20 Individuals Who Became The Richest During The Pandemic

19. This Man Sold Disposable Gloves & A Wheelchair

Disposable gloves are a must-have during the pandemic. They’re sanitary and come in handy, for that extra protection against the virus. Liu Fangyi took advantage of the opportunity and sold disposable gloves – and a wheelchair – during the pandemic. Liu founded the predecessor to Intoco Medical Technology in Zibo, the eastern Chinese city, in 2009 (via Forbes).

18. Woman Gets Rich By Divorcing Her Husband

Usually, divorces are expensive and end in major losses. Luckily, for Yuan Liping, she received a 24% stake in Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products in 2020 after she divorced Du Weimin (via Forbes).

It was one of the most expensive divorces in China’s history, and the entire Asian continent. After the transfer of 161.3 million shares of Shenzhen Kangtai company stock, Yuan is now a billionaire in her own right (via Celebrity Net Worth).

17. An Investment In Alibaba Made Her Wealthy During COVID

Alibaba is a company that specializes in retail, internet, e-commerce, and technology. Chen Xiao Ying made a smart move and invested in Alibaba. Her fortune comes from an investment in Alibaba Health Information Technology, the online healthcare business of Alibaba Group via Forbes). This helped her during the pandemic, where she became rich. Sometimes, one smart move is all it takes.

16. A Diagnostic Kit Supplier Who Earned Thousands

Imagine receiving thousands of dollars during the pandemic, solely from supplying diagnostic kits? Dai Lizhong did just that. His smart move earned him a ton of cash. He chairs Sansure Biotech, a supplier of diagnostic kits, and, from 2000 to 2008, Dai worked for the U.S.-based Gen-Probe, a maker of diagnostic products, and because of this, became rich (via Forbes).

15. A Securities Watchdog Who Became Rich

Back in 1992, Weng was appointed as a representative of China’s securities watchdog in Shenzen. Now, Weng is the majority shareholder of Shenzhen New Industries Biomedical Engineering, which is a supplier of clinical instruments (via Forbes). He, like several other lucky people on this list, became rich during the world pandemic.

14. A Contract Won Resulted In Millions

Sometimes, landing a good contract gives you the security of a good job or paycheck. Other times, albeit rarely, contracts can earn you millions of dollars. Sergio Stevanato started a company called the Stevanato Group, the world’s largest producer of insulin pen cartridges and the second-largest of glass vials. The company started out making glass bottles for wine and perfume, and, in June 2020 – months after the start of the pandemic – Stevanato won a contract to supply 100 million glass vials for up to 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines (via Forbes).

13. A College Professor Who Became A Millionaire Overnight

Talk about making millions, overnight. This college professor is one of the people during the pandemic who became richest through his discovery of an antibody for COVID. Through careful research and dedication, he was able to derive successful antibodies, which, in turn, may have saved thousands of lives from those who received the vaccine:

“In its highest-profile success to date, AbCellera examined thousands of antibodies derived from the blood of people who had recovered from Covid-19 in order to identify the antibodies that did the best job fighting the virus… The federal government has contracted to purchase 950,000 doses of the drug for $1.2 billion. Eli Lilly issued guidance in mid-December expecting up to $2 billion in revenue from Covid-19 therapeutics in 2021.. It will earn estimated royalties of $270 million on those sales, according to Credit Suisse.” – via Forbes

12. Owner Of Pharma Company Became Rich With Packaging

Juan Lopez-Belmonte Encina is CEO. Lopez-Belmonte owns more than 60% of the Madrid-listed company. In July 2020, U.S. firm Moderna agreed to collaborate on manufacturing and packaging Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate. This made his company incredibly successful and he became rich during COVID (via Forbes). It’s another pandemic success story of someone who became richest during the pandemic.

11. An Immunologist Became A Billionaire From Stake In Firm

Timothy Springer of Harvard University now has a net worth of more than $1 billion after his early stake in biotech firm Moderna surged 162%. He invested $5 million in Moderna and his stake is now worth more than $800 million, as the vaccine is one of the first to begin human trials (via In Shorts). It seems that people in the medical field definitely benefited from the pandemic, in terms of research and medicine. Like the others on this list, he became richest during the pandemic.

