Jeff Bezos Loses $7billion in Paper Wealth Amid Coronavirus Fears

The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, has lost over $18 billion in the past month, and $7 billion in paper wealth overnight. In the past year, he lost $7 billion, dropping from a $135 billion net worth in 2019 to a $128 billion net worth in 2020. Due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, he has lost over $18 billion in only the first quarter of 2020. This loss is attributed to coronavirus threats. He is yet, not the only billionaire experiencing such losses as the coronavirus threat has caused huge losses in paper wealth of many of the world’s top billionaires.

From Friday’s close to Monday’s open, Amazon (AMZN) shares fell by 7% causing Bezos’ wealth to drop from $117 billion to $110 billion within the past week. Within the last month, his wealth has since dropped from $128 billion. This is as a result of the closedown of many factories in China. A few days ago, Amazon reported its concern about the situation in China, and it not having enough inventory to fulfill orders on its upcoming Prime Day scheduled for July. The New York Times also reported that Amazon had sent a message to third-party merchants concerning preparing for disruptions in the supply chains due to the global coronavirus outbreak that originates from China.

In spite of the stock market threats, Amazon is determined to take its business operations to the next level. This it did by launching its cashier-less checkout technology and selling the technology to interested retailers. The intention to sell to other retailers was made known on Monday. The cashier-less technology powers the Amazon Go stores, it allows shoppers to enter an Amazon Go store by scanning the Go app, make payments and exit without following any checkout line. Cameras and sensors are placed throughout the stores to monitor and track what items shoppers pick in order to automatically charge them once they leave.

If this pulls-off as hoped, both Bezos and Amazon may have a good chance at recovering some of the incurred losses.