It is not an exaggeration to describe Musk's 2023 as "making more money every day". Recently, "Forbes" released a list of the "Ten Billionaires with the Most Wealth in 2023". "As global stock markets rise, more than half of the world's 2,568 billionaires are richer than on New Year's Day, and some billionaires are luckier than others." The list shows that as of December 15, 2023, the wealth of these ten richest people has increased by a total of US$490 billion.
Among them, Tesla CEO Elon Musk ranks first on the list with a wealth increase of US$108.4 billion in 2023. Based on this calculation (349 days), Musk’s wealth increases by more than US$300 million per day on average.
Since June, Musk has been firmly ranked as the world's richest man. According to the "Forbes" rich list, as of December 15, 2023, Musk's net worth reached US$254.9 billion.
Interestingly, Musk's wealth is as broad as his personality. At the beginning of 2023, Musk fell from the position of the richest man and became the second richest person in the world, because in 2022, he was the richest person in the world who lost the most wealth. However, in just one year, Musk achieved "first from last" to "first from positive".
Musk’s “extensive financial resources” benefit from the super cash-absorbing ability of his electric car company Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX. Tesla’s stock price has risen by more than 100% this year, with its latest market value exceeding US$800 billion; SpaceX has successfully conducted more than 90 launches this year, and its valuation has soared to US$150 billion in July this year.
The ten billionaires who will gain the most wealth in 2023, drawing: The Paper reporter Wu Yuli
It is not difficult to see from this list that the craze for artificial intelligence this year has boosted the wealth of technology tycoons.
Seven of the 10 richest people on the list are from the technology field. In addition to Musk, they also include Meta (the parent company of Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Larry Page, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
"Forbes" commented that no one embodies the prosperity of artificial intelligence better than Huang Renxun. As the overlord of artificial intelligence chips, Nvidia's stock price has soared more than 230% in 2023, pushing its market value to US$1.2 trillion and pushing Huang Renxun into the top 20 richest people in the United States.
In addition, although Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft and current owner of the NBA Los Angeles Clippers, is not a technology tycoon, his wealth growth mainly comes from his Microsoft shares.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index is up 42% in 2023, nearly double the S&P 500's 23% gain. The stock prices of the seven technology giants Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla and Meta have all risen far more than the broader market, helping to snowball the wealth of the billionaires behind them.
The remaining two richest people in the top ten are from countries outside the United States. Indonesian energy tycoon Prajogo Pangestu has accumulated huge wealth relying on the timber and petrochemical industries. Two of his companies were successfully listed this year, and his shares increased by more than 800%.
Amancio Ortega, the Spanish tycoon behind fast fashion retailer Zara, has also made huge profits from the surge in stock prices. Zara shares rose 57% in 2023, hitting a record high.