JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN

Pandemic pushes Japan's wealthy to spend like there's no tomorrow

People line up outside a tapioca tea shop in Tokyo's Shinjuku neighborhood in June.The popularity of the beverage has waned in recent months. | BLOOMBERG

By Mark Schreiber
Contributing writer

Oct 24, 2020

In August, U.S. webzine Business Insider was one of the first news outlets to report that the COVID-19 pandemic was bringing a windfall to America's billionaire entrepreneurs.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, for example, was estimated to have added an additional $48 billion to his assets. Others enriched over the first six months of the pandemic included video-conferencing platform Zoom founder Eric Yuan, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and entrepreneur Elon Musk.

"Billionaires in the United States," Business Insider reported, "have increased their total net worth $637 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic so far."

Pandemic pushes Japan's wealthy to spend like there's no tomorrow

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