Year of adjustments among the many 20 richest on the planet with Elon Musk (virtually) unbeatable within the lead | Economy | EUROtoday

Year of actions, though with out new faces, within the listing of the 20 richest folks on the planet. They repeat all those that have been on the finish of 2024, however with sure positions exchanged, particularly within the high positions. And solely one of many 20 members has seen how his fortune has diminished. So 2025 can undoubtedly be described as yr for the billionaires that make up this rating ready with Bloomberg information up to date as of December 26. Once once more, technological titans monopolize the highest positions: Elon Musk, founding father of Tesla; Larry Page, president of Google; Jeff Bezos, founding father of Amazon; Larry Ellison, founding father of Oracle; Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and Mark Zuckerberg, of Meta, are the six richest folks on the planet. Only one Spaniard, Amancio Ortega, founding father of Inditex, is on the listing, in thirteenth place.

Elon Musk is on the throne for one more yr, though he briefly misplaced it. The fortune of the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX didn’t go properly together with his work in Donald Trump’s administration, a place by which he was surrounded by controversies that ended up affecting his picture and that of his electrical automotive firm. The drop in automobile gross sales had an impression on the corporate’s shares, of which it owns round 12.5%.

But after leaving the White House, Musk’s fortune in latest months has solely grown, and he’s now the primary particular person to exceed $600 billion in wealth. Specifically, it has 645,000 million, in comparison with 468,000 million final yr. The spectacular rise is thanks, largely, to Tesla’s rebound on the Stock Market since SpaceX, of which it owns round 42% based on completely different specialised media, reached 800,000 million {dollars} in its newest valuation just a few days in the past. It just isn’t dominated out that Musk will quickly break the 700 billion barrier and even attain $1 trillion. In this ending yr, 75% of Tesla shareholders permitted paying its founder a wage of virtually a billion {dollars} in shares to steer the corporate over the subsequent decade, so long as he meets a sequence of goals. And there are additionally plans to listing Space

In the remainder of the rostrum positions there are adjustments. The second place is occupied this yr by Larry Page, who rises from sixth. The fortune of the co-founder of Google has elevated from 173.2 billion to 270.1 billion, helped by the nice efficiency on the inventory market in latest months of the expertise big, particularly after the presentation of the brand new model of its synthetic intelligence mannequin, Gemini 3.0.

The third richest particular person on the planet is Jeff Bezos, who falls one place regardless of rising his fortune from 245.9 billion to 254.6 billion. This yr, the founding father of Amazon has been the protagonist of many information for his million-dollar marriage ceremony in Venice held in summer time. In autumn, the corporate he based introduced the dismissal of some 14,000 staff from its company workforce, after presenting outcomes for the third quarter by which it reported a web revenue of 21,187 million.

In fourth place, Larry Ellison repeats, who was the one who briefly took the management from Musk in September because of the robust rise within the inventory market of Oracle, the corporate he based and of which he owns round 40%. In in the future, the agency’s shares soared 36.1% to their all-time excessive of $328, after making public the expansion forecasts for the approaching years of its cloud storage enterprise, which will likely be pushed by AI. Ellison’s fortune reached $393 billion on the time, however has since deflated, together with Oracle’s valuation, to $251.4 billion. The magnate’s title has made headlines as of late because of the hostile takeover bid that Paramount, led by his son David Ellison, has launched on Warner Bros, after the latter reached a gross sales settlement with Netflix. A conflict within the American audiovisual trade that’s nonetheless removed from over.

Up to fifth place, from seventh, is Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, who goes from having 163,000 million to 251,100 million. He is adopted by Mark Zuckerberg, who loses three positions. The founding father of Meta, Facebook’s guardian firm, elevated his fortune from 213.4 billion to 235.8 billion.

Far from the primary place he as soon as held, Bernard Arnault is now the richest European on the planet. The French businessman, who owns virtually half of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the most important luxurious group on the planet, has not seen his fortune decline this yr, as occurred in 2024. In 2025, he has gone from proudly owning 176.4 billion to 204.7 billion, thanks to higher efficiency within the luxurious sector because of the power of the US market and the return of Chinese shoppers.

The eighth place is within the palms of Steve Ballmer and his 169.8 billion, in comparison with 151.9 billion final yr. The former CEO of Microsoft rises one place helped by the nice efficiency of the expertise firm in latest months. In its first fiscal quarter, which begins on August 1, it earned 27.7 billion, 12.4% greater than in the identical interval in 2024.

Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of Nvidia, continues the climb that started in 2024 pushed by the event of AI, though this yr the rise has been smaller, solely three locations, as much as 9, when within the earlier rating it jumped 17 steps. His fortune has gone from 122.2 billion to 156.2 billion. The expertise govt skilled a darkish day final January when he noticed 20.1 billion of his fortune disappear because of the sharp fall within the inventory market of the AI ​​chip firm after the emergence of the Chinese DeepSeek with an apparently cheaper mannequin. Since then, the agency has been rebuilding itself, with intervals by which it has doubled its worth, and others by which the shares have suffered a bit extra.

The high ten is closed by an previous acquaintance of this rating, Warren Buffett, who has been in the identical place for 2 years and has been wealthy for nearly his total life. The 95-year-old investor introduced unexpectedly in May that he’s leaving his place as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway on the finish of this yr, by which his fortune has gone from 143.6 billion to 150.7 billion.

Also repeating his place, eleventh, is Michael Dell, founding father of the pc manufacturing firm that bears his final title, who in 2024 rose 5 positions and noticed his fortune enhance greater than on this one, which has gone from 128.5 billion to 141.3 billion. Other regulars on the listing are the Walton brothers, heirs to the Walmart empire. In place 12 is Jim, with 136.4 billion, whereas Rob repeats in 14 with 133.7 billion and Alice does the identical in 15 with 133.000 million. Among this household of millionaires is the richest Spaniard, Amancio Ortega, in thirteenth place. The founding father of Inditex climbs 3 steps and goes from 101.7 billion to 135.6 billion. The textile big, of which the businessman owns 60% of the capital, recorded its historic most on the inventory market on December 18, reaching a worth of 175,000 million euros, after presenting third quarter outcomes that have been above all forecasts.

Bill Gates has fallen to sixteenth place, from eighth, the one one of many billionaires on the listing who has seen his fortune drop from 161.9 billion final yr to 117.8 billion now. His income not rely on Microsoft, the corporate he based and of which he solely owns 1%, however on Cascade Investment, with which he has stakes in different listed companies, in addition to actual property and vitality property.

For his half, Carlos Slim rises one place, from 18th to seventeenth, in a yr by which he has elevated his property from 81.9 billion to 112,000. With these figures, the Mexican telecommunications magnate and proprietor of América Móvil is the richest particular person in Latin America. Mukesh Ambani, the most important shareholder of India’s Reliance Industries, drops one place, although his fortune grew from 91.3 billion to 107.2 billion in a single yr. On the opposite hand, Françoise Bettencourt, the French inheritor to the shares that her mom, Liliane Bettencourt, owned within the L’Oréal group, rose one place (19). He has seen his fortune enhance from 74.6 billion to 92.2 billion.

The rating is closed by a determine who reached the rostrum in 2022. When Gautam Adani, founding father of the Indian agency Adani Group, was on the Olympus of the wealthy with 121.1 billion, the funding agency Hindenburg Research accused him of committing accounting fraud and manipulating the costs of his subsidiaries. Although an investigation by the Supreme Court of India concluded that the allegations weren’t credible, the businessman’s fortune by no means returned to comparable ranges. It now stands at 84.5 billion in comparison with 76.9 billion final yr.