The year 2024 has been exceptional for billionaires. Particularly those privileged few who, together, have become more than $700 billion richer.
Article de Connor Greene pour Forbes US
More than half of the more than 2,800 billionaires in the ranking Forbes got rich in 2024 thanks to the surge in the markets, and some have earned billions, even tens of billions of dollars.
According to the estimates of Forbesthis year’s ten richest billionaires saw their collective fortune increase by $730 billion (as of December 13, 2024). Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, has become even richer: he is the first person to cross the $400 billion mark after his rocket company SpaceX was valued at $350 billion. Elon Musk, the biggest loser of 2022, has rebounded in a big way, making more money than anyone on the planet in 2023 and 2024.
Seven of the ten biggest winners in this year’s billionaires rankings come from the world of technology. In addition, the ten personalities who saw their fortune increase the most this year are all American citizens.
Here are the ten billionaires who became the richest in 2024 (data as of December 13, 2024).
#1. Elon Musk
Source of income: Tesla, SpaceX
Net worth: $439 billion (earned $188.1 billion in 2024)
Elon Musk made history earlier this month when his net worth crossed the $400 billion mark, a feat that Forbes had never recorded in almost forty years. At the end of 2024, he will be $188 billion richer than at the start of the year (a sum which, alone, would constitute the fifth largest fortune in the world). Shares of its electric vehicle maker Tesla are up more than 68% in 2024. Its artificial intelligence startup xAI raised funding with a reported value of $50 billion in November. Earlier this month, his rocket company SpaceX bought back shares in a deal that valued the company at $350 billion, an increase of more than 60% from its previous public offering. purchase of SpaceX, which had valued the company at $210 billion at the start of the year. SpaceX is now the most valuable private company in the world. In the meantime, Elon Musk’s political influence has also grown. After donating at least $200 million for Donald Trump’s re-election, he became a key member of Trump’s inner circle and was named co-director of Donald Trump’s planned new advisory council, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
#2. Mark Zuckerberg
Source of income: Facebook
Net worth: $214.4 billion (earned $91.8 billion in 2024)
Mark Zuckerberg made history this year by becoming the fourth billionaire with a fortune exceeding $200 billion thanks to a 67% rise in shares of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It’s a remarkable turnaround for Mark Zuckerberg, who was among the biggest losers in 2022 when Meta’s stock collapsed 64%.
#3. Larry Ellison
Source of income: Software
Net worth: $218.3 billion (earned $84.5 billion in 2024)
Oracle’s chairman, chief technology officer and co-founder briefly became the world’s second-richest person on several occasions in September, as shares of Oracle and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon fluctuated. He now lags behind Jeff Bezos by some $30 billion, but he remains one of the billionaires who grew the most during the year, with nearly $86 billion in 2024. Oracle stock , driven by investor enthusiasm for AI, rose more than 68%. Larry Ellison owns some 1.1 billion shares.
#4. Jensen Huang
Source of income: Nvidia
Net worth: $117.2 billion (earned $74.3 billion in 2024)
Jensen Huang owns about 3% of graphics chip designer Nvidia, which he founded in 1993 and has led since then as CEO and chairman. Jensen Huang, who has the Nvidia logo tattooed on his arm, entered the top 10 richest people in the world for the first time this year, as shares of the AI darling company jumped 185%.
#5. Jeff Bezos
Source of income: Amazon
Net worth: $241.2 billion (earned $68.9 billion in 2024)
Jeff Bezos founded e-commerce colossus Amazon in his Seattle garage in 1994. Now the world’s second-largest fortune, he has grown nearly $70 billion richer this year thanks to a 53% rise in shares Amazon. He sold at a high price, shedding $13.6 billion in his stocks so far in 2024, more than any other American billionaire. And thanks to his move to Florida, he probably saved a billion dollars in taxes on those sales.
#6. Michael Dell
Source of income: Dell Technologies, Broadcom
Net worth: $115.3 billion (earned $46.6 billion in 2024)
This month, Michael Dell briefly joined the world’s ten richest people thanks to a surge in Broadcom shares. Michael Dell owns about 210 million shares of the company, due to the agreement reached in 2023 to merge VMWare, a company formerly of Dell Technologies, with artificial intelligence chip maker Broadcom. Shares of Dell Technologies also rose more than 50%.
#7. Rob Walton
Source of income: Walmart
Net worth: $112.5 billion (earned $46.5 billion in 2024)
#8. Jim Walton
Source of income: Walmart
Net worth: $111.3 billion (earned $44.5 billion in 2024)
#9. Alice Walton
Source of income: Walmart
Net worth: $103.5 billion (earned $41.7 billion in 2024)
The three children of Walmart co-founder Sam Walton (who died in 1992) and his other heirs collectively own about 45% of the retail giant’s stock. The year 2024 therefore promises to be excellent for the trio, since Walmart shares have climbed almost 80%, thanks to increasing e-commerce sales and falling prices for consumer goods. Rob, the eldest, stepped down as chairman in 2015. Jim runs the family-owned bank Arvest and served on Walmart’s board of directors until 2016. Alice, Sam Walton’s only daughter, overtook Françoise Bettencourt Meyers , heiress to L’Oréal, in September to become the richest woman in the world.
#10. Larry Page
Source of income: Google
Net worth: $156.6 billion (earned $40.5 billion in 2024)
Larry Page, who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin in 1998, today sits on the board of directors of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and is its majority shareholder. Although Google was the subject of a recommendation from the U.S. Department of Justice to break up the company for anticompetitive practices, Alphabet shares have soared more than 30% this year, adding $40 billion to the company’s stock. Larry Page fortune.
A translation by Flora Lucas
Also read: FORBES BILLIONAIRE RANKING – December 2024 | Who are the ten richest people in the world?
