NYC’s Richest Person Got Even Richer During Coronavirus Pandemic

NEW YORK CITY — Unemployment, paycheck anxiety, badly needed stimulus checks, a shaky economy — money fears like those dominated the lives of many-to-most New Yorkers during the coronavirus pandemic.

But not Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg, the media mogul and former New York City mayor, is not only the 10th richest person in America during 2021 — he also saw his fortune grow by $15 billion, according to the “Forbes 400” released Tuesday.

As New York City’s richest person, Bloomberg’s wealth stood at $55 billion in September 2020 and $70 billion at the same point this year — the span measured by the list.

He’s not alone.

“The 400 wealthiest Americans saw their collective fortune increase 40% over the last year, to $4.5 trillion,” the Forbes report states. “Nearly all are richer than they were a year ago.”

Bloomberg is also the richest person in New York state, followed by Julia Koch and her family, according to the ranking.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of the e-commerce giant Amazon, topped the list for the fourth consecutive year, with a net worth of $189.8 billion.

The top remaining top five and the size of their fortunes at the end of trading Monday are Tesla founder Elon Musk ($190.5 billion), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ($134.5 billion), Microsoft founder Bill Gates ($134 billion) and Google executive Larry Page ($123 billion).

One wealthy — and arguably the most powerful — New Yorker is no longer on the Forbes 400.

Former President Donald Trump had been among the 400 richest Americans for 25 years and, according to Forbes, he continues to be a billionaire and remains as wealthy as he was a year ago, when he ranked 339. But he’s lost $600 million since the start of the pandemic, Forbes noted, and is no longer on the list.

Read the full The Forbes 400 list here.