Are billionaires cashing out?
CEOs are Dumping Billions of Their Own Stock
"Billionaire CEOs like [Jeff] Bezos, [Mark] Zuckerberg, Jamie Dimon, and the Walton family are selling off massive amounts of their own stocks, and analysts think the CEOS may be bracing for an economic downturn," he said, adding, “An overheated stock market continues to climb to new heights as investors feed that ...
High-profile CEOs, founders, and heirs are selling stock by the bucketload in the companies that made them billionaires. For nearly the entire bunch, share prices are trading near all-time highs.
Jeff Bezos Sold $8.5 Billion Worth Of Amazon Stock And Saved $600 Million In Taxes By Moving To Florida, But He's Holding Onto This Asset For The Long-Haul— And It's Something Anyone Can Buy.
The Walton family sold nearly 9 million shares of Walmart stock last week for over $1.5 billion. The sale brings the family's total proceeds to nearly $2.3 billion in the span of three months.
Reasons for Selling
Alan Johnson, President of Johnson Associates, said, “With our politics and everything else going on geopolitically, maybe it won't be as good a year from now or two years from now.” Or, they may want to diversify their holdings after cashing out their shares that had ballooned in value.
Billionaires' Survivalist Bunkers Go Absolutely Bonkers With Fiery Moats and Water Cannons. Amid 'World War III' fears, apocalypse-fearing moguls are investing millions in survival strategies including rotating fireplaces out of 'Indiana Jones' and heightened tactical systems.
Social Isolation
The lifestyle of the rich and famous can be isolating. The constant scrutiny, media attention, and the difficulty of finding individuals who can relate to their experiences can lead to social isolation. This isolation can make it challenging to form genuine friendships.
The most logical reason Buffett and his investing crew pared down their Apple stake is to offset realized investment losses from Paramount Global and HP. Buffett's company is sitting on an estimated $119 billion in unrealized gains on its Apple stock.
It can be nerve-wracking to watch your portfolio consistently drop during bear market periods. After all, nobody likes losing money; that goes against the whole purpose of investing. However, pulling your money out of the stock market during down periods can often do more harm than good in the long term.
Why are rich people selling stocks?
He is not the only billionaire who has sold stocks and opted to accumulate cash. In mid-2023, news began to spread about the world's super-rich reducing their ownership of shares in public companies. The reason behind this move is to secure their wealth amidst rising interest rates and economic uncertainty.
Founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos is the largest Amazon shareholder, with more than 937 million shares, which represent a stake of about 9% in the company. Bezos' shares are worth an estimated $166 billion.
| Stock | Market capitalization | Year-to-date performance as of April 11 |
|---|---|---|
| Remitly Global Inc. (RELY) | $3.6 billion | 0.5% |
| Rivian Automotive Inc. (RIVN) | $9.1 billion | -59.2% |
| Sana Biotechnology Inc. (SANA) | $2.1 billion | 129.4% |
| Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) | $160 billion | 23.7% |
It is a publicly traded family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton's heirs own over 50 percent of Walmart through both their holding company Walton Enterprises and their individual holdings.
There are about 10,500 Walmart locations across 20 different countries. Jim Walton, Alice Walton, and Rob Walton are the top three individual shareholders of Walmart. Walmart's largest institutional investors include the John T. Walton Estate Trust, Vanguard Group, and BlackRock.
The reasons to sell Walmart
The bears believe Walmart's stock is historically expensive now -- it traded at less than 20 times earnings throughout most of the 2010s, and it's pricier than most of its industry peers. Target, for example, trades at just 18 times forward earnings.
From luxury bunkers to tactical vehicles, the ultra-rich are preparing for the Big One. Companies that build multimillion-dollar fortified homes and bomb shelters say that while work has been steady for a while, they have seen a significant uptick in recent years.
Hedge funds
Billionaires have access to another investment avenue, called hedge funds, that the average person doesn't. You can invest in a variety of things through a hedge fund, including individual stocks, land, commodity futures, bonds, and currencies.
But there's one group of investors who charge in to buy when stocks are selling off: the corporate insiders. How do they do it? They have 2 key advantages over you and me that provide them the edge during uncertain times. If you follow their lead, you can have that edge too.
Having idle cash, the ability to borrow, and taxes needing reducing is a recipe for buying real estate. By the way, this is also why the ultra wealthy will own multiple homes. Real estate is relatively stable place to store cash, and it offers a tax write off to boot.
Where do most of the billionaires come from?
| Rank | Country/Territory | Number of billionaires |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 814 |
| 2 | United States | 800 |
| 3 | India | 271 |
| 4 | United Kingdom | 146 |
Doomsday bunkers are all the rage among the rich and famous. Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly developing a 5,000-square-foot underground bunker complete with a living space, a mechanical room, and an escape hatch at his $100 million Hawaii compound.
Key Takeaways. Sudden Wealth Syndrome (SDS) refers to a psychological condition or an identity crisis in individuals who have become suddenly wealthy. Sudden Wealth Syndrome is characterized by isolation from former friends, guilt over their change in circ*mstances, and extreme fear of losing their money.
Poverty inequality across the world is exploding, with the rich hoarding a disproportionate amount of global wealth while the already vulnerable are getting fewer resources. That's according to a new report released this week by the nongovernmental organisation Oxfam.
A lack of flexibility
Another study found that rich people may be less successful in love because they are less likely than poorer people to exhibit flexibility and empathy in relationships.
