[imagesource: Harker/Bloomberg/Getty]

The coronavirus pandemic is proving to be a test of character across all sectors of society.

How the richest people in the world handle the crisis says a lot about their place in the order of things.

In South Africa, a number of our wealthiest families donated large sums to bolster the economy as we headed into the initial 21 days of lockdown. As we navigate a further two weeks of extreme physical distancing, this will prove invaluable to efforts to sustain small and locally owned businesses.

You can find a comprehensive list of funds and relief measures available to help South African businesses here.

Globally speaking, the pandemic has impacted the world’s richest people, all of whom took a financial knock, including the man at the very top, Jeff Bezos.

The top 10 still had a few billion lying around so it was a little hard to care.

Now it looks like Bezos has turned things around, and might even be benefiting from the virus.

Per Forbes:

Amazon stock surged 5.3% on Tuesday, hitting a new record close of $2,283 per share. The stock is now up over 20% so far this year, outpacing the benchmark index (the S&P 500 is down over 12%).

Increased demand from consumers who are shopping online while stuck at home during lockdowns has caused Amazon stocks to soar.

As the company’s stock rises to a new all-time high, that’s made CEO and founder Jeff Bezos noticeably richer: His fortune grew by $6.4 billion on Tuesday, according to Forbes’ estimates.

Just the $6,4 billion richer.

Back in March, the multi-billionaire lost $8 billion of his personal wealth after the stock market crashed when Saudi Arabia cut oil prices, and the economy took a dive thanks to the coronavirus.

It looks like he’ll be making it all back within a few weeks.

Meanwhile, back at Amazon, workers don’t have a whole lot to celebrate. According to The Washington Post, two employees were fired for speaking out against the company’s climate policies and the unsafe conditions in its warehouses during the pandemic.

One of the fired workers, Emily Cunningham, a user experience designer who is part of the group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, had offered on Twitter to match donations up to $500 to Amazon warehouse workers. In that tweet, she wrote that a lack of safe and sanitary working conditions “puts them and the public at risk.”

Maren Costa, a principal user experience designer for Amazon, was also fired for retweeting Cunningham’s position and expressing her own concerns about the company.

Separately, Amazon confirmed Tuesday it fired a worker at a Minnesota warehouse who had been an activist calling for safer working conditions.

Amazon fired the tech workers for “repeatedly violating internal policies,” spokesman Drew Herdener said in a statement.

This policy prohibits workers from “publicly disparaging or misrepresenting the company”.

The virus has spread throughout Amazon warehouses, infecting workers in at least 74 warehouses and delivering facilities across America. In response, a number of workers have staged small demonstrations in protest.

Amazon acknowledged Tuesday that a manager in its Hawthorne, Calif., warehouse died on March 31 from covid-19, the first reported coronavirus-related death among its workers.

Increased job insecurity has forced a number of people to keep working even when it places them at risk, and Amazon seems to be taking full advantage of the circumstances.

Even before the coronavirus went global, working conditions in Amazon warehouses were less than ideal. 

Billionaires, like Bill Gates, have dedicated extensive resources and funds to combat the pandemic.

Others hide on their private yachts, while some, like Bezos, just keep getting richer.

[sources:forbes&washingtonpost]