As tech stocks surged with the AI boom, so did the fortunes of the ultra-rich behind them.
By Hyunsoo Rim, Contributor
It’s been a record-setting year for the planet’s richest people. Buoyed by stock markets hitting all-time highs, there are more billionaires than ever before—and they are richer than ever. The 2,781 people on this year’s World’s Billionaires list are worth $14.2 trillion in aggregate, an increase of $2 trillion from last year and up $1.1 trillion from the previous peak in 2021. Two thirds of the list has gotten richer in the past year—some by staggering amounts.
Just ten people account for $507 billion of the gains over the past year. Eight of the ten are U.S. tech moguls, six of whom are tied to the “Magnificent Seven”—Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla and Meta—whose stocks have been the main driver behind big gains in the market amid the AI frenzy that has swept the tech world.
No one on the planet has gained more than Mark Zuckerberg over the past 12 months. His net worth grew by $112.6 billion as Meta’s shares nearly tripled in value, following mass layoffs and ongoing big bets on AI and the metaverse. Zuckerberg, now worth an estimated $177 billion—the richest he’s ever been on Forbes’ annual ranking—is the world’s fourth-wealthiest person, up a dozen spots from number 16 last year.
Other tech tycoons who harnessed the AI wave include chip firm Nvidia’s CEO and cofounder Jensen Huang, who rocketed into the world’s 20 richest for the first time, worth almost $56 billion more this year than in 2023; Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, which is the largest investor in OpenAI; and Larry Ellison, cofounder, chief technology officer and the biggest shareholder of software giant Oracle.
Only two of this year’s top ten gainers hail from outside the U.S. One, Indonesian petrochemicals and energy magnate Prajogo Pangestu, worth an estimated $43.4 billion, saw his wealth soar after taking a renewable energy firm public. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, meanwhile, is now $36.8 billion richer after riding out a tumultuous year triggered by a short seller that accused him of financial fraud and stock manipulation. Adani denied any wrongdoing, and favorable decisions from India’s Supreme Court helped him regain some of his wealth.
Here are the ten billionaires on the 2024 World’s Billionaires list who gained the most wealth over the past year, in dollar terms.
NET WORTHS ARE AS OF MARCH 8, 2024.
1. Mark Zuckerberg
Net Worth: $177 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$112.6 Billion | Source of Wealth: Facebook | Citizenship: U.S.
At 39, the Meta founder is wealthier than ever. Investors cheered after Zuckerberg laid off nearly a quarter of employees while maintaining large bets on AI and the metaverse. He’s now some $80 billion richer than his previous peak on our global ranking, $97 billion in 2021, and back in the world’s top ten—at No. 4—for the first time in three years.
2. Jeff Bezos
Net Worth: $194 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$80 Billion | Source of Wealth: Amazon | Citizenship: U.S.
The Amazon founder and executive chair is $80 billion richer than a year ago. The e-commerce behemoth’s shares—which accounts for roughly 85% of Bezos’ fortune—jumped 93% over the past year on the back of more than 27,000 job cuts plus solid growth in its e-commerce and cloud computing divisions.
3. Jensen Huang
Net Worth: $77 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$55.9 Billion | Source of Wealth: Semiconductors | Citizenship: U.S.
Huang cofounded Nvidia as a video game chip designer three decades years ago. Now, Nvidia dominates the booming AI chip market. Its shares more than doubled over the past year, pushing the company's market capitalization past the $2 trillion mark in February, helping catapult Huang into the world’s top 20 richest (ranked No. 20) for the first time.
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4. Michael Dell
Net Worth: $91 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$40.9 Billion | Source of Wealth: Dell Technologies | Citizenship: U.S.
Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, added nearly $41 billion to his fortune as shares of the computer hardware firm rose 217%, fueled by the surging demand for the company’s AI servers. He also got a boost from selling Dell’s cloud computing division VMware to semiconductor firm Broadcom for $69 billion last fall.
5. Steve Ballmer
Net Worth: $121 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$40.3 Billion | Source of Wealth: Microsoft | Citizenship: U.S.
Though the value of his Los Angeles Clippers team–the NBA’s fifth most valuable–grew nearly 20% to $4.65 billion last year, most of the $40 billion increase in Ballmer's fortune came from his stock in Microsoft, where he was CEO from 2000 to 2014. Shares climbed 63% last year, driven in part by the software giant’s $10 billion investment in ChatGPT-developer OpenAI.
6. Prajogo Pangestu
Net Worth: $43.4 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$38.1 Billion | Source of Wealth: Petrochemicals, energy | Citizenship: Indonesia
The Indonesian billionaire’s fortune surged from $5.3 billion last year to $43.4 billion, propelling him up some 400 spots in the ranking to world’s No. 27 richest. Pangestu took two firms public on the Indonesia Stock Exchange last year: coal miner Petrindo Jaya Kreasi in March and Barito Renewables Energy, which owns the country’s largest geothermal energy producer, in October. Shares soared nearly fifteenfold and fivefold, respectively, since their IPOs.
7. Gautam Adani
Net Worth: $84 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$36.8 Billion | Source of Wealth: Infrastructure, commodities | Citizenship: India
Allegations of financial fraud and stock manipulation leveled by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research last year sparked a decline in shares of Adani Group’s ten listed firms, wiping out half his wealth in early 2023. But shares rallied since December as India's Supreme Court decided in the group's favor and ruled in January that no further probes were needed. With a current fortune of $84 billion, Adani is still short of his $90 billion peak on Forbes’ 2022 list.
8. Larry Page
Net Worth: $114 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$34.8 Billion | Source of Wealth: Google | Citizenship: U.S.
The Google cofounder and former CEO of its parent company, Alphabet, remains the tech giant’s top individual shareholder. Alphabet shares rose 50% in the past year despite the company’s missteps with new AI chatbot Gemini, which incorrectly depicted the founding fathers of the U.S. as people of color; Google later apologized. The stock jump landed Page at No. 10 richest, up from No. 12 a year ago.
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9. Sergey Brin
Net Worth: $110 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$34 Billion | Source of Wealth: Google | Citizenship: U.S.
The Google cofounder remains the tech giant’s second largest individual shareholder. While his fellow cofounder Larry Page maintains a low profile, Brin came out of semi-retirement to submit changes to Google’s Gemini AI chatbot last year and was listed as a “core contributor” when the model was released in December.
10. Larry Ellison
Net Worth: $141 Billion | Gain since March 2023: +$34 Billion | Source of Wealth: Oracle | Citizenship: U.S.
The Oracle cofounder is also the software giant’s largest shareholder by far, with nearly 42% of the company. The surge in demand for Oracle’s cloud computing services—driven by the generative AI craze—helped push shares up 34%, boosting Ellison’s fortune by $34 billion over the past 12 months.
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