Wall Street's Tumble Costs Buffett $9.6B

Next time you check the value of your portfolio, know that America's top executives are taking a pounding with you: Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett has seen his holdings in his company decline $9.6 billion this year, reports the Wall Street Journal. And he’s got company. Oracle’s Larry Ellison is out $6.6 billion; Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, $4.8 billion; and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, $4.2 billion.

The CEOs of the 175 largest US companies have seen losses of about 28%, more than $42 billion as of last week, in the value of their company stock, according to a study by a compensation consulting firm. Founder CEOs have lost the most, because they generally have the largest individual stake in their company; of course, they’ve also retained the most value, a median of $26.8 billion compared to $26.7 million for nonfounder CEOS.
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