Who are the 10 richest people in the world in 2024?

Elon Musk's status as the world's wealthiest man remains unchallenged as he continues to sit atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The Tesla owner – currently embroiled in a legal battle over a $56 billion pay package approved by the firm's shareholders but blocked by a court ruling – has a net worth of $384 billion, putting him $140 billion dollars ahead of his closest rival, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Musk's close friendship with US President-elect Donald Trump has earned him the nickname "the First Buddy" and sealed his status as America's premier plutocrat. But, while he sits comfortably ahead of his rivals in the wealth list, he certainly won't be the lonely rich guy in the Trump administration. Musk, who is lined up to head a new non-governmental Department of Government Efficiency, is among a host of billionaires or centi-millionaires Trump has tapped for top positions, including four Cabinet posts and the directorship of Nasa.

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US think-tank the Institute for Policy Studies has warned of the emergence of an "oligarchic" elite, "endowed with extreme material power that can be used to pursue narrow political interests at the expense of democratic majorities". Its analysis estimates that the 12 richest men in the US are now worth a collective $2 trillion.

1. Elon Musk: $384 billion

Elon Musk is known as the eccentric and outspoken chief executive of electric car giant Tesla, founder and CEO of SpaceX, owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and prominent backer of Donald Trump.

His vast wealth derives from his 13% stake in Tesla and shares in SpaceX, which has seen a string of successes in the last year, said Forbes.

At the start of the year Tesla stock dropped nearly 30%, but it rallied in the second half of the year, and soared in the immediate aftermath of the US election, lifting the company's market cap to an estimated $1.29 trillion.

The good times look set to continue for Musk, with his new role as efficiency tsar in the new Trump administration putting him in prime position to "reduce regulatory authority so that he can eliminate impediments to his sprawling business empire", said CNBC.

Even before the election, CNN reported that the Tesla and X boss was on course to become the world's first trillionaire by 2027 – a landmark that could now be reached much sooner.

2. Jeff Bezos: $244 billion

Former hedge fund manager Jeff Bezos started Amazon in his garage in 1994, growing it into one of the most profitable companies in the world. He has invested heavily in space technology too, having founded Blue Origin as a "pet project" back in 2000. After stepping down as Amazon CEO he took on the new role of executive chair.

The newspaper he owns, The Washington Post, suffered mass cancellations of subscriptions after it refused to endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in decades. Since Trump's victory, Bezos has added around $20 billion to his fortune, amid a surge on Amazon share prices.

3. Mark Zuckerberg: $219 billion

Mark Zuckerberg famously dropped out of Harvard to pursue his dream of starting social media site Facebook, which now boasts nearly three billion users worldwide. He remains CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, with a 13% stake. Having dropped out of the top 10, Zuckerberg made a dramatic return to Bloomberg's list last year, driven by a 150% rise in Meta's stock price, making it "one of the best-performing technology stocks of 2023", said The Times. Its strong performance has continued this year, fuelled by "effective cost management and AI investments" which "look to be bearing fruit in boosting user engagement on its platforms", said CityBiz.

4. Larry Ellison: $197 billion

American business magnate Larry Ellison is co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle, which he started in 1977. The 80-year-old stepped down as CEO in 2017 but remains the software giant's chief technology officer and executive chair, as well as owning around 35% of the company.

A close friend of Musk and a former Tesla board member, Ellison is a longtime Republican donor who's seen his own "Trump bump", said CNBC, with his net worth spiking in the days following Trump's victory. The company's most recent earnings report fell short of targets, shaving $15 billion off Ellison's personal net worth, but that's unlikely to interrupt his hobby of being America's "most avid trophy-home buyer". Ellison's property portfolio is worth well over $1 billion, reported the South China Morning Post.

5. Bernard Arnault: $180 billion

When it comes to "the world of luxury goods", perhaps no one is "more successful" than Bernard Arnault, said Business Insider. The Frenchman oversees the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton empire of more than 70 brands, including Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, TAG Heuer, Christian Dior and Dom Pérignon. While his net worth is less prone to the whims of the markets, not being based on technology stock, he has been hit by the fall in demand for luxury goods, especially wines and spirits. "Maybe the current global situation, be it geopolitical or macroeconomic, doesn’t lead people to cheer up and open bottles of champagne," LVMH CFO Jean-Jacques Guiony told Fortune.

6.  Larry Page: $166 billion

Internet entrepreneur Larry Page is one of the co-founders of Google, which he started while a PhD student at Stanford in 1998. He stepped down as CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc in December 2019 but remains a board member. Last year, Page and his fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin, "who've been helping with the AI push and are more involved in the company than they've been in years", added more than $18 billion to their combined wealth as a direct result of the artificial intelligence "frenzy" sweeping Silicon Valley, said Fortune.

7. Bill Gates: $165 billion

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been a permanent fixture near the top of the rich list for the best part of three decades, his name replacing "Rockefeller" as the go-to byword for extreme wealth.

Through selling and giving away much of his stake in the tech company, he now owns just 1% and focuses predominantly on his philanthropic work. Gates has already given away $77.6 billion through his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which advances education and public health initiatives around the globe, and he has vowed to donate as much as 99.96% of his wealth in total.

8. Sergey Brin: $156 billion

Sergey Brin's family left the Soviet Union for the US when he was six to escape antisemitism. Co-founding Google with his Stanford classmate Larry Page, Brin served as head of technology from 2001 to 2011 before transitioning to the role of "director of special projects". He was president of Alphabet Inc until December 2019 and "remains a board member and a controlling shareholder", said Forbes. Speaking at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles in September, Brin revealed he was back working at Google "pretty much every day", due to his passion for the potential of AI, TechCrunch reported.

9. Steve Ballmer: $153 billion

Former CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer led the tech giant from 2000 to 2014, having joined as one of its first employees in 1980. By the time he stepped down a decade ago he was believed to have around a 4% stake in the company, which would see him collect an annual dividend "just shy of $1 billion", said CNN. Ballmer is better known to sports fans as the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.

10. Warren Buffett: $145 billion

Warren Buffett was 11 years old when he first bought stock, according to Forbes. Now in his ninth decade, the Berkshire Hathaway chief executive, known as the "Oracle of Omaha", is one of the most successful investors of all time. Like Gates, Buffett has pledged to give away more than 99% of his fortune to charity.

Over the first nine months of 2024, Buffet sold off $133 billion worth of stock from Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, including stakes in Apple and Bank of America, but spent $550 million on shares in Domino's Pizza.