Michael Zeuner Discusses Wealth Creation with Bloomberg

January 8, 2019

Despite 2018 being an extremely volatile year for the stock market, many individuals still managed to build mega-fortunes. To help better understand the wealth creation that occurred during this turbulent year, Bloomberg recently spoke with WE Family Offices Managing Partner Michael Zeuner.

“It was a good year for wealth creation,” explains Zeuner. “It was a tough year in financial markets, but for people who are creating wealth through companies, the economy itself is very strong.”

For example, here are two success stories of CEOs who got wealthier based on the value of their companies: Tim Sweeney and Autry Stephens. Tim Sweeney, the founder and chief executive officer of Epic Games, grew his fortune to $7.2 billion last year due to the success of his company’s very popular video game Fortnite. Meanwhile, Endeavour Energy Resources LP’s Autry Stephens ended his year with $11.4 billion thanks to bids that valued the oil company at as much as $15 billion. Even with growing global trade tensions and a downdraft in the markets, Sweeney and Stephens were merely two of the 31 individuals who vaulted onto the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in 2018.

On the other hand, a number of wealthy individuals lost some of their fortunes due to market turmoil. In fact, 500 of the richest people in the world lost a total of $451 billion last year – which starkly contrasts from 2017 when they increased their wealth by $1 trillion.

However, the individuals who lost wealth in 2018 should not deter investors, as there are still plenty of winners among them. One of them being Denise Coates, the British founder and chief executive officer of online bookmaker Bet365 Group Ltd, who is now nearly 10 times wealthier than Queen Elizabeth II.

Read the entire Bloomberg article here.

In addition to Bloomberg, this article has also been republished in a variety of publications, including Financial Advisor Magazine, The Economic Times, Houston Chronicle, Business Tech, South China Morning Post, Canada.com, The Herald, and The Sydney Morning Herald.