The COVID-19 pandemic has been bad for most people across the globe. With the fear of the virus taking over our lives and the economic doom that’s coming along with the loss of jobs, people are in a constant state of worry. However, that’s not the case for everyone. Yes, there are people and businesses around the world that are tasting success during this pandemic. Here’s a look at four such companies and their owners who have made a fortune during the COVID-19 crisis.
Pharma companies that are manufacturing or researching drugs for COVID-19 are one of the benefactors. The stock market saw the worst collapse since 1987 after the recent pandemic outbreak. In a market where all the stocks are crashing, the shares of these companies see an upward spike. The reason for that is simple. All these firms are actively working towards developing a drug, vaccine, or healthcare equipment that will help combat the virus.
Four People Who Got Rich During the Pandemic
Stéphane Bancel
This France-based billionaire is also the CEO of the Massachusetts based company Moderna Therapeutics. His firm recently got a grant of $483 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Going by the interviews of Bancel in several platforms, the virus vaccine that his firm Moderna is working on should be out by the fall of 2020.
Since March of 2020, Bancel’s net worth went up by a whopping 109%. Yes, that’s a huge spike, and we only hope it further goes up while helping us with the medicine or a vaccine for the virus too. His current wealth is $1.5 billion.
Seo Jung-Jin
The CEO of a South Korea-based biopharmaceutical company, Seo Jung-jin’s net worth went up from $6.9 billion to $8.4 billion. Yes, that’s a 22% spike in his wealth, and that’s because of his work for the COVID-19 virus. Seo Jung-Jin is the co-founder of Celltrion. The company was founded in 2002 and went public in 2008.
The company is actively working on not just antiviral drug treatment, but also on the testing kits. According to sources, the firm is actively working on human testing for antiviral treatment. The firm promises that its rapid diagnostic test can offer accurate results within fifteen to twenty minutes, which is the need of the hour.
Maja Oeri
Her wealth now stands at $3.2 billion, which is up by 10% over the past weeks. The Switzerland-based businesswoman4 and a descendant of Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche. Maja owns around 5% of the stakes in Roche, the pharma company was found in the 1800s. However, she is no longer with the family business as she sold her shares in 2011.
But she continued to remain in the healthcare business. She made a recent announcement that her company is testing out arthritis drug tocilizumab as a treatment for COVID-19 and is in the third phase of the testing exercise. Her company has also developed a new serology test which tests the patients who have recovered from COVID-19. This is an attempt to find antibodies that could help treat those suffering from the disease.
LI Xiting
The founder of Mindray Medical International, the Shenzhen-based medical instruments company has seen a great spike in his net worth over the past few weeks. A Singapore citizen is an active corona warrior with his company manufacturing over 3,000 ventilators every month.
Mindray has donated medical equipment worth around $4.6 million including ventilators to the healthcare centers around the world. Despite this charity, his net worth is increasing, and his fortune has gone up by 1% in the past month. His wealth now stands at $12.6 billion.
This list takes into consideration only the wealth increase since the time the World Health Organization announced COVID-19 as a pandemic. While the economy is crashing, there are very few who can say that their business isn’t suffering from the burning, and these billionaires are few such people. However, these are not the only corona warriors in the business space, many other firms are doing their bit too. Similarly, they have also been seeing a great spike in their wealth.
But, the best part is that they’re making sure their wealth grows the right way by giving back to society. We hope their firms make progress in the right direction and they go on to find a solution to the virus.