The combined wealth of the 500 richest people on the planet increased considerably over the past year, topping the 10,000-billion-dollar mark, and exceeding the gross domestic product (GDP) of Germany, Japan and Australia combined.
The sharp rise in the price of shares in technology companies partly explains the growth in the fortunes of the men who own them. This applies not only to Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, but also to other tech billionaires such as Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) and Jensen Huang (Nvidia).
Elon Musk remains number one in the rankings. Several of his companies have risen in value since the re-election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Investors believe the close ties between Trump and Musk give the entrepreneur a competitive advantage.
Elon Musk's fortune is estimated by financial news agency Bloomberg at $442.1 billion, $213 billion more than at the start of 2024.
