Elon Musk has become the wealthiest individual ever recorded, with an estimated net worth of $839 billion, according to the latest report by Forbes released on Tuesday.
The billionaire topped the Forbes World’s Billionaires list for the second consecutive year after his fortune surged by around $500 billion over the past 12 months. The increase was largely driven by rising valuations of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, the latter of which is targeting a public offering in 2026.
Musk is the first person in history to surpass the $800 billion mark and is widely seen as being on track to become the world’s first trillionaire.
“It’s the year of the billionaire,” said Chase Peterson-Withorn. He noted that more than one new billionaire was added each day over the past year, largely fueled by an artificial intelligence-driven boom in the stock market that pushed fortunes to unprecedented levels.
The global ranking also showed Larry Page in second place with an estimated net worth of $257 billion, followed by fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin with $237 billion.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, ranked fourth with $224 billion, while Mark Zuckerberg of Meta Platforms rounded out the top five with a fortune of $222 billion.
The report also noted that the wealth of Donald Trump increased by 27 percent to an estimated $6.5 billion, largely due to gains from cryptocurrency ventures and the dismissal of a New York fraud penalty. Trump was ranked 645th on the global billionaires list.