Mathias Busekist
Did they back the wrong horse?
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A few months ago, some of the biggest names in tech — like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, and Sundar Pichai — were cozying up to President Trump. They donated millions to his campaign and inaugural fund, showed up at Mar-a-Lago, and even took front-row seats at his swearing-in. But now, that alliance might be backfiring — at least financially.
Since the start of 2025, their companies — Tesla, Meta (formerly Facebook), Amazon, Apple, and Google — have lost nearly $1.8 trillion in value. That’s not a typo. And because a lot of these CEOs are paid mostly in stock, their personal fortunes have taken massive hits, too.
What’s behind this meltdown? One word: tariffs.
Trump’s push to raise taxes on imported goods — especially from countries like China, where tech companies get a lot of their parts and do much of their manufacturing — has Wall Street seriously spooked.
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Even though he recently paused some of the planned tariffs, the ones on China are still going up, from 104% to 125%, and let’s just say; It showed.
Here’s how bad it’s gotten:
- Elon Musk has lost $143 billion in net worth this year, mostly because Tesla’s stock dropped 28%.
- Mark Zuckerberg is down $26.5 billion, and Meta’s value has dropped by nearly $36 billion.
- Jeff Bezos has lost $47.2 billion, with Amazon’s shares down 13%.
- Google’s stock is down 16.2%, slicing off $386.7 billion in value.
- And Apple? Their shares have fallen 18.5%, costing the company a whopping $684 billion.
Analysts are warning things could get worse. Some say Trump’s tariff policies could cut Big Tech’s earnings by up to 25%. One Wall Street expert even called the situation an “Armageddon” for tech investors.
Despite all this, none of the companies involved — or the CEOs — have had much to say.
But behind the scenes, it’s clear this wasn’t what they were hoping for when they backed Trump.
