ELON MUSK AND HIS BILLIONAIRE FRIENDS ARE RICHER THAN EVER

Elon Musk is the richest person in the world and is worth more than the next three billionaires combined, the latest calculations from Forbes show.

The Tesla founder, who bought Twitter, now X, in 2022 and has a vision for making it possible for humans to live on Mars, is now estimated to be worth $839bn (£623bn).

It puts him miles ahead of the nearest competitors, the Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, valued at $257bn (£191bn) and $237bn (£176bn).

In fourth place is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whose fortune is put at $224bn (£167bn).

At number nine is Warren Buffett, the so-called Oracle of Omaha regarded as probably the best investor ever.

His wealth is a relatively puny, $149bn (£111bn). The 95-year-old has always said he will give away most of his fortune in time.

Forbes, the US magazine that documents the fortunes of the super rich, says it has been a record year for billionaire wealth.

The richest people are now richer than ever and there is more of them than ever.

A record 3,428 people make the 2026 World Billionaires list, 400 more than a year ago.

That’s down to the AI boom and rising tech valuations.

“There has never been a better time to be a billionaire,” says Forbes. Most of the top of the list hails from the US.

The first non-American is Bernard Arnault who oversees the LVMH fashion empire. The Frenchman is worth $171bn (£126bn).

Zhang Yiming of tech giant Byte Dance is the first Chinese person on the list at number 26, with wealth of $69bn (£51.5bn).

The first woman, is Alice Walton, at number 14 ,with $134bn (£99.45bn). She is the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton.

Other notables on the list, are Bill Gates at number 19 with $108bn (£82bn). The Microsoft founder, like his friend Mr Buffett, is also planning to give most of his fortune away. His reputation has taken a hit lately due to his links with Jeffrey Epstein.

Towards the bottom of the super rich list is the UK’s James Dyson, who is at $15bn (£11.1bn). The inventor is best known for the bagless vacuum cleaner.

The rise and rise of the billionaires has led to calls for a billionaire wealth tax, including from US senator Bernie Sanders.

Mr Sanders has proposed a five per cent annual wealth tax on US billionaires.

He said that analysis by economists at the University of California estimates that would raise $4.4tn (£3.25tn) over the next decade.

Elon Musk would owe $42bn (£31.5bn) under this plan. Mr Musk believes that Mars can be colonised and would set off nuclear weapons on the planet first to change the climate.

Critics of Mr Sanders, a socialist, point out that much of this wealth is in shares rather than available immediately as cash.

The Independent has always had a global perspective. Built on a firm foundation of superb international reporting and analysis, The Independent now enjoys a reach that was inconceivable when it was launched as an upstart player in the British news industry. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, and across the world, pluralism, reason, a progressive and humanitarian agenda, and internationalism – Independent values – are under threat. Yet we, The Independent, continue to grow.

2026-03-10T13:32:25Z