Who Is the Richest Person in the World? Top Billionaires Ranked

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Since Election Night, Elon Musk, who played an active role in President-elect Donald Trump‘s efforts to secure a second term in 2025, has only gained greater influence within Trump’s inner circle. In November 2024, Trump announced that Musk, along with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, would lead the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is not an official government agency. Trump said the duo “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut excessive regulations, eliminate wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies.”

In addition to this role, Trump’s ongoing endorsement of Musk has helped elevate his business ventures. SpaceX, for instance, saw its valuation surge to approximately $350 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.

Find out more about Musk’s financial standing and discover who else is currently among the richest people in the world.

(Photo by Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

What Is Elon Musk’s Net Worth?

Musk has an estimated value of $450 billion as of December 2024, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List.

How Did Musk Make His Money?

A significant portion of Musk’s net worth comes from his 12 percent stake in Tesla, which represents approximately 412 million shares. He has pledged 58 percent of his Tesla shares as collateral for personal loans totaling $3.5 billion. In 2022, Musk sold $40 billion worth of Tesla stock to help fund his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which he later rebranded as X. Although Musk still owns roughly 79 percent of the company at that original valuation, Twitter’s worth has dropped by nearly 70 percent as of August 2024.

Musk is also the co-founder of SpaceX and The Boring Company, and serves as chairman of SolarCity. He owns 43 percent of SpaceX, which was valued at $180 billion in its most recent funding round and is now estimated at $350 billion. The Boring Company, in contrast, was valued at around $5 billion in its latest round.

Additionally, Musk owns about 54 percent of xAI, the artificial intelligence company he founded in 2023. The startup was valued at $50 billion as of last month, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Who Are the Richest People in the World?

As of today, the richest people in the world according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List are:

Elon Musk – $450 billion Jeff Bezos – $241 billion Larry Ellison – $218 billion Mark Zuckerberg – $208 billion Bernard Arnault — $167 billion