVID-dedicated hospital in the north west region of Italy, one of
the areas that was affected the most by the pandemic. In line with his secretive and reserved character, he didn’t publicize these efforts widely.
Nonetheless, when at Easter Ferrero found a way to warm everyone’s hearts word spread quickly. Over 220 thousand Kinder eggs were donated across the Italian peninsula to doctors, hospital workers and civil protection operators.
Estimated contribution: At least $15 million.
Net Worth: $24.5 billion
Source: La Stampa
Is this pandemic ruining anyone else's moment?
One thing Elon Musk knows how to do is make headlines.
In March, he did it with good news. Tesla was finally making money, thanks to the new Model Y. Its stock value had more than doubled, and production lines were booming its Fremont, California factory.
But by May, Musk was publicly fuming at the lockdown measures which shut down his factory and with it all of his newfound momentum.
"FREE AMERICA NOW", Musk tweeted. He then called stay-at-home measures 'fascist', on an earnings call with investors. On May 11th, he reopened his factories against California lockdown orders, tweeting that he should be arrested,
were county authorities to shut the
factory down.
Estimated contribution: Less than $100,000
Net Worth: ~ $32 billion
Source: CNN
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