The sometimes mind-boggling wealth of the richest business leaders in the US has gotten even bigger as a result of forces accelerated by the virus. And the figures will only drive debate on whether such contrasts between the richest and poorest are politically acceptable.

Figures show that the five wealthiest US business leaders became even richer during the pandemic as their business models benefited from social distancing and the shift to remote working, also driving debate on how the tumult has increased inequality. 

While some of the gains were down to structural changes in the economy pre-dating COVID-19, the pandemic and associated lockdowns have accelerated the adoption of Big Tech – benefiting the entrepreneurs who built these businesses, as well as their shareholders. 

Aside from controversies such as social media censorship and the impact on politics and society, the wealth of these men has echoes of the resentment (not necessarily justified) caused by the riches of industrialists more than a century ago, such as those of Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller. And, as then, there are calls for anti-trust actions against these firms. More recently, politicians such as Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren have pushed for wealth taxes on the super-rich. It is likely, client advisors have said, that the Joe Biden administration will hike taxes such as capital gains and lower thresholds for estate taxes, among other measures.

According to data presented by BuyShares.co.uk, a share trading platform, billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin have added $355 billion to their collective wealth since March 2020.

Elon Musk's wealth rose by 642 per cent in a year, the largest increase of this group, figures showed. His wealth grew eight times, boosted by his Tesla electric cars firm, which hit $182.6 billion in value in February 2021.

From March 2020 to February 2021, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, added $76.3 billion to his net worth, the second-biggest value among the US billionaires. Last year, his net worth amounted to $113 billion. This figure increased by 67.5 per cent to $189.3 billion in February.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg logged a rise in wealth of $41 billion, a three-quarters' increase. His fortune stood at $95.7 billion last month. Co-founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have net worth increases of $40 billion and $39.1 billion, respectively.

Other figures, the platform said, showed that all 600 billionaires in the US have added almost $1.3 trillion to their collective wealth since mid-March 2020, a 44 per cent increase in a year.