In 2024, it was another good year for the world’s “billionaires” club. Their combined fortune grew by $370 billion – an amount greater than the value of a banking giant like Bank of America ($308 billion).
As a result, the Bank of America’s share of the world’s largest bank is worth more than 308 billion dollars (308 billion dollars).
For this development they have the stock exchanges to thank, which have shot up the value of their shares. The “millionaires” club is pretty tight.
It counts just 15 members, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, whose combined wealth is close to $2.2 trillion – more than the value of Google. In fact, some of them, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, would have even more money if they didn’t donate part of their fortunes to charity.
But who are the members of this privileged club?
At the top is Elon Musk.
– Fortune: $245 billion.
– Annual change: +$16.4 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Tesla and SpaceX.
Musk is the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla and spacecraft maker SpaceX. He is also the owner via social networking site X (formerly Twitter). His other businesses include The Boring Company, Neuralink and xAI.
In second place is Jeff Bezos.
– Fortune: $201 billion
– Annual change: +$24.4 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Amazon
Bezos is the founder, executive chairman and former CEO of Amazon, the e-commerce and cloud computing giant. He also founded the space company Blue Origin and owns The Washington Post newspaper.
Third in the club is Bernard Arnaud.
– Fortune: $197 billion
– Annual change: -$10.1 billion.
– Main source of wealth: LVMH.
Arnaud is the founder, chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. His group owns a plethora of luxury brands, including Dior, Fendi, Dom Pérignon, Sephora and Tiffany & Co.
In fourth place is Mark Zuckerberg.
– Assets: $188 billion
– Annual change: +$59.9 billion.
– Main source of wealth: meta
Zuckerberg is co-founder, chairman and CEO of Meta Platforms, the social media titan behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads. Meta’s Reality Labs division builds headsets and virtual and augmented reality systems.
Bill Gates is fifth.
– Fortune: $158 billion
– Annual change: +$17.8 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Microsoft.
Gates is co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, which makes the Office suite of applications, the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform and Xbox consoles. He is known for his philanthropic work as head of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world’s largest charities.
In sixth place is Larry Ellison
– Fortune: $153 billion
– Annual change: +$30 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Oracle and Tesla shares
Ellison is co-founder, chief technology officer and former CEO of Oracle, an enterprise software company specializing in cloud computing and database platforms. He invested in Tesla before joining the automaker’s board in 2018 and earned more than 10 times his money by the time his term expires in August 2022.
Larry Page follows.
– Fortune: $150 billion
– Annual change: +$23.5 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Alphabet.
Page founded Google with fellow Stanford University student Sergei Prine in a friend’s garage in 1998 and served as CEO until 2001. He took the reins again between 2011-2015, after Google was restructured as a subsidiary of Alphabet along with other businesses such as YouTube and Waymo.
In eighth place is Steve Ballmer.
– Net worth: $146 billion
– Annual change: +$15.3 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Microsoft
Balmer served as Microsoft’s CEO between 2000 and 2014. He joined the company in 1980 as an assistant to Bill Gates, initially asking for a share of the profits, which he later traded for a share of stock. Balmer retired as CEO in 2014 with a 4% stake – a position worth $140 billion. He soon after bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion and remains the owner of the basketball team.
Warren Buffett is in ninth place.
– Fortune: $141 billion
– Annual change: +$21.7 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffett acquired Berkshire Hathaway when it was a failing textile company in 1965 and has since grown it into one of the world’s largest companies. His nearly 15% stake is worth about $140 billion. The group owns dozens of businesses, including Geico, See’s Candies and BNSF Railway, as well as multi-billion dollar stakes in public companies such as Apple and Coca-Cola.
The top ten is rounded out by Sergey Brin.
– Fortune: $141 billion
– Annual change: + $21.2 billion.
141 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Alphabet.
21% – 21% of Alphabet’s assets.
Brin co-founded Google with Page in 1998 and served as its first chairman.
He and Page stepped down from their respective roles as chairman and CEO of Alphabet in 2019.
In eleventh place we find Jensen Huang.
– Net worth: $114 billion
– Annual change: +$69.9 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Nvidia.
Huang is a co-founder of Nvidia. The microchip maker founded in 1993 became a market darling in the last 20 months as its semiconductors proved instrumental in the development of artificial intelligence. Nvidia’s share price has soared from $15 at the end of 2022 to $130, valuing the business at about $3.1 trillion and making Huang one of the richest people in the world.
One rung below him is Mukesh Ambani.
– Fortune: $112 billion
– Annual change: +$15.7 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Reliance Industries
Abhani is chairman and CEO of Reliance Industries and the richest man in Asia. His father, Dhirubhai, founded Reliance and entrusted Mukesh to grow the group’s petrochemicals business and expand into new areas such as telecommunications. His son Anand’s wedding of the year became an international event this summer.
Thirteenth in the “millionaire” club is Michael Dell.
– Fortune: $107 billion
– Annual change: +$28.4 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Dell
Dell is the founder, chairman and CEO of the eponymous computer manufacturing company. Dell’s stock has soared from under $40 last March to more than $110, valuing the company at nearly $80 billion, as investors bet it will be a key beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom. Dell owns about 46% of his company and made more than $10 billion from the sale of VMware to Broadcom last year.
In fourteenth place is Gautam Adani.
– Net worth: $105 billion
– Annual change: +$20.8 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Adani Group
Adani is the founder and chairman of Adani Group. His group is a leading developer of infrastructure such as ports and power plants in India.
The club of “billionaires” closes with Amancio Ortega.
– Fortune: $105 billion
– Annual change: +$17.2 billion.
– Main source of wealth: Inditex
Ortega is the founder and former chairman of Inditex, the fashion retail group that includes brands such as Zara, Bershka and Massimo Dutti. The billionaire philanthropist and real estate investor stopped running Inditex in 2011. His daughter, Marta Ortega Pérez, was appointed chairman at the end of 2021.
