boo hoo, weep for the poor rich tech guys...

[Darren Dirt]

...for they lost billions last year, boy are we lucky we were spared such pain...
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/13/the-2009-list-of-tech-billionaires-and-how-much-they-lost/

The tech billionaires are still collectively worth $203.4 billion. Although Bill Gates rose to the top of the list after falling to number 3 last year, the move was bittersweet. Gates lost a massive $18 billion in the past year. Larry Ellison from Oracle lost $2.5 billion but moved up 10 spots from last year, to number 4 on the list. Larry and Sergey from Google both took a hit of over $6 billion each.

Michael Bloomberg had a very good year. He rose nearly 50 spots on the list, with a gain of $5.5 billion. But News Corp's Rupert Murdoch saw his net worth cut in half to $4 billion. Viacom's Sumner Redstone plummeted down the list, from number 137 to number 701 on the list, losing $5.8 billion in the past year.

Despite these massive losses in wealth, most of the big tech titans all made the list, including, Gates' old partner Paul Allen, Michael Dell, and Steve Jobs. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg didn't make the list this year, however, with his estimated net worth dropping from $1.5 billion to $600 million

(I confess, the table, that last column, is an embarrasing kind of Schadenfreude to me... all those virtual billions gone in a puff of market-correcting wow I don't know how they'll go on )

as commenter "Janet Clarey" sez:
I hope they're able to get by...

[Mr. Analog]

You know, when the guys at the top are losing, that means people under them have already been beaten up for it.

Like, Microsoft, who after letting go thousands of people informed some of them afterword that they were given "too much" severance and asked to "give it back".

I'll find the article later, but sheesh!

Makes me glad I don't work for a big, evil, American company...


...oh.

[Lazybones]

MS later decied not to persue getting the money back.

[Darren Dirt]

Makes me glad I don't work for a big, evil, American company...


...oh.

Megacorp, or Leviathan... I wonder which employer is "safer" in this economic climate...

[Mr. Analog]

Makes me glad I don't work for a big, evil, American company...


...oh.

Megacorp, or Leviathan... I wonder which employer is "safer" in this economic climate...

The only safe company is Black Mesa...



...oh.

[Mr. Analog]

MS later decied not to persue getting the money back.

Yeah, that would have been a PR disaster had they pursued it.