Their businesses lost billions in *profits* (the cost of offering the business's products and services vastly exceeded the money people spent on those products and services). But the business still had billions more at the end of the year than they'd had at the start: billions in public money, funneled to them by central banks.

This kicked off the "#EverythingRally" in which every kind of asset - real estate, art, stocks, bonds, even monkey JPEGs - ballooned in value.

8/