The combined wealth of the world’s 500 richest people soared past $10 trillion in 2024, driven by an unprecedented surge in US technology stocks and the re-election of President Donald Trump. Billionaires Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jensen Huang amassed the biggest piles, with Musk’s fortune alone exceeding $442 billion.
Tech’s momentum
Buoyant tech stocks boosted the fortunes of household names like Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell, and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Together, these eight tech titans amassed over $600 billion in 2024, accounting for 43% of the $1.5 trillion gained by the top 500 billionaires tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The world’s 500 richest people’s combined wealth peaked at $10.1 trillion on December 11 before dropping to $9.8 trillion on December 30 following a post-Christmas selloff, reports Bloomberg. Still, it adds, “Their wealth is similar in size to last year’s combined gross domestic products of Germany, Japan and Australia, according to data compiled by the World Bank.”
Musk, the largest benefactor, enjoyed a $213 billion increase, thanks to his companies Tesla Inc., SpaceX, and xAI. His close ties to President-elect Trump, who championed policies favouring Musk’s ventures, further solidified his position as the world’s richest person, with an unprecedented $237 billion lead over second-ranked Bezos.
Markets defy expectations
The S&P 500 Index surged 24 per cent in 2024, with tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Tesla —dubbed the “Magnificent Seven”—accounting for more than half of its gains. The index reached an all-time high after Trump’s re-election in November, marking the best post-Election Day rally in history. This historic run added $505 billion to billionaire fortunes in just five weeks.
Trump’s victory also sparked a digital asset boom, with Bitcoin crossing $100,000 for the first time. Crypto billionaires, including Binance’s Changpeng Zhao and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, saw their net worth skyrocket by 60 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.
Trump’s own fortune soared to record highs, boosted by the performance of his majority stake in Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. The social media company, trading under the symbol DJT, on Nasdaq, gained 95 per cent, to a current market value of over $7 billion, says Bloomberg.
However, not all billionaires prospered in 2024. French luxury moguls Bernard Arnault, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and Francois Pinault lost a total of $71 billion amid slowing luxury goods sales. Latin American billionaires also faced challenges, with Carlos Slim’s wealth dropping by $26 billion due to currency fluctuations and political changes in Mexico.
Their staggering losses, however, were dwarfed by the colossal gains made by the winners on the whole. On balance, 2024 was a very good year for the world’s richest people.
