30-04-2025
This South African businessman lost R5. 6 billion thanks to Trump's tariff tirade
While some have benefitted, a South African businessman's finances has taken a major hit thanks to US President Donald Trump's implementation of tariffs.
Image: Se-Anne Rall/IOL
Along with the millions of people around the world, former De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer has lost billions of dollars in a year that markets slumped following US President Donald Trump's imposition of massive tariffs earlier this month.
Oppenheimer, who is the world's 241st richest man according to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, has seen his wealth drop $300 million this year as of Wednesday morning. While that's only a decline of 2.6%, it translates into R5.6 billion.
This is almost 0.75% of South Africa's gross domestic product. South Africa's total National Budget for the 2025/26 financial year is R2.59 trillion, while the value of the economy is R7.5 trillion.
As of the middle of April, Oppenheimer had 'only' lost $150m – R2.8bn at Wednesday's exchange rate of R18.53 to the greenback.
His current worth is $11.2 billion, or R207bn.
Former De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer has lost billions of dollars in a year that markets slumped following US President Donald Trump's imposition of massive tariffs earlier this month.
Image: Dumisani Sibeko
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Oppenheimer, according to Bloomberg's research, earned $5.2bn in cash in 2012 when he sold his family's 40% stake in De Beers to Anglo American. His investments are located around the globe and include those in South Africa, Asia, America and Europe.
The S&P500, a major US stock index, has declined 5.79% year-to-date following steep losses triggered shortly after April began, when former U.S. President Donald Trump declared significant tariffs on imported goods.
Similarly, the Nasdaq – tech-heavy exchange – has fallen nearly 10% since the start of the year, with its sharpest downturn also occurring after Trump's April 2 'Liberation Day' tariff announcement.
