Business & Tech

What, Me Worry? How CT Billionaires Weathered The Coronavirus Age

Have your personal finances taken a nose dive during the coronavirus crisis? Maybe you're just not playing the game right.

World Wrestling Entertainment chairman and CEO Vince McMahon has seen his net worth grow by a cool $10 million during the pandemic, but that's nothing compared to the gains made by some of his fellow CT billionaires.
World Wrestling Entertainment chairman and CEO Vince McMahon has seen his net worth grow by a cool $10 million during the pandemic, but that's nothing compared to the gains made by some of his fellow CT billionaires. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

CONNECTICUT — How much has your net worth increased since the start of the coronavirus? If you think that's a trick question and that everyone's pocketbook has taken a hit since COVID-19 came to town, then you're just playing the game wrong.

According to estimates compiled by Americans For Tax Fairness, Health Care for America Now, Connecticut Citizen Action Group, eight of Connecticut's 14 billionaires have seen their wealth spike during the pandemic.

The political advocacy groups compared data from Forbes World's Billionaires List and Forbes real time billionaires estimates between March 18 and June 17 of this year.

Find out what's happening in Across Connecticutwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The biggest winner (so far, this isn't over yet) is Bradley Jacobs, the chairman and CEO of XPO Logistics in Greenwich. His wallet has grown from 1.5 billion in March to north of $2.13 billion in June, an increase of more than 42 percent.

The state's wealthiest getting even wealthier in the midst of a global shutdown is not too odd of a notion if you've been following the behavior of the stock market.

Find out what's happening in Across Connecticutwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Wall Street just chalked up its best quarter in decades, resiliently bouncing back from the historic sell-off prompted by the coronavirus outbreak. The Dow gained 17.8 percent in the past three months, posting its best quarter since 1987. The S&P 500 ended the period with almost a 20 percent gain, its best performance since 1998.

Alexandra Daitch, of Old Lyme, and Lucy Stitzer, of Greenwich, saw their net worth increase by 21 percent. They are one half of the four sisters who inherited stakes in Cargill, the world's largest food company.

Pritzker/Hyatt Hotels heiress Karen Pritzker, of Branford, enjoyed a 12 percent boost to her bottom line during the past three months. Those hotel stocks may not have performed so well following the lockdown, but she is heavily invested in public tech companies like Apple, as well as hundreds of private biotech and medical device firms, according to Forbes, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ soared 30.6 percent for the quarter, the most since 1999.

You can be sure that investment manager Mario Gabelli, of Greenwich, who runs mutual fund and investment firm Gamco, had the right assets in his portfolio when the coronavirus hit. His wealth has grown 14 percent since, bringing his net worth to $1.7 billion.

Danbury resident, Subway sandwich shop co-founder, and physicist Peter Buck has seen his wealth grow by $218 million, a 16 percent increase, since March.

World Wrestling Entertainment chairman and CEO Vince McMahon reportedly didn't think that the coronavirus was all that bad, according to an article in Forbes, and it clearly didn't hurt his bottom line. In fact, the Greenwich businessman's net worth has grown by a cool $10 million during the pandemic.

As the second half of 2020 gets underway, the market has been buoyed by the release of a study of a coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The results were released online, but have not been reviewed by a medical journal yet. Pfizer shares soared by four percent.

Pharmaceuticals, healthcare and consumer staples continue to pull the Wall Street chariot along at a furious pace. But the sector that is really floating the boat, one not present in any significant capacity during the various crashes of the 20th century, is tech. In fact, Amazon's $1.2 trillion market value now accounts for more than 40 percent of the entire value of the S&P 500 consumer-discretionary sector, according to a report from CNBC.

"The indices are heavily weighted by technology firms, many of which are better positioned to weather and even benefit from the pandemic than companies in other industries," Diane Swonk, the chief economist at Grant Thornton told Foreign Policy magazine.

If you're not in the market already, now — as we stare down a possible second wave of coronavirus — might be the right time to take the plunge.

Crazy, no?


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