The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has a total worth of $342 billion, making him the richest person Forbes’ annual World Billionaires List has ever featured.
Elon Musk reclaims his status as the richest man in the world, after seeing his net worth skyrocket by 75 percent last year. Musk has a total net worth of $342 billion, making him the richest person Forbes’ annual World Billionaires List has ever featured.
With this, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO dethrones last year’s wealthiest, French businessman Bernard Arnault, who slides to the fifth spot with a net worth of $178. That’s still a lot of money. Arnault’s plummet in the rankings is attributed to a decline in demand for luxury goods which led to a slump in the stock price of LVMH, the biggest source of his wealth, according to Newsweek. The staggering increase in Musk’s wealth makes his net worth almost twice as much as that of Arnault’s, the owner of top luxury fashion labels such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Givenchy, Bulgari, Loewe, and Sephora.
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The Newsweek article added that Musk is “likely to continue to be the richest man in the world, as the gap between him and Zuckerberg is over $100 billion.” The intensifying public backlash against Tesla and its stock, however, could possibly limit Musk’s future growth.
Rounding out the top five are more familiar names. Occupying the second spot is Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who has a total worth of $216 billion—and at only 40 years old at that. He leads third place holder and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos by only $1 billion. An American tech guy also occupies the fourth spot, Oracle’s Larry Ellison who has in his name $192 billion.
Completing the top 10 are four more Americans and a Spaniard. Occupying the sixth spot is Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway) who is valued at $154 billion, followed by Google’s Larry Page at seventh place with $144 billion, and Sergey Brin at eighth with $138 billion. Coming in at ninth place is Zara’s Amancio Ortega with $124 billion, and Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer’s $118 billion fortune lands him at the tenth spot.
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Asia and Philippines’ richest
In Asia, India’s Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries) is still the continent’s wealthiest, with a total worth of $92.5 billion. Ambani made society headlines last year with the lavish wedding of his young son Anant to socialite Radhika Merchant (see The POST’s story here). Completing Asia’s five richest are TikTok’s Zhang Yiming ($65.5 billion, China), Zhong Shanshan ($57.7 billion, China), Gautam Adani ($56.3, India), and Ma Huateng ($56.2, China). Just a spot lower is Tadashi Yanai and family of Japan, owners of Uniqlo, who have a collective net worth of $45.1 billion.
Here in our backyard, property mogul Manuel “Manny” Villar takes the title of the country’s wealthiest. Dubbed the “brown taipan,” the 75-year old businessman and former politician saw his wealth grow to $17.2 billion this year from only $6.2 billion in 2024 when he placed third among the wealthiest Filipinos. The Forbes ranking places Villar as the 117th wealthiest in the world.
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Following Villar is Enrique Razon Jr., chair of International Container Terminal Services Inc., with a $10.9-billion net worth. The third richest Filipino is San Miguel Corp. chairman Ramon Ang with a $3.7-billion net worth. At fourth place is Lucio Tan, now 90, the founder and chairman of LT Group and who has a net worth of $3-billion.
Completing the top 10 are the Sy siblings, who each occupy a spot from fifth to tenth place: Henry Sy Jr. ($2.3-billion), co-vice chairman of SM Investments, Hans Sy ($2.2-billion), Herbert Sy ($2.1-billion), Harley Sy ($1.9-billion), Teresita Sy-Coson ($1.9-billion), and Elizabeth Sy ($1.7-billion).
The other five Filipino billionaires on the list are Andrew Tan, the chairman of Alliance Global, who has a net worth of $1.6-billion; Lucio Co and wife Susan, who run Puregold Price Club and who have a net worth of $1.4-billion and $1.3 billion, respectively; Tony Tan Caktiong, Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) chairman and founder, who has a total net worth of $1.3 billion; and a newcomer, Eusebio Tanco, who has a net worth of $1.2-billion, which is largely from running STI Education Systems Holdings.
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A 38-year tradition
Forbes has been documenting the world’s billionaires since 1987. In that first year, it listed 140. It wasn’t until two decades later that the number grew to 1,000.
This year’s ranking sees 3,028 entrepreneurs, investors, and heirs, which is 247 more than a year ago. “Not only are there more of them, but they’re richer than ever, worth $16.1 trillion in total—up nearly $2 trillion over 2024,” says Forbes in a statement.
Among the 288 billionaires making their debut on the list are rockstar Bruce Springsteen ($1.2 billion), Hollywood icon and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ($1.1 billion), and comedian Jerry Seinfeld ($1.1 billion).
Twenty-one are 30 years old or younger, with all save for two of them inheriting their wealth (talk about the richest nepo babies!). Most of them are also from Europe. All these are true for the youngest one on the list: 19-year-old Johannes von Baumbach, heir to Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim, the world’s largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company. Per Forbes, Johannes and his three older siblings are each worth an estimated $5.4 billion thanks to a stake in the drugmaker.
The United States has the most number of billionaires at 902, followed by China (Hong Kong included) with 516, and India with 205.
