The world's richest people will see their net worth soar by 2024 thanks to the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, the US Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts and Donald Trump's victory in the US election, as well as a stable economic outlook that helps the stock market rebound.

Last year, the world’s 10 richest people added more than $500 billion to their fortunes. Their combined net worth surpassed $2 trillion, not far from the market values ​​of Amazon and Alphabet.

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Billionaire Elon Musk earns the most money in 2024. Photo: Bloomberg

Looking at the top 20 according to Bloomberg 's ranking, total net worth increased by 700 billion USD to exceed 3,000 billion USD by the end of the year.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk leads the way with a $203 billion gain. His net worth as of December 31, 2024 is $432 billion.

A few weeks ago, he hit $486 billion for the first time as Tesla stock hit a record high and SpaceX’s valuation soared to $350 billion. That $257 billion increase alone was more than the entire net worth of Jeff Bezos, the second-richest person.

Musk wasn’t the only tech mogul to see his net worth increase. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Bezos all added between $60 billion and $80 billion.

Other tech leaders who got richer last year included Dell founder Michael Dell with $45 billion, and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who gained $42 billion and $38 billion, respectively.

Not all billionaires are so lucky, however. LVMH founder and CEO Bernard Arnault saw his fortune drop from more than $230 billion in March to $176 billion at the end of December.

Two telecom billionaires, Indian Mukesh Ambani and Mexican Carlos Slim, also ended the year “poorer”.

Investors are optimistic that companies like Nvidia, Tesla and Microsoft will see higher profits thanks to their key roles in the AI ​​revolution.

The Fed's rate cut makes stocks more attractive relative to fixed assets like government bonds and could boost corporate profits.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump won the US presidential election promising growth-prioritizing policies such as tax cuts and reduced regulations.

Tesla has particularly benefited from Musk's close relationship with the future president.

(According to Insider)