The net worth of the world's richest person, Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), doubled over the year 2024. The total net worth of the world's 500 richest was reported to be close to $10 trillion (approximately 1.47 quadrillion won).
According to Bloomberg News on the 1st, the combined net worth of the world's 500 richest people reached $9.8 trillion as of the 30th of last month. Their net worth increased by $1.5 trillion (approximately 2200 trillion won) in 2024. In particular, the net worth increase of eight people leading U.S. technology corporations accounted for 43% of the total, reflecting a surge in funds towards the United States driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
Musk held the top spot for net worth. His net worth rose to $432 billion (approximately 635 trillion won), more than doubling from $203 billion at the end of 2023. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, was second with a net worth of $239 billion (approximately 351 trillion won). Bloomberg noted that the asset gap between the first and second place was the largest ever.
Bloomberg named President-elect Donald Trump as a winner. The stock price of Truth Social, the parent company of the social media platform founded by Trump, soared, leading to a net worth of $6.47 billion (approximately 9.5 trillion won), more than doubling in a year. He ranked 471st in net worth.
Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, a leader in the AI boom, also saw a significant increase in net worth. His net worth increased by $70.3 billion (approximately 103 trillion won) to $114 billion (approximately 167 trillion won), moving up to 12th in net worth rankings.
Conversely, Bernard Arnault, Chairman of LVMH, experienced the largest asset drop among the 500 richest. His net worth fell by $31.2 billion (approximately 45.9 trillion won) to $176 billion (approximately 259 trillion won) over the year. Arnault, who was once the richest person in the world, ranked fifth.
Among domestic corporations, Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Cho Jung-ho, Chairman of Meriz Financial Group, made the list of the 500 richest. Chairman Lee ranked 331st with a net worth of $8.46 billion (approximately 12.4 trillion won), while Chairman Cho ranked 408th with $7.16 billion (approximately 10.5 trillion won).