AI anxiety batters software execs, costing them combined $62B: report
Some of the wealthiest software executives in the US have reportedly lost a combined $62 billion this year as fears grow that artificial intelligence could gut the industry’s most profitable businesses.Eight of the 10 biggest wealth drops so far in 2026 have been among billionaires who built their fortunes in software, according to Bloomberg News.The trio who founded AppLovin, the mobile advertising and technology platform, each lost around 30% of their net worth so far this year, with the stock falling by nearly a third.Adam Foroughi, AppLovin’s CEO, has seen his personal net worth plunge from more than $27 billion in December to $17.3 billion as of Tuesday.Foroughi’s co-founders, John Krystynak and Andrew Karam, have seen their fortunes dip 29.3% and 23.2%, respectively.As of Tuesday, Krystynak has lost $2.4 billion year-to-date while Karam’s net worth has been subtracted by $2.8 billion.Jim Goodnight, co-founder of SAS Institute, one of the world’s largest privately-held software companies, has seen his fortune fall 23.2% since Jan.
1 — losing approximately $3.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Oracle founder Larry Ellison has lost nearly $40 billion this year as shares of his company slid, knocking him to sixth place on the list of the world’s wealthiest moguls.Bloomberg placed his net worth at $207 billion.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s wealth is down 18%, with losses of roughly $1.8 billion year-to-date.Hedge funds have ramped up their short bets against software stocks this year, focusing on companies that provide basic automation services that can easily be replaced by AI, according to a CNBC report.Short-sellers have raked in a $24 billion windfall in software stocks so far this year as the overall market value in the industry plunged by $1 trillion, according to data from S3 Partners.Earlier this week, Anthropic released its new Cowork platform, which includes a plugin designed to automate routine legal work — the ...