Musk leads the world's richest people in gains of $1.5 trillion in 2023
Elon Musk tops the world's richest people, adding $95.4 billion to his wealth...and Arno and Bezos share second place.
Tech rich people added $658 billion to their net worth in 2023, supported by the obsession with artificial intelligence.
2023 was the year of wealth for the world's wealthy, as the combined net worth of the 500 richest people jumped by $1.5 trillion this year, fully recovering from losses of $1.4 trillion in the previous year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index
The fortunes of these wealthy people are once again closely linked to the performance of technology stocks, which set new records this year, despite fears of a recession, high inflation, high interest rates, and geopolitical turmoil. The wealth of billionaires in the field of technology grew by 48%, or the equivalent of $658 billion, driven by the intense hype surrounding artificial intelligence
Elon Musk's net worth recorded the strongest growth rate among the world's wealthy in 2023, regaining the title of the richest person in the world from French luxury goods merchant Bernard Arnault. Tesla CEO's net worth increased by an additional $95.4 billion as of the end of Thursday's trading, thanks to the success of Tesla and SpaceX, after losing $138 billion in 2022. Musk's net worth now exceeds Arnault's wealth by $50 billion after he... The decline in global demand for luxury goods affected the shares of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitt
The wealth of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, has grown by more than $70 billion this year, ranking second alongside Arnault, while the wealth of Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has jumped by more than $80 billion
Although the wealth of the world's billionaires is growing, some of them have fallen behind. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani lost up to $21 billion on January 27 alone, and $37.3 billion during the entire year, after a report issued by the American company “Hindenburg Research” caused the value of “Adani Group” to decline. Group). However, his fortune is still estimated at tens of billions of dollars.
Adani Group's market losses reach $120 billion affected by MSCI review
What does 2024 hold for the world's wealthy people?
Although it's impossible to know exactly, few expected such a big rebound this year. So here are some names to keep an eye on:
Miriam Adelso
Source: Bloombe
Miriam Adelson
Adelson, 78, became the largest shareholder in casino operator Las Vegas Sands after the death of her husband, Sheldon, in 2021. After keeping a low profile for some time, Adelson this year reached an agreement to buy a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks. (Dallas Mavericks) for $3.5 billion, in addition to becoming close to the Republican candidate for the US presidential elections, Nikki Haley. Her net worth rose to $34.3 billion.
François Bettencourt Myers
As the heiress to the L'Oréal fortune, Bettencourt-Myers, 70, is the richest woman on the planet and the first woman to have a net worth exceeding $100 billion. Bettencourt-Myers' success comes as a result of the boom in the beauty and fashion industries in France, which also contributed to pushing Arnault, the Wertheimer brothers who own Chanel, and the Hermès family into the world of wealthy people. Bettencourt-Myers' fortune has risen 40% this year as L'Oréal shares hit record highs.
Steve Cohen
Source: Bloomberg
Steve Cohen
The founder of Point72 Asset Management invests in two strong New York institutions, one old and one new. Cohen, 67, owns the New York Mets and is trying to revive the baseball team after years of lackluster performance. He is also partnering with Hard Rock International in an effort to secure one of the state's new casino licenses, giving distressed Mets fans a chance to speculate on their grief. His wealth rose to $13.9 billion in 2023.
Mark Cuban
Cuban, 65, has a knack for selling at the right time, having sold his podcast site Broadcast.com shortly before the dot-com bubble burst. In 2000, he bought the Dallas Mavericks team for $285 million, which won three division titles, two Premier League championships, and the NBA championship before selling it to Adelson for $3.5 billion (noting that Cuban retained a minority stake).
It remains to be seen whether this sale came at the right time as well. Cuban's wealth rose to $6.8 billion this year.
Carl Icahn
It was a difficult year for the activist investor after Hindenburg Research criticized his company, which led to him losing $18.1 billion in wealth, including more than $10 billion in just one day. However, Icahn, who is 87 years old, still has many challenges ahead of him. He intends to launch a new proxy battle to control the board of directors of Illumina, after the company specializing in DNA sequencing ended a costly takeover agreement that Icahn criticized. , according to people familiar with the matter.
Rupert Murdoch
The 92-year-old founder of News Corp. has retired and handed over management to his son, Lachlan. It is expected to be a difficult year for the heir as candidates such as Joe Biden and Donald Trump compete for the presidency of the United States again. Fox Corp has already settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million after the company accused the network of broadcasting false claims of voter fraud against Trump. Fox is still facing another lawsuit filed by Smartmatic in a similar case. This controversy did not affect Rupert Murdoch's net worth, which rose to $8.9 billion in 2023.
Masayoshi Sun
The Japanese investor made a big bet on WeWork, which officially collapsed in 2023, and people are questioning the feasibility of his approach after he continued to invest in Adam Neumann's remote office space company even as it clearly suffered. The 66-year-old founder of SoftBank Group is likely to face more challenges as deals dry up. But he pulled himself out of deeper crises before, then came back again after losing tens of billions of dollars in the collapse of the dot-com bubble. Sun's wealth fell to $11.4 billion this year.
Donald Trump
The former president and current presidential candidate may have lost the 2020 election, but his portfolio has grown. His wealth has grown by $500 million since 2021, bringing his total net worth to $3.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. However, Trump, 77, will have a fight in 2024, as he defends himself in lawsuits related to his defamation of writer E. Jan Carroll, alleged fraud, as well as his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, all while running for President of the United States.
Changping Zhao
2023 has been a difficult year in many ways for the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Zhao, 46, and Binance pleaded guilty in November to money laundering and violating US sanctions. Zhao agreed to step down as CEO of the company and pay a fine of $50 million personally, in addition to the $4.3 billion that Binance will have to pay. However, the cryptocurrency boom has boosted Zhao's wealth by about $25 billion this year, even if he is about to go to prison in 2024.