On the eve of 2024, Bloomberg revealed its annual ranking of the 20 wealthiest people in the world. The list had two new interesting developments: Elon Musk regaining first place and an almost unanimous increase in present wealth, thanks to the growth of the technology sector and the stock market.
With many changes in place compared to 2022, the ranking brought good news for most since 19 of the 20 people mentioned increased their assets, with the exception of Gautam Adani, who fell to fifteenth place.
"After a 2022 in which most of the 20 richest people in the world saw their fortunes diminish, to a greater or lesser extent, 2023 has provided them with good news in the form of hundreds of millions of dollars, thanks, in large part, to a better year for the stock market and especially for technology companies," reported Cinco Días.
The change in the top positions is Musk, who not only recovered the number one spot but also became the tycoon who added the most money to his accounts during the last 365 days. He earned an additional $138 billion of assets in 2022 and closed 2023 with $232 billion, translating into a new $94 billion.
Squeezed out of his former number-one spot by Musk, second place went to Bernard Arnault, with $179 billion. Completing the podium is Jeff Bezos, who will begin 2024 with a net worth of $178 billion. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer finish out the top five.
Interestingly, the first and only Latino on the list is Carlos Slim, who was awarded the eleventh position with $75 billion. In turn, 2023 ended without any Chinese tycoons among the 20 wealthiest people in the world after Zhong Shanshan left the ranking.
The 20 richest people as of December 30, 2023
- Elon Musk
- Bernard Arnault
- Jeff Bezos
- Bill Gates
- Steve Ballmer
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Larry Page
- Larry Ellison
- Sergey Brin
- Warren Buffett
- Carlos Slim
- Francoise Bettencourt
- Mukesh Ambani
- Amancio Ortega
- Gautam Adani
- Michael Dell
- Jim Walton
- Robert Walton
- Alice Walton
- Julia Flescher Koch
