There Are Now More People Worth Over $100 Billion Than Ever
The rich simply keep on getting richer.
There were 15 people worth more than $100 billion on Thursday, the most to ever hold that amount of wealth at the same time, Bloomberg reported. Together, they had increased their riches 13 percent this year, to a cumulative total of $2.2 trillion. That was just about a quarter of the wealth of the world’s 500 richest people.
At the top of the heap is Bernard Arnault, the founder and CEO of the luxury conglomerate LVMH. As the wealthiest person on the planet, he has a rather impressive net worth of $221 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, with $206 billion, and Tesla founder Elon Musk, with $188 billion. While he was once the richest man in the world, Musk has seen his fortune decline by a whopping $41 billion so far this year.
The ultra-ultra-rich have seen their ranks rise thanks to the addition of some new members: Michael Dell, Carlos Slim, and Françoise Bettencourt Meyers all surpassed $100 billion in the past five months, Bloomberg noted. Dell is now the 11th-richest person on the planet, with a fortune of $112 billion that has been helped along by his Dell Technologies’ push into the artificial-intelligence space. Slim, meanwhile, is sitting in the 13th spot on the ranking. The Mexican businessman—he’s involved in everything from construction to restaurants—is worth $106 billion, thanks to a boom in the peso.
And Bettencourt Meyers became the first woman to be worth more than $100 billion in December, Bloomberg wrote. She’s an heiress to L’Oréal, which last year had its best year since 1998. On Thursday, she sat as the 14th wealthiest person with a net worth of $101 billion. (Since then, her fortune has fallen to just below the threshold, at $99.9 billion, putting her in the 15th spot.)
One other notable member of the 12-figure club is Gautam Adani: He recently returned to the fold after losing more money than anyone last year thanks to a short-seller attack. While all 15 people had surpassed $100 billion prior to this week, this was the first time they all sat at that level at the same time, Bloomberg noted.
Authors
Tori Latham
