World's 500 richest hit record wealth of $10 trillion
The total wealth of the world's 500 richest people surpassed $10 trillion for the first time, with their fortunes increasing by $1.5 trillion in 2024. The biggest gains were recorded by tech giants, led by Elon Musk. Among the wealthiest individuals were 16 Russians, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg calculated that the total wealth of the world's 500 richest individuals in 2024 reached a record level of over $10 trillion. Over the past year, their fortunes grew by $1.5 trillion.
Tech giants at the top of the list
Most of the wealth increases were linked to technology leaders, whose companies accounted for 43 percent of the total growth in billionaires' fortunes. Elon Musk, creator of Tesla and SpaceX, ranked first with an estimated fortune of $432 billion. In 2024, his wealth grew by an impressive $203 billion.
Trailing him were Jeff Bezos from Amazon ($239 billion) and Mark Zuckerberg from Meta ($207 billion). Other notable winners in the technology sector were Jen-Hsun Huang from Nvidia Corporation and Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.
Russian billionaires among the richest
The list of the 500 richest included 16 Russians. Among them, Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram platform, increased his wealth by $1.85 billion to $11 billion.
However, not everyone experienced gains. Gennady Timchenko faced the largest losses, with his wealth falling by $3.17 billion. The fortunes of Suleyman Kerimov (a drop of $725 million) and Roman Abramovich (a decrease of $623 million) also declined.
Despite some losses, most Russian billionaires saw an increase in their fortunes. Leonid Fedun gained $994 million, raising his wealth to $10.8 billion. German Khan expanded his fortune by $1.7 billion.
US elections impacted billionaires' fortunes
Donald Trump's victory served as a catalyst for historic growth in the digital asset market, significantly boosting the value of Bitcoin, which for the first time exceeded $100,000.
As a result, the financial position of billionaires in the cryptocurrency industry strengthened. Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ from Binance Holdings, saw his wealth increase by 60 percent, reaching $55 billion. In the case of Brian Armstrong, co-founder of Coinbase Global Inc., his fortune increased by over 50 percent, amounting to $11.1 billion.
Following the November 6th elections, the S&P 500 index reached a historic high. Billionaires in the index gained a total of $505 billion within five weeks after the elections, accounting for 34 percent of the annual growth of their fortunes, according to Bloomberg.
