The world’s billionaires saw their wealth increase to a new high in 2024, according to a Bloomberg index, with those in mainland China also gaining and breaking a three-year losing streak.
The world’s 500 richest saw their wealth grow $1.5 trillion in 2024 to around $10 trillion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Elon Musk led the pack at $432 billion, as of January 2, followed by Jeff Bezos ($239 billion), Mark Zuckerberg ($207 billion), Larry Elison ($192 billion) and Bernard Arnault ($176 billion).
Unsurprisingly, the tech rally was a major contributor with the sector’s eight titans alone accounting for 43 percent of the gains. Nvidia CEO and AI leader Jensen Huang, for example, added $76 billion to his net worth after his stock nearly tripled in 2024.
China Reverses Trend
After three years of consecutive wealth contraction amid a property crisis and tech crackdown, Chinese billionaires saw their wealth grow 14 percent in 2024.
Bottled water tycoon Zhong Shanshan was the country’s richest at $55 billion and the lone billionaire in China’s top five whose wealth did not originate from the tech sector. The other leading billionaires are Tencent co-founder and CEO Ma Huateng ($48.3 billion), Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming ($43.9 billion), Alibaba founder Jack Ma ($34.2 billion) and Pinduoduo founder Colin Huang ($34.2 billion).
