The year 2024 is proving to be a true milestone for the biggest fortunes on the planet. With an estimated growth of around US$585 billion, The wealth of the great fortunes has soared, driven by a combination of extraordinary stock market performance and the boom in artificial intelligence. What seemed promising at the beginning of the year exceeded expectations, with emphasis on companies such as Tesla, NVIDIA e Oracle, whose leaders saw their fortunes grow to unprecedented levels.
Elon Musk: a retomada
In a stunning turnaround, Elon Musk regained leadership as the richest person in the world, after losing the position to Bernard Arnault in early 2024. The Tesla CEO saw his fortune grow by US$113 billion this year, according to data compiled by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
This growth was driven by the 37% appreciation of Tesla shares, which benefited from factors such as the rise of robo-taxis and the impact of the US presidential elections. With Donald Trump’s victory, Musk, a direct supporter of the Republican, will join the Government as leader of the Government Efficiency Department.
Musk’s influence could also be fundamental to Tesla’s future. Trump, who previously criticized electric cars, retreated from his stance and acknowledged Musk’s support, which may have positively impacted the electric car giant’s image.
Tesla is also mapping other markets, such as robots, with the Optimus. According to Musk, This robot will be your children’s “nanny in the future”.
Larry Ellison: The King of Cloud Computing
With the growing demand for cloud computing services, Larry Ellison, founder and CTO of Oracle, has benefited significantly from an increase of more than 83% in the company’s shares. The rise in Oracle’s share price led Ellison to add $76.8 billion to his fortune, bringing his total wealth to $200 billion. Demand for AI training on Oracle Cloud was cited by CEO Safra Catz as a key driver of this growth.
Jensen Huang: The chip empire with the AI boom
Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of NVIDIA, also had a historic year. The company, a leader in the development of processors essential for the formation of AI models, saw its shares rise 185%, which led Huang to add US$76.8 billion to his fortune, reaching a net worth of US$121 billion. In August, due to an appreciation of shares, he even earned the equivalent of R$64 billion in a single day!
NVIDIA’s role in the artificial intelligence revolution was one of the main factors driving this growth. Huang’s fortune is already enough to buy Intel, for example.
NVIDIA’s rise in the news has caused Huang’s name to break some bubbles. The executive has been increasingly cited, a unique figure in the entire technological and strategic development of the GPU giant.
Mark Zuckerberg: Meta’s restart
After a strategic reassessment, Mark Zuckerberg made an important change by abandoning investment in the metaverse, which resulted in good financial results for Meta. With this new focus, Zuckerberg saw his fortune grow by US$75.3 billion, totaling US$203 billion by the end of 2024.
Jeff Bezos: Growth amid tribulations
Although 2024 was a difficult year for Jeff Bezos, especially with real estate investments forcing him to sell shares, his fortune did not suffer but rather increased by $51.6 billion. This consolidated Bezos as the second largest fortune in the world, behind only Elon Musk.
Bernard Arnault: The fall of the luxury empire
While many of the big names in the technology sector saw their fortunes grow, Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), had a difficult year. The drop in sales at the luxury group, especially for Louis Vuitton and other brands, caused Arnault to lose US$39.2 billion in 2024. Although LVMH’s diversification helped mitigate part of this drop, the billionaire’s fortune was severely impacted by slowdown in the luxury sector.
Source: https://www.hardware.com.br/noticias/elon-musk-fortuna-crescimento.html
