How Much Money the Richest 20 Americans Have ‘Made’ During COVID-19

As millions of families struggled and stressed out over expiring unemployment benefits and eviction moratoriums while the COVID-19 crisis raged, the richest of the rich did what they’ve always been so good at doing. They got richer — way, way richer. According to Statista, America’s billionaires padded their net worths by a combined $1 trillion between March and November last year. In all, the three-comma club went from owning $2.95 trillion in wealth at the start of the pandemic to $3.96 trillion as 2020 drew to a close.

While no one is immune from the virus, enormous wealth and clout, it turns out, can go a long way to inoculating you from the economic fallout that came with it. Using data from Forbes, GOBankingRates listed the 20 wealthiest Americans in ascending order from least rich to richest and outlined how their finances fared through the gauntlet of 2020.

Last updated: Feb. 24, 2021

Len Blavatnik

• Age: 64
• Overall wealth rank: 42
• Source of wealth: Music, chemicals
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $17,000,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $31,700,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $14,700,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 86.47%

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Michael Dell

• Age: 56
• Overall wealth rank: 31
• Source of wealth: Dell Computers
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $22,900,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $41,800,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $18,900,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 82.53%

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Daniel Gilbert

• Age: 59
• Overall wealth rank: 30
• Source of wealth: Quicken Loans
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $6,500,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $42,300,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $35,800,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 550.77%

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Charles Koch

• Age: 86
• Overall wealth rank: 25
• Source of wealth: Koch Industries
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $38,200,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $44,900,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $6,700,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 17.54%

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Julia Koch

• Age: 59
• Overall wealth rank: 25
• Source of wealth: Koch Industries
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $38,200,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $44,900,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $6,700,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 17.54%

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Phil Knight

• Age: 83
• Overall wealth rank: 24
• Source of wealth: Nike
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $29,500,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $53,000,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $23,500,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 79.66%

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Michael Bloomberg

• Age: 79
• Overall wealth rank: 23
• Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $48,000,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $54,900,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $6,900,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 14.38%

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MacKenzie Scott

• Age: 51
• Overall wealth rank: 22
• Source of wealth: Amazon
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $36,000,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $58,300,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $22,300,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 61.94%

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Rob Walton

• Age: 77
• Overall wealth rank: 17
• Source of wealth: Walmart
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $54,100,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $67,200,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $13,100,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 24.21%

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Jim Walton

• Age: 73
• Overall wealth rank: 16
• Source of wealth: Walmart
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $54,600,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $67,500,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $12,900,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 23.63%

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Alice Walton

• Age: 72
• Overall wealth rank: 15
• Source of wealth: Walmart
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $54,400,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $67,700,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $13,300,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 24.45%

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Steve Ballmer

• Age: 65
• Overall wealth rank: 12
• Source of wealth: Microsoft
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $52,700,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $75,900,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $23,200,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 44.02%

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Sergey Brin

• Age: 48
• Overall wealth rank: 11
• Source of wealth: Google
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $49,100,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $80,200,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $31,100,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 63.34%

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Larry Page

• Age: 48
• Overall wealth rank: 9
• Source of wealth: Google
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $50,900,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $82,600,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $31,700,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 62.28%

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Larry Ellison

• Age: 77
• Overall wealth rank: 8
• Source of wealth: Software
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $59,000,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $86,500,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $27,500,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 46.61%

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Warren Buffett

• Age: 91
• Overall wealth rank: 7
• Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $67,500,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $89,100,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $21,600,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 32.00%

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Mark Zuckerberg

• Age: 37
• Overall wealth rank: 5
• Source of wealth: Facebook
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $54,700,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $99,800,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $45,100,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 82.45%

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Bill Gates

• Age: 66
• Overall wealth rank: 4
• Source of wealth: Microsoft
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $98,000,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $121,600,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $23,600,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 24.08%

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Elon Musk

• Age: 50
• Overall wealth rank: 2
• Source of wealth: Tesla/SpaceX
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $24,600,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $182,900,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $158,300,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 643.50%

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Jeff Bezos

• Age: 57
• Overall wealth rank: 1
• Source of wealth: Amazon
• Net worth as of March 18, 2020: $113,000,000,000
• Net worth as of Jan. 21, 2021: $192,300,000,000
• Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: $79,300,000,000
• % Change in net worth from March 18, 2020-Jan. 21, 2021: 70.18%

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Methodology: In order to find out how much the richest 20 Americans “made” during COVID, GOBankingRates first found the 20 richest Americans in terms of (1) net worth as of January 21, 2021, after trading had ended at 5 pm EST as sourced from Forbes’ “Real-Time Billionaire” tracker. GOBankingRates then found each of those 20 American's (2) net worth as of 03/18/2020, as sourced from Forbes’ “2020 Billionaire List." From there, GOBankingRates was able to calculate (3) the change in net worth (dollar amount) from March 18, 2020, to Jan. 21, 2021, and (4) the percent change in net worth from March 18, 2020, to Jan. 21, 2021, for each billionaire. GOBankingRates also found the (5) age; (6) overall wealth rank as of Jan. 21, 2021; and (7) source of wealth for all 20 richest Americans, all sourced from Forbes’ “Real-Time Billionaire” tracker. All data were collected on and up to date as of Jan. 21, 2021.

About the Author

Andrew Lisa

Andrew Lisa has been writing professionally since 2001. An award-winning writer, Andrew was formerly one of the youngest nationally distributed columnists for the largest newspaper syndicate in the country, the Gannett News Service. He worked as the business section editor for amNewYork, the most widely distributed newspaper in Manhattan, and worked as a copy editor for TheStreet.com, a financial publication in the heart of Wall Street's investment community in New York City.

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