Oct 05 – Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has once again claimed the top spot on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest people in America for the year 2023. His estimated fortune stands at a staggering $251 billion, marking his second consecutive year as the wealthiest individual in the United States. Musk’s wealth places him comfortably ahead of other prominent tech figures, including Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison, the CTO and Co-founder of Oracle.
According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth remains unchanged from the previous year, and he surpasses Jeff Bezos by a substantial $90 billion margin. Bezos’ estimated fortune is reported to be around $161 billion.
Despite Musk’s significant expenditure of $44 billion on Twitter (now known as X) the previous year, his wealth has remained stable. This can be attributed, in part, to the remarkable five-fold increase in the valuation of his space exploration company, SpaceX, which is currently valued at $150 billion, achieving this milestone over a span of four years.
Notably, nine of the top 20 individuals on the list boast fortunes exceeding $100 billion, marking a significant increase from the previous year, where only four individuals achieved this distinction. Larry Ellison secured the third position with an estimated fortune of $158 billion. Forbes highlighted that no one in the United States has experienced greater wealth growth this year than Ellison, whose software company has witnessed a substantial boost in share value due to the rising popularity of generative AI technologies.
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Larry Page, co-founder of Google, claimed the fifth spot on the list, with his wealth increasing by $21 billion during the year. This increase is attributed to a remarkable 26 percent surge in the shares of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Page’s estimated wealth now stands at an impressive $114 billion.
Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and a former titleholder as the world’s richest person, occupies the sixth position on the list of America’s wealthiest individuals, with an estimated fortune of $111 billion. Sergey Brin, another co-founder of Google alongside Larry Page, holds the seventh position with a substantial fortune of $110 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg, the Founder and CEO of Meta, spent part of the year responding to Musk’s challenge to a cage fight. Nevertheless, his early investments in artificial intelligence have contributed to his substantial wealth, estimated at $106 billion.
Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft and a close associate of Bill Gates, ranks ninth on the list with a noteworthy fortune of $101 billion.
