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Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault are among the world’s 10 richest people who have added billions of dollars to their personal wealth this year so far, for a combined total that outstrips the market value of Starbucks.
Data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index show they have added $139.8 billion to their net worth since the beginning of January, as stocks staged a comeback from a dismal 2022.
That rise in wealth is larger than the market cap of some of America’s biggest companies. They include Starbucks, which has a market value of about $122 billion, and jet-making giant Boeing at nearly $127 billion.
The top 10 billionaires’ fortunes are largely tied up in the companies they founded, own, or manage. Given the gains for stocks this year — in the US, the S&P 500 is up about 7%, while the Nasdaq has added about 14% — it’s no surprise all of them have seen their wealth accumulate.
Elon Musk — who lost his mantle as the world’s richest person in 2022 after seeing the largest loss in personal fortune in history — has seen the biggest bump in the group. He’s enjoyed a $44.8 billion rebound in net worth, linked to an 63% resurgence in Tesla stock.
Bernard Arnault, who took the number 1 spot from Musk, scooped in a relatively modest $25 billion as shares in LVMH rose almost 17%. The CEO of the luxury goods empire is worth about $5 billion more than the Tesla and Twitter boss, according to Bloomberg.
Warren Buffet saw the smallest rise in his fortune, adding $196 million to his fortune this year, as his hedge fund Berkshire Hathaway saw a slight contraction in value this year. The iconic trader and world’s fifth richest person plans to give nearly all his fortune away to philanthropic causes before he dies.
While it’s been a good year for those currently occupying the top 10, it masks steep declines for some of its former members.
The most notable was Gautam Adani, whose Indian ports-to-energy conglomerate has shed more than half its value in the wake of a damning report by short-seller Hindenburg. The man who was formerly Asia’s richest person fell out of the top 10 after shedding $58.7 billion in his net worth.
