As of December 1, the world’s top ten richest are together worth nearly $115 billion more than a month ago. One quarter of that gain is due to the rise in Elon Musk’s fortune during November.
illionaires at the top of the Forbes list had a very good November—at least in terms of their stockholdings. All of the world’s top 10 richest people are wealthier than they were a month ago. Their fortunes surged by a whopping nearly $115 billion—a 9% jump, due to upticks in shares ranging from Tesla to Alphabet.
Forbes has been keeping track of the world’s billionaires since 1987. Earlier this year, we found 2,640 of them for our annual list. Throughout the year, we update their fortunes on a daily basis. Many billionaires hold much of their net worth in the stock of the company they founded or cofounded. As that stock price moves, their fortune moves along with it.
Together the world’s 10 richest people, according to Forbes, are worth $1.44 trillion as of the strike of midnight on December 1—up from $1.32 trillion a month ago. The biggest gainer in the past month (in dollar terms) was Elon Musk, the world’s richest person; a nearly 17% rise in the price of Tesla stock during November pushed Musk’s fortune up by $28 billion to $245 billion. The CEO of electric carmaker Tesla, Musk also owns stakes in privately held rocket firm SpaceX and social media company X, formerly known as Twitter.
For most of the first half of 2023, French luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault was the world’s richest person, per Forbes—but that changed on June 8, 2023, when Musk overtook Arnault to become No. 1 in the world again. As of December 1, 2023, Arnault still ranks No. 2 richest, worth an estimated $191 billion. That’s up from nearly $178 billion at the beginning of November. Arnault, the CEO and chairman of LVMH, has built the company into a giant with more than 70 brands, from Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior to Tiffany & Co. and Sephora.
Software tycoon Larry Ellison of Oracle was the second-biggest gainer of the top ten, up by $15.6 billion during November on the back of a nearly 10% rise in Oracle shares. Ellison ranks No. 4 richest at $146 billion, about $22 billion less than No. 3, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
A nearly 10% jump in Microsoft shares helped to push up the fortunes of both Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates (ranked No. 6) and former CEO Steve Ballmer (No. 8) in November, by $7.3 billion and $10.4 billion. Gates has diversified out of much of his Microsoft stock and given tens of billions of Microsoft shares to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Here are the 10 richest people in the world as of December 1, 2023 at 12 a.m. Eastern time, according to Forbes.
Stock prices fluctuate routinely, so these net worths may change on a daily basis. Forbes tracks the daily changes on our Real Time list of billionaires.