CARY – The fortunes of Jim Goodnight and John Sall, the billionaire cofounders of Cary-based SAS, have soared some 40 percent in just three months despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from Forbes.

However, the fortune of Cary’s third billionaire – Tim Sweeney, cofounder and chief executive officer of Epic Games, has not changed, Forbes says. But that could soon change as Epic reportedly is looking to raise as much as $1 billion in new capital which would lead to a much higher valuation of that privately held firm.

Based on information published today and compared to the annual Forbes Billionaires report released in March, Goodnight’s net worth has soared to $8.4 billion from $6.1 billion, the Forbes Real Time Billionaires site says.

Sall, meanwhile, has seen his networth climb to $4.3 billion, up from $3.1 billion in the March report.

Report: World’s billionaires getting much richer despite pandemic

So why such a jump in wealth for Goodnight and Sall? Well, they are far from alone in getting richer as the stock market roars back from a deep plunge as the pandemic broke out.

US billionaires have become $565 billion richer since March 18, says the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank, in a newreport.

Total wealth for billionaires now stands at $3.5 trillion, up 19% from the low point near the beginning of the pandemic, the report said.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos alone is worth $36.2 billion more than he was on March 18.

As CNN reports, “The acceleration of wealth for the richest Americans is being driven by the remarkable recovery of the stock market, which has skyrocketed in large part because of unprecedented action from the Federal Reserve.”

“The stock market taking off — and decoupling from the real economy — is exacerbating inequality,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco, in an interview with CNN.

Tim Sweeney (Photo courtesy of Epic Games)

While SAS is privately held, Forbes relies on a variety of sources to compile its estimates of fortunes. SAS, with some 14,000 employees wordwlide, reports sales in excess of $3 billion a year.

Sweeney’s net worth is reported to be $4.5 billion.

Neither company comments about the finances of the executives.

Goodnight is listed as the world’s 211th richest person.

Sall is reported as No. 534 on the Forbes list.

Sweeney is ranked No. 488.