The number of billionaires has surged to a record-breaking 3,428, with Elon Musk retaining the title of the world’s richest person, according to Forbes. The magazine’s latest rankings, dominated by the tech sector, placed the Tesla and SpaceX boss in the top spot with a net worth of $839bn (£623bn), followed by Google co-founders Larry Page on $257bn and Sergey Brin with $237bn.
Donald Trump also saw his wealth increase by 27% to $6.5bn off the back of his crypto dealings, and after his New York fraud penalty was thrown out, making the US president the world’s 645th richest person.
Forbes’s 40th annual world’s billionaires list also saw some notable debuts, including rapper Dr Dre ($1bn), singer Beyonce Knowles-Carter ($1bn) and tennis star Roger Federer ($1.1bn).
The 390 newcomers also included Greg Abel ($1bn), Warren Buffett’s successor as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, Mr Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk ($1.4bn), and former vice-presidential candidate, and Mr Brin’s ex-wife, Nicole Shanahan ($1.4bn). In total, those on the list are worth a record $20.1trn, an increase of $4trn since last year as the wealth of the world’s richest people continues to grow.
Last year’s list featured 3,028 billionaires. The number of people with fortunes of more than $100bn climbed to 20, up from 15 a year ago.
Forbes also estimated that crypto baron Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, is now richer than Microsoft founder Bill Gates, with a fortune of $110bn. The six richest people on the billionaires list are all Americans, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($224bn), Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg ($222bn) and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison ($190bn) also ranking highly.
French luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault and his family ranked seventh, with an estimated wealth of $171bn. The top ten richest billionaires also included Nvidia founder Jensen Huang ($154bn), investor Warren Buffett ($149bn) and Spanish fashion mogul Amancio Ortega ($148bn). Only a handful of Britons feature lower down in the rankings, including hedge fund manager Michael Platt. He is 120 on the list with an estimated net worth of $20bn.
The world’s youngest billionaire is 20-year-old heiress Amelie Voigt Trejes, a Brazilian whose grandfather founded the industrial machinery firm WEG, who is worth an estimated $1.1bn. The co-founder of AI hiring start-up Mercor, Surya Midha, is the youngest self-made billionaire at 22. The American is one of 12 self-made billionaires under the age of 30 on the list.
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