Elon Musk (Tesla-SpaceX), Jeff
Bezos (Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook-Meta), Larry
Ellison (Oracle), Bernard Arnault (LVMH).
Synopsis: In 2025,
some billionaires became richer, while others came down. The biggest wealth
loss of the year goes to Gautam Adani, who lost USD 12 billion, and Elon Musk,
who missed USD 35.2 billion. Many Indian tycoons, such as Mukesh Ambani and
Shiv Nadar, also came down based on their stock falling in the capital market,
with a weaker Indian rupee.
Key
Highlights:
· Despite some extent of losses, Elon Musk is still the richest
person in the world, with USD 421.2 billion.
· The Other top billionaires include Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg,
Larry Ellison, and Bernard Arnault.
· Many billionaires are getting richer on account of their holdings
in technology stocks. The total wealth of the top 500 richest people has now
reached USD10 trillion.
In 2025,
Elon Musk will remain the richest person, thanks to his companies, such as
Tesla and SpaceX. The world's richest people continue to grow their wealth,
mainly through technology and other companies' vertical growth.
Forbes’
World’s Billionaires List for 2025:
As per
Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List for 2025, the U.S. leads with a record 813
billionaires, China with 473, and India impressively claims the 3rd spot
with 200 billionaires.
Top 10
richest people in the world 2025
|
Rank
|
Name
|
Net worth (2025)
|
Name of Company
|
|
1
|
Elon Musk
|
$421.2 billion
|
SpaceX, Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), xAI, Boring Co.
|
|
2
|
Jeff Bezos
|
$233.5
billion
|
Amazon
|
|
3
|
Larry Ellison
|
$209.7 billion
|
Oracle
|
|
4
|
Mark Zuckerberg
|
$202.5
billion
|
Meta (formerly Facebook)
|
|
5
|
Bernard Arnault
|
$168.8
billion
|
LVMH (Luxury Goods)
|
|
6
|
Larry
Page
|
$156
billion
|
Alphabet (Parent company: Google)
|
|
7
|
Sergey Brin
|
$149
billion
|
Alphabet (Parent company: Google)
|
|
8
|
Warren
Buffett
|
$141.7
billion
|
Berkshire Hathaway
|
|
9
|
Steve Ballmer
|
$124.3
billion
|
Microsoft, Clippers, Investments
|
|
10
|
Jensen Huang
|
$117.2
billion
|
Nvidia
|
How
Hindenburg’s Allegations Wiped Out Over USD 80 Billion of Gautam Adani’s Wealth
· Gautam Adani lost USD12 billion in 2025, making it the
second-biggest loss after Elon Musk, who lost USD35.2 billion.
· Adani's group has witnessed its stock prices drop, with Adani
group companies falling up to 18%. In 2025, Adani’s total wealth is USD
66.8 billion.
· Gautam Adani's wealth decreased in 2023 primarily due to
allegations made by the US short-seller Hindenburg Research in January
2023.
· The report accused Adani’s conglomerate of stock manipulation and
accounting fraud.
· The report led to intense scrutiny, a stock market meltdown, and a
huge decline in the market value of Adani Group companies.
· The Hindenburg report also highlighted high debt levels within the
group, raising concerns about its financial stability.
· As a result, Adani’s fortune fell by over $80 billion, despite
efforts by the Adani Group to counter the allegations.
What is
the reason for the decline in Adani's net worth?
Gautam Adani's
net worth declined amid bribery charges by Hindenburg Research, leading his net
worth to decline by $12 billion (Rs 2 lakh crore) in investor wealth.
Other
Indian billionaires who lost to some extent:
Shiv
Nadar (HCLTech) lost USD 4.5 billion
·
Ravi Jaipuria (Varun Beverages) lost USD4.2 billion
·
Mukesh Ambani lost USD2.9 billion, now worth USD 87.7 billion
A big
reason for these losses is the falling Indian stock market, up in a 1.2% drop
in the Indian rupee. The Nifty 50 index also went down by 3.5% this year.
The
Richest 10 People in the World in 2024
family
$233
|
$233 B
Name
|
Networth
(2024)
|
country
|
Name of Company
|
|
1. Bernard Arnault & family &
family
|
$233
Billion
|
France
|
LHMV
|
|
2. Elon Musk
|
$195 Billion
|
United States
|
Tesla, SpaceX
|
|
3. Jeff
Bezos
|
$194
Billion
|
United
States
|
Amazon
|
|
4. Mark Zuckerberg
|
$177 Billion
|
United States
|
Facebook
|
|
5.
Larry Ellison
|
$141 Billion
|
United States
|
Oracle
|
|
6. Warren Buffett
|
$133 Billion
|
United States
|
Berkshire Hathaway
|
|
7. Bill Gates
|
$128 Billion
|
United States
|
Microsoft
|
|
8.
Steve Ballmer
|
$121
Billion
|
United States
|
Microsoft
|
|
9.
Mukesh Ambani
|
$116
Billion
|
India
|
Reliance
+ (Diversified)
|
|
10.
Larry Page
|
$114
Billion
|
United
States
|
Google
|
What
THESE Billionaires Have in Common
·
Elon Musk is the Founder of Tesla and SpaceX. Musk
revolutionized electric cars and reusable rockets, pushing space travel
forward.
·
Jeff Bezos started Amazon from a bookstore. He turned it into the
world’s biggest online retailer. He also expanded into space with Blue Origin.
·
Larry Ellison: Co-founder of Oracle. He built a tech empire
in software and cloud services while investing in luxury real estate and
philanthropy.
·
Mark Zuckerberg, who created Facebook, is now Meta. He acquired
Instagram and WhatsApp, leading the social media world and investing in the
metaverse.
·
Bernard Arnault, who Owns LVMH, the top luxury brand empire.
·
Larry Page, who co-founded Google, grew it beyond search into AI,
YouTube, and self-driving cars.
·
Sergey Brin: Google’s co-founder, who played a key role in
innovation and now focuses on advanced technologies like AI and smart cities.
·
Warren Buffett: A legendary investor, he runs Berkshire Hathaway
and pledges most of his fortune to philanthropy in health & education.
·
Steve Ballmer: Former Microsoft CEO. He expanded the company’s
reach and later invested in sports, owning the LA Clippers.
·
Jensen Huang: Co-founded Nvidia, leading AI and gaming chip
innovations.
World’s
Richest People in 2023
Forbes
made its 37th list of the richest people in the world in 2023. It showed 2,640
billionaires, and together they had USD12.2 trillion.
That is
28 fewer people and $500 billion less than in 2022. More than half of the
billionaires had fewer wealth records than the year before. Even Elon Musk lost
his No. 1 spot and dropped to No. 2.
For the
first time, a French person was at the top of the list. This was also the first
time since 2013 that the richest person was not from America. The then richest
person was Carlos Slim Helu from Mexico.
In 2022,
there were 15 billionaires within 30 years of age. The richest young
billionaire was Mark Mateschitz, who secured wealth from Red Bull. He had $34.7
billion.
The
youngest billionaires were Clemente Del Vecchio, who shares his family's
Luxottica fortune, and Kim Jung-yang, who has money from the gaming company
Nexon. Both of them were under 20 years old.
How Are
Some Billionaires Getting Richer?
Many
billionaires have seen their wealth grow because of technology stocks. The
combined wealth of the top 500 richest people has now grown USD10
trillion, a massive number.
Elon Musk
also made history by becoming the first person ever to have more than USD
400 billion at one time, merely on account of SpaceX, which is recorded as USD
350 billion.