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No matter how much bad luck you’ve faced in life, chances are you’ve never lost tens of billions of dollars in a single day. But that’s what happened to the world’s richest man on June 6 – in case you missed headlines like this one from Fox Business: Elon Musk’s net worth plummets by $34B amid escalating feud with President Trump.
It won’t come as a surprise to learn that Musk has weathered the remarkable misfortune. But how did such a gigantic loss actually happen?
Well, the $34 billion wasn’t cash that just blew away on the wind. It was driven by a hit to Tesla’s share price following Musk’s high-profile clash with Trump. Because so much of Musk’s wealth is held in stock, he could recoup the losses if prices climb back up.
Shifts like this aren’t likely to leave a billionaire clipping coupons, but they do affect the world of philanthropy. The ultrarich often donate stock rather than cash, a move that offers not just tax advantages but also reputational benefits. And as Tobias Jung of the Centre for the Study of Philanthropy and Public Good at St. Andrews University explains, the way the system is structured and incentivized means that the donor sometimes has the most to
gain.
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Sarah Reid
Senior Business Editor
The Conversation U.K.
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Tobias Jung, University of St Andrews
Huge donations actually help billionaires spin stock swings into tax breaks and lasting influence.
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Energy
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Adi Imsirovic, University of Oxford
An oil surplus means that so far reaction has been muted – but disruption and rising prices could still be on the cards.
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Sanjoy Paul, University of Technology Sydney
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz would have potentially devastating flow-on effects for oil supplies and prices in Australia.
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Finance
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Atul K. Shah, City St George's, University of London
For wealthy societies, money has become the master rather than the servant – and it’s damaging the planet.
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Advertising
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Yusuf Oc, City St George's, University of London; Janina Steinmetz, City St George's, University of London
The messaging service was always going to be monetised.
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Entrepreneurship
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Florencio Portocarrero, London School of Economics and Political Science
There are no good or bad emotions in business – it’s about how you harness them.
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Nancy Forster-Holt, University of Rhode Island
Retiring is never easy – but for small business owners, today’s economic climate is making it even harder to step away.
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Health economics
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Amy Lastuka, University of Washington
Dementia care costs are 5 times higher than the official figures suggest when you count the value of unpaid care.
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Corporations
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Leah Hamilton, Mount Royal University; Corinne L. Mason, Mount Royal University; Gini (Virginia) Weber, Mount Royal University
The fact that companies have quickly backed away from their support of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has revealed the conditionality of their support.
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