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Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Tech billionaires got a lot richer during pandemic and gave a pittance back

The pandemic has been good business for America’s tech billionaires. They saw their wealth explode over the last year, while many Americans lost their jobs and fell deep into debt.

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By Madeleine Brand • Mar 18, 2021 • 22m Listen

The pandemic has been good business for America’s tech billionaires. They saw their wealth explode over the last year, while many Americans lost their jobs and fell deep into debt. Just nine tech barons saw their wealth grow by more than $360 billion since last March. You know the names: Tesla’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In turn, most of them gave very little of their wealth to help the country address one of the most devastating crises in modern history. In a lot of ways, they may have helped make things worse.

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    Madeleine Brand

    Host, 'Press Play'

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    Sarah Sweeney

    Vice President of Talk Programming, KCRW

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    Angie Perrin

    Producer, Press Play

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    Michell Eloy

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    Nitasha Tiku

    tech culture reporter for Washington Post

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