Computer technology, social media, and artificial intelligence top the list of the world’s richest people for December, according to Forbes.
Elon Musk remains the richest person in the world despite a small decline in his wealth. It is estimated at $483 billion, even after Tesla shares fell by 6% and his net worth dropped by $15 billion.
The Forbes top ten are:
- 1. Elon Musk
- 2. Larry Page (up from 4th in November)
- 3. Larry Ellison (down from 2nd)
- 4. Jeff Bezos (down from 3rd)
- 5. Sergey Brin (up from 6th)
- 6. Mark Zuckerberg (down from 5th)
- 7. Bernard Arnault
- 8. Jensen Huang
- 9. Michael Dell (up from 10th)
- 10. Warren Buffett (up from 11th)
The total wealth of the ten amounts to $2.4 trillion—about 10 times larger than Greece’s GDP.
Winners and losers
Following the release of Google’s Gemini 3 AI model in mid-November, Alphabet—the company’s parent—and its founders have gained ground.
Larry Page’s wealth is estimated at $262 billion as of December 1, up $30 billion from November 1, thanks to a 14% rise in Alphabet’s stock.
Page, who ranked 4th on November 1, surpassed Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who each dropped one spot to 3rd and 4th respectively.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin was the second-biggest winner among the top 10 richest, as his wealth grew by $27 billion, reaching $242 billion, moving him up one place.
Meanwhile, Warren Buffett—whose Berkshire Hathaway revealed it holds nearly $5 billion worth of Alphabet shares—was the third-biggest winner, and the only member of this month’s top 10 who was not in last month’s ranking.
Buffett’s net worth increased by $9 billion, reaching $152 billion, moving him from 11th to 10th place as Berkshire shares rose by 8%.
He replaced former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who fell from 9th to 11th as his wealth dropped by $6 billion, reaching $149 billion.
Ellison, who had held second place since mid-June, was the biggest loser among the world’s top 10 richest, as Oracle shares fell by 23% and his wealth decreased by $67 billion, dropping to $253 billion.
The second-biggest loser, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, managed to keep his 8th place even though the chip-maker’s stock fell by 13% and his net worth declined by $22 billion, reaching $154 billion.
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