The combined wealth of the world's 500 richest people grew by $1.5 trillion this year. This is evidenced by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index rating, calculated based on the value of billionaires' shares in companies.
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The agency notes that billionaires managed to win back last year’s losses – in 2022 they lost $1.4 trillion
Entrepreneurs from the technology sector got richest as a result of unprecedented growth in IT stocks. Their capital increased by $658 billion (+48%), which was primarily due to the hype around artificial intelligence.
Musk remained the richest person in the world
At the end of the year, this year’s billionaires ranking headed by the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, owner of the social network X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk.
Bloomberg estimates the American billionaire's fortune at $229 billion as of December 31, 2023. Last year he lost $138 billion, and this year he earned $92 billion, mainly due to the success of Tesla and SpaceX.
In second place turned out to be a French businessman – the head of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Bernard Arnault ($179 billion).
He is again followed by the owners of technology companies: with a slight lag, the chief executive officer of the Amazon online store Jeff Bezos ($177 billion) and the founder Microsoft Bill Gates ($141 billion).
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took fifth place with a fortune of $131 billion. Over the year he earned $45 billion.
He is followed by the head of Meta Corporation Mark Zuckerberg, who earned $82.5 billion over the year, increasing his fortune to $128 billion (sixth place).
Top 10 richest people in the world
One Ukrainian was included in the rating
Also in the rating of the richest people in the world from Bloomberg got one Ukrainian – Rinat Akhmetov. His fortune is estimated at $5.84 billion. This year he earned $508 million and took 469th place in the ranking.
