America's 10 Richest Gain $16 Billion During Trump's First Week

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 13: Warren Buffett speaks onstage during Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit - Day 2 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on October 13, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Fortune/Time Inc)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2017/01/28/americas-10-richest-gain-16-billion-during-trumps-first-week/?utm_source=LINKEDIN_COMPANY&utm_medium=social&utm_content=793672749&utm_campaign=sprinklrForbesMainLI#4347ec570ec4

Donald Trump’s first week as president was nothing short of explosive, with millions of people expressing anger over new tax proposals, slated changes to healthcare coverage and a planned multibillion-dollar border wall.  One group with little to complain about? American billionaires, who have profited hugely off of record-high stock prices during Trump’s first seven days in office.

In the last week, the 10 wealthiest Americans added $15.8 billion to their combined net worth. Each one of them got richer in the seven days following Trump's inauguration. Warren Buffett enjoyed the biggest gain of any person in the country; his net worth climbed by more than $2.5 billion to $74 billion. He is currently the planet’s second-richest person, according to FORBES' real-time rankings of the world's billionaires, trailing only Bill Gates ($85 billion). Buffett’s surge was nearly matched by Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune grew by $2.1 billion this week thanks to Facebook’s soaring market cap. The company’s stock is up by 15% since the end of 2016 and is now trading just below October’s all-time high.

The smallest gain of the week, realized by Larry Ellison, was a tidy $985 million. He was the only member of the top 10 not to add at least $1 billion to his fortune. He nonetheless retains his spot as the fifth-richest American, with an estimated net worth of $49.6 billion.

Unlike their U.S. counterparts, foreign billionaires had mixed returns in the past week. Of the three wealthiest non-Americans, two suffered declining fortunes; the net worth of Spain’s Amancio Ortega fell $370 million, while Frenchman Bernard Arnault’s fortune slid by a modest $68 million. By contrast, Carlos Slim Helu, the richest person in Mexico, gained more than $1.6 billion, despite harsh rhetoric from the Trump administration and a floated proposal to tax Mexican imports by 20%.

President Trump rode into office with a soaring promise to “Make America Great Again.” Prior to his election, life was already quite good for the more than 500 American billionaires; but in the week since his inauguration, things are already even better.