10. This Scientist And Professor Became Rich During The Pandemic

Robert Langer owns a 3% stake in the company and owns shares in SQZ Biotechnologies, Seer and Sigilon Therapeutics. He has more than 350,000 citations and more than 1,500 articles published, and holds more than 1,400 patents and patent applications, which have been licensed more than 400 times to biotech and pharma companies (via Forbes). Langer became rich just by using his skills and knowledge, getting published in articles, and holding patents, which were licensed in pharma companies – the key to becoming rich.

9. A Supplier Of Disposable Wound And Surgical Products Maker

Li Jianquan chairs Winner Medical, a supplier of disposable wound care and surgical products. The company makes protective face masks and surgical gowns, a necessity during the pandemic, as well as bandages and gauze products, which are a necessity in general. Their products are sold at more than 40,000 pharmacies across China and in more than 70 countries (via Forbes). This widespread recognition is definitely one way to spend a pandemic. This person became richest during the pandemic.

8. A Factory Worker Turned TikTok Star And Become Rich

Khaby, a factory worker, has more than 180 million followers on all of his social media platforms. This just goes to show you that it doesn’t matter what your job is, as long as you know how to work social media and promote yourself. You don’t need to be a celebrity to become rich. Most of his income comes from brand promotions, where his net worth is over two million dollars. To top it all off, Khaby signed a multi-year partnership with BOSS. He was also featured in the #BeYourOwnBoss campaign, with Hailey and Justin Bieber (via The Things). So, he is one of the people on this list who became richest during the pandemic.

7. The Two Sisters Who Earned Millions From Making Tiktok Videos

We’ve all heard of TikTok. Many of us have even watched TikTok, spent countless hours on TikTok, and possibly even made our very own TikTok video. So, for these lucky sisters, they were able to use TikTok to their advantage, and became rich during the pandemic because of it. Charli is 16, and her sister, Dixie, is 19. They began posting on TikTok in 2019 and accumulated 130 million followers. They landed sponsorships with Hollister clothing and Morphe cosmetics (via Forbes).

6. A Hairdresser Started A Sketch Comedy Account That Quickly Blew Up In The Height Of COVID

We all want to be the funniest person in the room. Maybe we even are. But we probably never think to create a sketch comedy account, with the hopes of it going viral, like this hairdresser, Kris Collins, did. She dresses up in hilarious costumes, puts on comedic voices, and creates skits that are so relatbale, you’ll wonder why you didn’t think to do this first (via YouTube).

5. A Former Student Became One Of The Biggest Multimedia Stars

Addison Rae, a former LSU student, has an estimated net worth of at least $5 million. It’s also reported that she has a seven-figure sum just off her 2020 TikTok earnings alone (via Parade). She might be worth more than five million dollars, something that most of us wish we could say, especially at such a young age.

4. Jake Paul Beat The Ex-UFC Champion And Earned $45M

Jake Paul, a YouTube star who is 24 years old, beat ex-UFC champion Tyron Woodley in boxing for the second time in four months. “It was a tough fight. I had blood in my eyes, I had the job done. I was setting the punch up the whole fight. He didn’t see it coming. Like a lumberjack, timber. It’s got to be the moment of my life,” he said (via BBC). After beating Woodley, he raked in over forty million dollars, and was one of the people who became richest during the pandemic.

3. A Gaming Creator Earned $38M

Mark Edward Fischbach runs the YouTube channel Markiplier and has a net worth of $86 million from it. He spends his time playing games such as Mario, Subnautica, and Firewatch, and he also makes funny videos, comedy sketches, parodies, and other random videos that make us laugh, just like Kris Collins does. Because he used his business to make a successful brand, he was one of the individuals who became rich during the pandemic, earning over 30 million dollars (via Naibuzz).

2. A 26-Year-Old Girl Had $200,000 Sales In One Day

“The big roller-skate companies are all run by white men,” Adrienne Cooper said. “As a 25-year-old Black girl, it was really hard to make headway. So I looked for a different perspective and used the sneaker industry as my example.” First, she teased a drop to get her fans excited. Then, she launched Moon Boot. “They sold out in, like, four minutes, all 1,500 pairs,” she says. “We did $200,000 in sales in one day” (via Entrepreneur). Instead of using other people’s products, maybe we’ll start thinking of our own products to sell.

1. This Youtuber Became The World’s Richest Person (For Seven Minutes)

And, to top it all off, YouTuber Max Fosh is someone who became richest during the pandemic. He is now the world’s richest person and has a net worth more than that of Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, for 7 minutes. He has over six million followers (via Live Mint). YouTube seems to be a great way to get yourself out there, sell your personality, gain fans, and get rich.