"$923 billion in assets" Musk tops Forbes rich list again, No. 1 for a second straight year

Elon Musk, who leads Tesla and SpaceX, has been named the world’s richest person for the second consecutive year.

Forbes, a U.S. business magazine, on the 10th (local time) released its 40th annual World’s Billionaires list and ranked Musk, CEO, No. 1 with net worth of $839 billion (about $923 billion). Musk retained the top spot for a second straight year.

Musk’s fortune rose about 1.5 times from $342 billion last year. It marks the first time an individual’s net worth has surpassed $800 billion in Forbes’ tally.

Google co-founders Larry Page ($257 billion) and Sergey Brin ($237 billion) took second and third place, respectively. They were followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($224 billion) and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($222 billion).

Others near the top included Oracle chairman Larry Ellison ($190 billion, No. 6), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang ($154 billion, No. 8), Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao ($110 billion, No. 17), and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ($108 billion, No. 19).

U.S. President Donald Trump’s net worth was estimated at $6.5 billion, up 27%, placing him 645th.

Among South Koreans, Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong ranked 95th with $27 billion. Caregen CEO Jung Yong-ji was 268th with $11.7 billion, and Celltrion chairman Seo Jung-jin was 346th with $9.9 billion. Hotel Shilla president Lee Boo-jin and Hyundai Motor honorary chairman Chung Mong-koo placed 353rd ($9.8 billion) and 359th ($9.7 billion), respectively.

New billionaires included entertainment and sports figures such as Dr. Dre, Beyoncé and Roger Federer.

The number of billionaires with at least $1 billion in assets totaled 3,428 worldwide, about 400 more than a year earlier. Their combined wealth rose sharply to $20.1 trillion from $16.1 trillion.

Chase Peterson-Withorn, a senior editor at Forbes, said, "A rally in artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks significantly boosted net worth," adding, "Over the past year, more than one new billionaire was created each day."

Forbes annually estimates the wealth of the world’s richest individuals and publishes its ranking. This year’s list was calculated using stock prices and exchange rates as of the 1st of this month.

Lee Song-ryeol, Hankyung.com reporter yisr0203@hankyung.com