Elon Musk lost $79.7 billion in a single day and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang dropped out of the world’s ten richest people, as Thursday’s post-midterm sell-off in technology shares wiped billions off the fortunes of America’s wealthiest founders.
The losses, recorded by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and reported by The Times on Friday, came as investors dumped chip and artificial intelligence stocks after the Democrats’ midterm election sweep raised doubts about the pace and profitability of the AI spending boom.
Musk, the world’s richest person, saw his fortune fall to $785 billion on Thursday 5 November, a one-day drop of $79.7 billion. He remains the world’s richest person by a wide margin, despite the fall.
Huang lost $15.1 billion in the same session, taking his fortune to $150.9 billion and pushing him from ninth to 13th in Bloomberg’s ranking of the world’s richest people.
Nvidia, the chipmaker at the centre of the AI boom, fell 9.3% on Thursday, closing at $181.60 after opening at $200.13. It was the stock’s largest one-day fall since January 2025, and wiped about $447 billion off the company’s market value. Nvidia shares are now down 2.6% for the year.
Tesla, Musk’s electric car company, fell 10.8% on Thursday, while shares in his rocket company SpaceX were down 9.1%, according to The Times.
The richest 500 lost $185 billion
The rout was not limited to Musk and Huang. The world’s 500 richest people together lost $185 billion on Thursday, the 14th-biggest one-day fall since the Bloomberg index began in 2012.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest person, lost $10.1 billion in the session.
The sell-off followed a rally on Wednesday, when markets first welcomed the midterm result, and then reversed sharply as investors questioned whether the huge sums technology companies are spending on data centres and AI infrastructure will pay off.
The Nasdaq fell 5.5% on Thursday to 24,315, its worst day since April 2025, in a global market crash that also sent Japan’s Nikkei into a bear market and South Korea’s Kospi down more than 8%.
A reversal after the midterm rally
The scale of Thursday’s losses is striking because Musk’s fortune had only recently passed $1 trillion. Longbridge reported on Friday that Musk has now lost more than $100 billion since the midterm elections, taking him back below $800 billion.
The figures are as of Thursday’s close in New York. Early trading on Friday pointed to a partial recovery, with Nvidia shares up about 4.1% in pre-market trading, according to The Times live blog, so the losses may already have narrowed by the time markets open.
That volatility underlines how closely the fortunes of the world’s richest people are now tied to a small number of technology stocks. Musk’s wealth rests largely on Tesla and SpaceX, while Huang’s fortune is almost entirely in Nvidia shares, the company he co-founded in 1993.
What happens next
Investors will now watch whether Friday’s trading confirms a rebound or extends the rout. The sell-off has also sharpened the debate in Washington over data-centre spending, with voters in the midterms backing limits on new data centres in 40 of 41 local ballot measures.
For Huang, the fall out of the top ten is a reminder of how quickly rankings can change in a market driven by a single theme. Nvidia remains one of the world’s most valuable companies, and a recovery in its share price would restore his place in the top ten just as quickly.
For Musk, the $79.7 billion one-day loss is the largest single-day fall in his fortune recorded by Bloomberg, but it leaves him still comfortably the world’s richest person.
FAQ
Q: How much did Elon Musk lose on 5 November?
A: Musk lost $79.7 billion in one day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, taking his fortune to $785 billion. He remains the world’s richest person.
Q: Why did Jensen Huang drop out of the top ten?
A: Huang lost $15.1 billion as Nvidia shares fell 9.3%, taking his fortune to $150.9 billion and dropping him from ninth to 13th in Bloomberg’s ranking.
Q: How far did Nvidia shares fall?
A: Nvidia fell 9.3% on Thursday 5 November, from $200.13 to $181.60, its biggest one-day fall since January 2025, wiping about $447 billion off its market value.
Q: How much did the world’s richest 500 lose?
A: Together they lost $185 billion on Thursday, the 14th-biggest one-day fall since the Bloomberg Billionaires Index began in 2012.
Sources
- The Times live blog, 6 Nov 2026 (quoting Bloomberg Billionaires Index): https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/tech-stocks-us-midterms-ai-latest-news-elon-musk-hzchs56kt
- The Times, 5 Nov 2026: https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/elon-musk-ai-data-centre-midterms-9zkr3bg9v
- CNN, 5 Nov 2026: https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/investing/tech-heavy-nasdaq-plunges
- SE Daily, 6 Nov 2026: https://en.sedaily.com/international/2026/11/06/nvidias-jensen-huang-loses-15-billion-in-a-day-faces-house
- FourWeekMBA (Bloomberg syndication), 6 Nov 2026: https://fourweekmba.com/ai-huang-falls-out-of-top-10-as-richest-500-lose-185b-in-a-day/
- Financial Express, 6 Nov 2026: https://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/us-news/ai-slowdown-fears-wipe-out-billions-trump-musk-huang-and-tech-titans-take-massive-hits/4378294/
- Longbridge, 6 Nov 2026: https://longbridge.com/en/news/304577272
