U.S. billionaires have grown their wealth by more than $1trillion since the COVID-19 outbreak began in March – while 29 of them have at least doubled their worth through the pandemic

• A report found that 650 U.S. billionaires gained $1.008 trillion in wealth between March 18 and November 24
• Of this group, 29 billionaires doubled their wealth since March
• There were 36 new billionaires made
• Tesla’s Elon Musk increased his wealth by $100billion, an increase of 413%
• Amazon’s Jeff Bezos added $70.7 billion to his wealth since mid-March despite concerns raised by the company’s workers about their pandemic pay
• It comes as 11million Americans remain unemployed due to the pandemic

By Frances Mulraney | 26 November 2020

DAILY MAIL — U.S. billionaires have grown their wealth by more than $1trillion since the coronavirus pandemic began in March, an increase of over a third, according to a new report.

The analysis found that the 650 billionaires gained $1.008 trillion in wealth between March 18, 2020 and November 24, 2020 and are now worth a combined total that is close to $4trillion.

Of this group, 29 billionaires doubled their wealth since March and 36 new billionaires have been made.

The report, from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), revealed Amazon’s Bezos has added an incredible $70.7 billion to his wealth since mid-March, while an estimated 20,000 of the company’s workers have been infected by the coronavirus.

The largest growth has been made by Elon Musk, however, whose wealth grew over $100 billion since the start of the pandemic, from $24.6 billion on March 18 to $126 billion on November 24.

The increase of 413 percent, aided by the boost in his Tesla stock, has left him more wealthy than even Microsoft founder Bill Gates. […]