Richest tech billionaires in the world — including one worth more than South Africa’s GDP

South African-born Elon Musk has increased the gap between himself and the rest of the world’s richest people in 2024.

The past year has been great for most of the world’s biggest tech companies, thanks largely to continued investor optimism around artificial intelligence (AI).

Companies with vested interests in AI, including AMD, Amazon, Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, have seen their share prices surge during 2024.

Roughly a year ago, the combined net worth of the top 10 richest tech billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index was about $1.27 trillion.

As of 18 December 2024, that had increased by roughly 61% to $2.05 trillion.

Musk’s net worth has more than doubled from the start of the year, with a $257 billion jump putting his net worth at $486 billion. He is the first person in history to have a net worth of over $400 billion.

For reference, South Africa’s annual growth domestic product — the total value of the entire country’s produced goods and services over a year — was about $377.8 billion in 2023.

Much of this increase can be attributed to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s close relationship with Donald Trump, who was re-elected as US President in early November 2024.

Musk was an outspoken supporter of Trump for the last few months of his re-election campaign and attended several of the President-elect’s election events.

Trump rewarded Musk with a position in the Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to reduce the state’s wasteful expenditures.

However, the real reward has been how investors view the billionaire’s relationship with Trump could benefit his companies.

Tesla’s share price remained fairly flat in 2024 up to the re-election of Trump.

The electric vehicle (EV) and energy company made just a handful of major announcements and no new products to launch — which did little for the company’s share price.

It has also experienced reduced demand for its EVs, part of a broader plateauing of sales in the sector.

Nonetheless, Tesla’s share price has increased 90% since Trump’s re-election and closed at a record high on 17 December 2024.

This could be partially due to investor views that a Trump administration will ease safety regulators’ investigations into Tesla’s self-driving features.

Trump’s supposed plan to reduce government subsidies for EVs could also end up benefitting Tesla’s dominance as it would make it more difficult for other manufacturers to catch up.

Musk’s second-largest company — SpaceX — has had a far more impressive 2024 than Tesla.

It launched a rocket into orbit successfully roughly every three days, expanded its groundbreaking Starlink Internet service, and conducted several successful tests of its new Starship rocket.

While SpaceX is not publicly listed, it was recently valued at $350 billion in a shareholder sale deal, nearly double its estimated value in December 2023.

The incoming Trump administration is also expected to help clear up regulatory hang-ups that have been among the biggest problems in Starship’s development.

More big gains

The net worth of the world’s second richest person — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — also jumped by roughly $73 billion in the year-to-date.

Amazon’s operating profits surged in 2024, which the company has attributed to major infrastructure investments over the last few years.

Amazon Web Services’ lead in cloud services could also play well into making it a major player in AI.

Meta Platforms’ founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg climbed to third on the tech and overall lists, with his net worth jumping $90.9 billion.

Meta’s share price has jumped due to its advertising business boasting a rise in impressions and average price.

Nine out of the richest tech billionaires from the same time last year remained in the top 10, with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang being the only new name on the list.

Huang’s fortune has increased the most in percentage terms — with a 159% surge from $44 billion at the start of the year.

Below are the ten richest people in the world who built their fortunes on tech products and services.

1. Elon Musk — $486 billion (up $257 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #1
• Overall richest list ranking: #1

2. Jeff Bezos — $250 billion (up $72.9 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Amazon.com, Airbnb, Audible, Blue Origin, Google, Uber, The Washington Post,
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking:  #2
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #2

3. Mark Zuckerberg — $219 billion (up $90.9 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Meta Platforms
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking:  #3
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #4

4. Larry Ellison — $193 billion (up $70.4 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Oracle, Salesforce, NetSuite, Quark Biotechnology, Astex Pharmaceuticals
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking: #4
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #3

5. Larry Page — $174 billion (up $47.4 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Alphabet
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking: #6
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #5

6. Bill Gates — $165 billion (up $24.1 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, Canadian National Railway, Waste Management, Caterpillar, Deere
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking: #7
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #10

7. Sergey Brin — $164 billion (up $43.5 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Alphabet, Tesla, 23andMe
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking:  #
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #6

8. Steve Ballmer — $157 billion (up $26.4 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Microsoft, LA Clippers basketball team
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking:  #9
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #7

9. Michael Dell — $127 billion (up $48.9 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Dell, DFO Management, VMWare
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking: #11
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #8

10. Jensen Huang — $114 billion (up $70 billion)

• Big shareholdings: Nvidia
• Overall richest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking:  #15
• Forbes richest tech billionaire ranking: #9