America’s billionaires are worth $5.7 trillion—but they've only pledged or donated $185 billion of that in the last decade

Zuckerberg, Sanchez, Bezos, Pichai, and Musk at President Trump's inauguration. (Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images)

• There are 1,135 billionaires living in the U.S., sitting on a collective nest egg of $5.7 trillion—but a select three uber-wealthy entrepreneurs make up nearly a fifth of the honeypot. Together, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg account for nearly $1 trillion, amassing their fortunes through successful tech ventures. But few of these upper-class individuals are giving back through philanthropy—about a quarter of The Giving Pledge signers have known donations of less than $1 million in the last 10 years. Many are funneling billions through their own foundations in a “stealth giving” manner.

America has 1,135 billionaires and counting. According to a recent WSJ analysis of data from wealth-intelligence firm Altrata, if you put all their fortunes together, they represent a honey pot of $5.7 trillion—and half of that wealth is accumulated by the 100 richest billionaires alone. But just three people represent $1 trillion of that.