Elon Musk, the richest billionaire of all, has taken the top spot in Forbes’ latest billionaires list, according to the magazine. This marks a significant shift from French luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault, who previously held the top position.
Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk attended Donald Trump’s inauguration. Pic: Reuters
Musk’s net worth has surged by an impressive 75%, reaching an estimated $342 billion (£264.73 billion), as reported by Forbes. This substantial increase can be attributed to several key factors. Firstly, there have been significant new valuations of his companies, SpaceX and xAI. Secondly, Tesla’s stock has experienced a 12-month rise, despite a recent dip in its share price.
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Forbes’ 39th annual world’s billionaires list, as described by the publication as “the definitive ranking of the world’s richest people,” features a record-breaking 3,028 billionaires, an increase of 247 from the previous year. Collectively, these individuals possess an astonishing wealth of $16.1 trillion.
The tech industry dominates the ranking, with all the top 10 spots being held by men.
Coming in second to Mr. Musk is Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has amassed a net worth of $216 billion (£167.4 billion).
He is followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has a net worth of $215 billion (£166.6 billion).
Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, the computer technology company, ranks fourth with a net worth of $192 billion (£148.7 billion).
The only non-tech boss in the top five is Mr. Arnault and his family, who own the luxury goods business LVMH and have a net worth of $178 billion (£137.9 billion).
Investor Warren Buffett, who is not in the tech industry, comes in next with a net worth of $154 billion (£119.3 billion).
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin take the seventh and eighth spots, respectively, with net worths of $144 billion (£111.6 billion) and $138 billion (£107 billion).
The only non-American in the top 10 is Spaniard Amancio Ortega, founder of the Inditex fashion brand that owns Zara and Bershka. He has amassed a net worth of $124 billion (£96 billion).
Former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who is not American, ranks tenth with a net worth of $118 billion (£91.4 billion).
One of the 288 newcomers to this year’s billionaires list is Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google parent company Alphabet. His net worth rose to $1.1 billion (£850 million) as the value of his Google shares increased.
Another notable figure on the longer billionaires list is President Donald Trump, whose wealth has doubled to an estimated $5.1 billion (£3.95 billion). This increase occurred after his social media company Truth Social became a publicly listed company and he sold his own cryptocurrency token.
