The combined wealth of the three richest individuals globally has reached a staggering 1 trillion US dollars， a figure comparable to the market capitalization of Berkshire Hathaway， the conglomerate led by the renowned investor Warren Buffett.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index， as of the close of trading last Friday， Elon Musk， the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX， held a net worth of $419 billion. Larry Ellison， co-founder of Oracle， trailed with $349 billion， and Mark Zuckerberg， the CEO of Meta， possessed $265 billion.
The collective wealth of these three individuals amounts to $1.03 trillion， nearly matching Berkshire Hathaway’s market value of $1.07 trillion. For context， Berkshire Hathaway is an industrial titan with annual revenues of approximately $370 billion， a workforce of nearly 400，000 employees， and is steered by an individual widely recognized as “the greatest living investor.”
The immense fortunes of Musk， Ellison， and Zuckerberg are largely attributable to their substantial shareholdings in some of the world’s most valuable companies. Musk owns approximately 13% of Tesla and around 42% of SpaceX. Ellison holds about 41% of Oracle’s stock， and Zuckerberg holds roughly 13% of Meta’s shares.
While Musk’s wealth has seen a decrease of $14 billion year-to-date， Ellison’s net worth has nearly doubled， with an increase of $157 billion， driven by a surge of over 75% in Oracle’s stock price this year. Zuckerberg’s wealth has grown by $5.8 billion year-to-date， benefiting from a 29% rise in Meta’s share price within the same period.
The prosperity of most ultra-wealthy individuals has also seen significant growth this year. The 17 members of the “Billionaire Club” have collectively added $434 billion to their fortunes， bringing their total wealth to $3.2 trillion as of last Friday. This sum surpasses the market capitalization of tech giants like Google or Amazon.
The significant expansion of wealth for Musk， Ellison， and Zuckerberg in recent years is largely fueled by investor enthusiasm for the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. This trend has propelled the valuations of companies at the forefront of AI development， directly impacting the net worth of their key stakeholders.
Notably， Elon Musk is on track to become the world’s first trillionaire. According to a potential compensation plan recently disclosed by Tesla， Musk stands to receive a groundbreaking $1 trillion in compensation if he guides the company to an $8.5 trillion valuation. This ambitious compensation package is subject to approval at the shareholder meeting.
Demonstrating his confidence in achieving these goals， Musk purchased approximately $1 billion worth of Tesla stock last Friday， as indicated by regulatory filings released on Monday.
