Over $567 billion has been amassed by the 10 richest people in the world in less than a year.
To put that into perspective, that’s more than sevenfold the wealth accumulated by the top 10 in the time period prior.
As just one example, Elon Musk witnessed his wealth increase at least 500% in the last year.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has earned a cool extra $68.6 billion.
With data from the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, Visual Capitalist navigate how the wealth of various uber-affluent groups have changed since the beginning of the pandemic.
The 10 Richest People in the World
With a net worth of $182 billion, Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest in the world.
After 26 years, Bezos announced he would step down as Amazon CEO to become executive chairman to focus on Blue Origin, among other endeavours.
The private company states that it is “opening the promise of space to all” and is planning to launch New Glenn, its first rocket in the second half of 2022.
Based on data as of March 1, 2021, here are the 10 wealthiest individuals worldwide:
| Rank | Name | Source | Net Worth Mar 2021 | Net Worth Mar 2020 | Change 2020-2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Bezos | Amazon | $182B | $113B | $68.6B |
| 2 | Elon Musk | Tesla, SpaceX | $164B | $25B | $139.1B |
| 3 |
Bernard Arnault & family
|
LVMH | $157B | $76B | $80.8B |
| 4 | Bill Gates | Microsoft | $124B | $98B | $26.2B |
| 5 | Warren Buffett | Berkshire Hathaway | $95B | $68B | $27.6B |
| 6 | Mark Zuckerberg | $95B | $55B | $39.9B | |
| 7 | Larry Ellison | software | $91B | $59B | $31.6B |
| 8 | Larry Page | $90B | $51B | $39.4B | |
| 9 | Sergey Brin | $88B | $49B | $38.5B | |
| 10 | Daniel Gilbert | Quicken Loans | $83B | $7B | $76.2B |
| Total Change | $567.9B |
Top 10 Wealth Growth
With a stunning 1,172% growth rate year-over-year, Daniel Gilbert, CEO of the largest mortgage lending company in the U.S., has seen his wealth multiply the fastest.
Gilbert, who founded Quicken Loans at 22, took its parent company public in August.
With his cult-like following, Elon Musk has also seen tremendous wealth growth.
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At one point Musk even briefly surpassed Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world.
This is impressive since Jeff Bezos’ wealth ballooned over 70% in the same time frame.
Similarly, Zuckerberg, Gates, and Buffett have all seen double-digit growth.
Who’s In and Who’s Out?
Among the newest to join the billionaire’s club is Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO of Bumble at 31 years old.
Wolfe Herd is the youngest American woman to take a company public ever, with the February 2021 IPO raising $2.2 billion.
Bumble is the second-largest dating company to go public after Match Group, which owns 45 dating companies including Tinder.
By contrast, last year’s youngest billionaire, Kylie Jenner, fell off the list after allegedly inflating her net worth.
Interestingly, the Kardashian’s took great lengths to show Forbes the extent of her wealth, including showing them their tax returns along with invitations to their mansions.
Still, Jenner’s net worth stands at roughly $700 million.
A New Gilded Age?
Given the staggering growth of the ultra-wealthy in recent years, today’s wealth concentration is now comparable to America’s Gilded Age.
At the time, John D. Rockefeller was the richest person in the world—worth roughly $285 billion in today’s terms.
His businesses produced 1.6% of total U.S. economic output.
By comparison, Jeff Bezos, at $182 billion, still has a little way to go just yet.
