CEOs Who Lose Millions In Minutes

The annual median household income in the U.S. is about $50,000. A band of 30 of America's richest bosses lost that much money in less than two minutes last year.

The rich get richer a lot faster than most. That also means they can lose their fortune a lot faster, too.

On the latest Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans, there are 30 CEOs of public corporations with a combined net worth of $215 billion. That's $20 billion less than they had last year--a total loss of $1,000 every 1.6 seconds, or $633.78 per second. The CEOs' losses average out to $790 million each last year.

Most of these men have their greenbacks tied up in the companies they founded. That's where the biggest losers were hit the hardest.

The fortune of 77-year-old media tycoon and News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch declined $2 billion to $6.8 billion. News Corp.'s stock price fell 34% over the last 12 months despite the robustness of the Fox brand and its purchase of Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Murdoch lost $1,000 every 15.78 seconds, or $63.38 per second. That's about $1.5 million an hour.

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, which invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs on Tuesday, suffered similar losses last year. Buffett's net worth dropped $2 billion to $50 billion due to an 18% decline in the holding company's share price since February. That's also a loss of $1,000 every 15.78 seconds.

A less well-known CEO billionaire who lost big over the last year is DISH Network's Charles Ergen. The 55-year-old lost $2.1 billion, bringing his net worth to $8.1 billion, due to a 25% decline in DISH's share price. He lost $1,000 every 15.03 seconds, or $66.55 per second.

There were seven CEOs who grew their fortunes, including Ian Cumming, the CEO of Leucadia National, a holding company whose portfolio includes telecommunications and property management companies. His fortune edged up $100 million. Cumming, 67, and three other CEO billionaires each earned $1,000 every 5.25 minutes, or $3.17 per second. That includes Michael Dell, CEO of his namesake computer company, who has a net worth of $17.3 billion.

Meanwhile, the fortunes of some of the most well-known CEOs remained flat, including Apple's Steve Jobs ($5.7 billion), Amazon.com's Jeffrey Bezos ($8.7 billion) and Ralph Lauren ($4.7 billion) of Polo Ralph Lauren.

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