In the first half of 2023, the world’s richest 500 people have contributed to $852 billion USD in wealth, with tech billionaires leading the path. Earlier this month, Elon Musk regained the title of world’s richest man, with LVMH‘s Bernard Arnault coming in second. According to this year’s Bloomberg Billionaires Index, each of the members made an average of $14 million USD per day in the past six months, marking the best half-year for billionaires since the latter half of 2020.
Bloomberg explains that the wealth gains are largely due to the broad stock market rally. Musk, who is now the richest man in the world, recorded a net worth jump of $96.6 billion USD from this year through June 30, while Meta CEO came in with the second most gained at $58.9 billion USD. Coming in third is another tech billionaire, Jeff Bezos, who appears to score just under $47.4 billion USD. Oracle’s Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison saw a jump in his wealth by $40.8 billion USD and cracking the top five in fifth place is Arnault with a gain of $38.2 billion USD. As Tesla’s shares continue to climb in July, Musk’s wealth gains continue to grow, adding $13 billion USD more to his fortune as of Monday.
The total for billionaire gains is evidently high, with data showing that the rich do indeed get richer. However, amongst the ultra-wealthy there were some losses as well. Gautam Adani lost $60.2 billion USD in the first half of 2023, including the largest one-day loss with a decline of $20.8 billion USD. This was mostly due to Hindenburg Research being accused of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. Despite that, Adani is still ranked the 21st richest person in the world.
In other tech news, Meta will reportedly launch Threads, a Twitter alternative soon.
