The World's Richest People Have Increased Their Wealth

The world's richest people have increased their wealth by $1.5 trillion in 2023, according to Bloomberg. This information is reported by lenta.ru.

Among the 500 wealthiest billionaires, the greatest growth has been seen among technology company owners. Despite fears of a downturn, persistent inflation, high interest rates, and geopolitical shocks, they are collectively $658 billion richer (an annual increase of 48%). The surge in wealth is largely attributed to the hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI).

Bloomberg Billionaires Index names American entrepreneur Elon Musk as the richest person, surpassing French magnate and LVMH head Bernard Arnault, claiming the top spot in the rankings. Over the year, Musk has earned $95.4 billion thanks to the success of Tesla and SpaceX, recovering from a loss of $138 billion last year.

In 2023, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his wealth increase by $70 billion, while Meta's (recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) CEO Mark Zuckerberg earned $80 billion.

It has also been reported that Elon Musk, the new owner of the X (formerly Twitter) social network, has deprived the company's employees of bonuses promised in their employment contracts. Employees were to receive 50% of their 2022 bonuses if they stayed with the company until the first quarter of the year. However, payments to two thousand employees have not been made, despite the company being valued at $19 billion.