Elon Musk is on track to become the world's first trillionaire by the year 2027.
And his bank balance has increased by an eyewatering amount – as has the wealth of the 10 richest people – after Donald Trump’s victory in the election, according to a widely cited index.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated that the world’s 10 wealthiest people gained nearly $64bn (around £50bn) on Wednesday, November 13 in the largest daily increase since the index began in 2012.
Mr Musk, the world’s current richest person, registered the biggest pay bump.
He added almost $24bn (£19bn) to his fortune, which now stands at around $319bn (£250bn), after a surge in the share price of his car company, Tesla, in which he owns a 13 per cent stake.
Before this, his wealth was reportedly growing at an average rate of 110 per cent a year.
Many of the upsurges in wealth for the top 10 came as a result of a surge in US stocks on Wednesday as investors anticipated a low-tax and regulation-light policy platform.
Also benefitting was Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and now the world’s second-richest person, who added $7bn (£5.5bn) to his $230bn (£180bn) fortune, and Larry Ellison, the chair of the software company Oracle, historically a Republican supporter, who increased his wealth by nearly $10bn (£7.8bn) to $193bn (£151bn).
Other members of the top 10 whose wealth grew included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
There are numerous rich lists out there, with different totals, but they all agree on one thing – Mr Musk is now the wealthiest person in the world.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world’s richest and figures are updated at the close of trading every day.
But who are the other richest people in the world according to their stats, what is their net worth, and how did they make their fortune?
1. Elon Musk – $319bn (£250bn)
With the recent surge in shares, Mr Musk now tops the list. His real-time worth as of November 13 was listed as $319bn, making him the richest man on Earth.
Bloomberg's Billionaires Index says this has jumped by an eye-watering amount this year alone. At the start of 2024, Mr Musk was said to be worth $195bn and, in 2023, £180bn.
South Africa-born Elon Musk grew up in Pretoria before moving to America to study at the University of Pennsylvania.
His first software start-up, Zip2, was bought in 1999 for $307m (£243m). He co-founded PayPal, which he sold to eBay in 2002 for $2.5bn (£1.9bn).
Mr Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 and runs electric vehicle maker Tesla. He is its largest shareholder, and the chief executive.
He completed a $44bn (£35bn) takeover of social network Twitter in October 2022 and renamed it X.
Mr Musk, 52, has been married twice and allegedly has eight children, though some reportedly claim 10. His last public relationship was with singer Grimes, with whom he has two children, a son named X Æ A-12 and a daughter called Exa Dark Sideræl.
US President-elect Mr Trump has named Mr Musk for a role aimed at creating a more efficient government, handing even more influence to the world’s richest man who donated millions of dollars to help get him elected.
The Tesla boss will co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
2. Jeff Bezos – $230bn (£180bn)
Close behind Mr Musk on the rich list is Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, who has also reportedly seen his shares jump, resulting in an additional $7bn to his already expansive fortune.
Bloomberg now have him sitting at around $230bn.
In 1994, Bezos founded Amazon.com in a garage in Seattle shortly after he resigned from the hedge fund D E Shaw. He had originally pitched the idea of an online bookstore to his former boss, David E Shaw, who wasn’t interested.
Amazon.com started selling books and expanded into a one-stop shop. It is now arguably the world’s largest retailer.
Amazon’s pattern of constant diversification is evident in some of its unexpected expansions, which include acquiring Whole Foods and entering the pharmacy business in 2017.
Bezos, 60, owned as much as 16 per cent of Amazon in 2019 before transferring four per cent to his former wife, MacKenzie Scott, as part of divorce proceedings.
In 2020, Amazon’s share price jumped 76 per cent due to the heightened demand for online shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic. On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as chief executive of the e-commerce giant, becoming its executive chair.
Bezos has been engaged to his partner Lauren Sanchez since May 2023.
3. Mark Zuckerberg – $207bn (£162bn)
Bloomberg says Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth has seen a $593m increase since the election, and a $79bn boost this year to date, and he is now worth $207bn (£162bn).
However, he is not in the president-elect’s good books. The entrepreneur found himself on the end of backlash from Mr Trump in August after he threatened to jail him for life for allegedly plotting against him in the 2020 election.
In 2004, while attending Harvard University, Mr Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook – now known as Meta Platforms. With more than three billion monthly users, it has developed into the largest social network in the world.
The business also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, which it bought and significantly grew.
Due to a spike in Meta's price, Mr Zuckerberg, 39, re-entered the world's top 10 richest people in the summer of 2023 for the first time since January 2022.
His wealth decreased by $2bn (£1.6bn) in March due to a three per cent decline in the price of Meta stock.
4. Larry Ellison – $203bn (£159bn)
Larry Ellison, 79, enjoys most of his wealth from owning Oracle, a computer technology company whose sales increased by 18 per cent to $12.3bn (£9.7bn) by November 30, Bloomberg data showed.
Mr Ellison is historically a Republican supporter, and Bloomberg say he has increased his wealth to $203bn (£159bn) following the election.
He made an additional fortune from a bet on Musk three years ago, disclosing in late 2018 that he’d purchased a $1bn (£790m) stake in Tesla.
Mr Ellison co-founded Oracle in 1977, serving as its CEO until 2014.
The American businessman is also known for his interest in yachting and lavish lifestyle.
5. Bernard Arnault and family – $164bn (£129bn)
The billionaire, 75, oversees 70 of the world’s most famous fashion and beauty brands, including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Sephora.
He was the only member of the wealth elite to lose money following the election, and lose his status as the world’s richest person. He has lost $43.4bn (£34bn) this year to date and is now worth $164bn (£129bn).
Like many billionaires, Bernard Arnault comes from a wealthy family, which in his case owned a successful construction business. He broke into the fashion industry in 1985 after using $15m (£13.9m) from his father’s business to buy Christian Dior.
Based in Paris, Mr Arnault is married to concert pianist Hélène Mercier. The couple have five children, with four of them – Frédéric, Delphine, Antoine, and Alexandre – working in LVMH, of which Mr Arnault is chairman and chief executive.
