Source: Forbes

This year, billionaires have gained a lot. Especially these lucky people, whose total wealth has increased by more than 700 billion US dollars. Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of Company X (formerly Twitter), became the world's richest man in mid-2024 and reached a new wealth milestone at the end of the year.

This has been an amazing year for billionaires. As markets boom, more than half of the world's more than 2,800 billionaires became richer in 2024, with some adding billions or even tens of billions to their wealth.

According to "Forbes" estimates, as of December 13, the wealth of the top billionaires this year has increased by a total of US$730 billion. The world's richest man, Elon Musk, saw the biggest increase: he became the first billionaire to cross the $400 billion mark after his rocket company SpaceX was valued at $350 billion. Musk was once the billionaire whose net worth shrank the most in 2022, but he made a strong counterattack in 2023 and 2024, and his wealth increased far more than others.

Seven of the ten winners with the biggest gains in wealth this year are from the technology sector. The people behind technology giants such as Meta, Alphabet, Oracle, Amazon, Nvidia and Dell have become this year’s biggest winners. The ten big winners are all U.S. citizens.

The following are the 10 billionaires with the largest increase in wealth in 2024 (data as of December 13, 2024):

01 Elon Musk

Source of wealth: Tesla , SpaceX

Net worth: US$439 billion

(increased by US$188.1 billion in 2024)

Picture source: Getty Images

At the beginning of this month, Musk's net worth exceeded the $400 billion mark, making history and breaking the record of "Forbes" tracking the world's billionaires in the past 40 years. As of the end of 2024, his wealth has increased by US$188 billion from the beginning of the year (this staggering increase alone would place him among the top five richest people in the world). Shares of electric car maker Tesla are up more than 68% in 2024; artificial intelligence startup xAI reportedly raised funding in November at a $50 billion valuation; and earlier this month, rocket company SpaceX bought back After acquiring insiders' shares, the company was valued at US$350 billion, an increase of more than 60% compared with the previous tender offer (the company was valued at US$210 billion at the time). SpaceX is now the world’s most valuable private companycompany.

At the same time, Musk’s influence is growing. After donating at least $200 million to Donald Trump's re-election campaign, he has become a key member of Trump's inner circle, being named co-chair of Trump's planned advisory committee, the Department for Efficiency (DOGE).

02 Mark Zuckerberg

Source of wealth: Facebook

Net worth: US$214.4 billion

(increased by US$91.8 billion)

Image source: Getty Images

Zuckerberg made history this year and became the fourth billionaire with a net worth of more than $200 billion as the stock price of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, rose 67%. A beautiful turnaround. In 2022, Meta's stock price plummeted by about 64%, and Zach became one of the richest people whose wealth has shrunk the most.

03 Larry Ellison

Source of wealth: Software

Net worth: $218.3 billion

(increased by $84.5 billion)

Image source: JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES

With Oracle and Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos) Bezos, the chairman, chief technology officer and co-founder of Oracle, briefly became the world's second-richest person in September. Although he is currently about US$30 billion behind Bezos, he is still one of the richest people with the largest increase in wealth this year, and his wealth will increase by nearly US$86 billion in 2024. Driven by investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, Oracle's stock price rose more than 68%; Ellison holds about 1.1 billion Oracle shares.

04 Jen-Hsun Huang

Source of wealth: NVIDIA

Net worth: US$117.2 billion

(increased by US$74.3 billion)

< p style="text-align: center;">Image source: PHOTO BY MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Huang Jen-Hsun founded NVIDIA, a graphics processing chip design company, in 1993. He has since served as CEO and president, and has the NVIDIA logo tattooed on his arm. He currently holds about 3% of Nvidia shares. This year, the artificial intelligence darling's stock price has soared 185%, helping him rank among the world's 10 richest people for the first time.

05 Jeff Bezos

Source of wealth: Amazon

Net worth: US$241.2 billion

(increased by US$68.9 billion)

Image source: MICHAEL PRINCE FOR FORBES

In 1994, Bezos founded the e-commerce giant Amazon in a Seattle garage. He is currently the second richest man in the world. His wealth has increased by nearly 70 billion this year as Amazon's stock rose by 53%. US dollars. He is in Yama. He sold stocks when stock prices were high and has sold $13.6 billion in stocks by 2024, more than any other American billionaire. In addition, he may have saved about $1 billion in stock sales by moving to Florida. Taxes.

06 Michael Dell

Source of wealth: Dell Technologies, Broadcom

Net worth: US$115.3 billion

(increased by US$46.6 billion)

< p style="text-align: center;">Picture source: PHOTO BY MICHAEL PRINCE FOR FORBES

Dell briefly ranked among the world's top 10 richest people this month as Broadcom's stock price rose. VMWare, a spinoff from Dell Technologies, merged with artificial intelligence chip maker Broadcom in 2023. As a result, Dell held approximately 210 million shares of Broadcom, and Dell Technologies' shares rose by more than 50%.

07. Rob Walton

Source of wealth: Walmart

Net worth: $112.5 billion

(increased by $46.5 billion)

< p style="text-align: center;">Picture source: PHOTO BY COURTESY OF WALMART08 Jim Walton

Source of wealth: Walmart

Net worth: $111.3 billion

(increased by $44.5 billion)

Image source: PHOTO BY RICK T. WILKING/GETTY IMAGES

09 Alice Walton

Source of wealth: Walmart

Net worth: $103.5 billion (up $41.7 billion)

Picture source: PHOTO BY RICK T. WILKING/GETTY IMAGES

Sam Walton, one of the founders of Walmart Walton, who died in 1992, and other heirs collectively own about 45% of the retail giant's shares, which have risen nearly 80% as e-commerce sales grow and consumer goods prices fall. A good harvest year has come.Eldest son Rob stepped down as chairman in 2015; Jim ran the family's Arvest Bank and served on Walmart's board until 2016.

Sam’s only daughter Alice surpassed L’Oréal heir Francoise Bettencourt Meyers in September this year to become the richest woman in the world.

10 Larry Page

Source of wealth: Google

Net worth: US$156.6 billion (increased by US$40.5 billion)

Page Qi co-founded Google in 1998 with Sergey Brin, who was also studying for a PhD at Stanford University, and currently serves as a board member and controlling shareholder of Alphabet, Google's parent company.

Although the U.S. Department of Justice recommended that Google be broken up due to its alleged monopoly, Alphabet's stock price has still climbed more than 30% this year, adding $40 billion to Page's wealth.