Musk Leads Billionaire Boom as Tech Stocks and Trump's Win Fuel Wealth Surge
1min read The world's wealthiest individuals continue to amass fortunes at an unprecedented rate, with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jensen Huang leading the charge in 2024. The aggregate net worth of the top 500 billionaires has now reached a historic milestone of $10 trillion, buoyed by a resurgence in American tech stocks.
Elon Musk has notably solidified his position as the wealthiest individual globally, fueled by an unprecedented alliance with the incoming President. This political rapport has significantly enhanced the valuation of his ventures, including Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. As of December 17, Musk's fortune reached a staggering $442.1 billion, showcasing a $213 billion increase since the start of the year. This surge established a record-breaking $237 billion gap between Musk and the second person on the wealth index, Jeff Bezos.
This monumental increase in wealth among global billionaires has largely been driven by the remarkable performance of U.S. stock markets, exemplified by a 24% rise in the S&P 500 Index year-to-date. The index's growth has been primarily supported by contributions from the "Big Tech Seven," including companies like Tesla, Meta, and Nvidia. This group alone has been instrumental in propelling the benchmark index to new heights, contributing over half of its gains.
Another pivotal moment influencing this financial landscape was the electoral victory of Donald Trump, which catalyzed an extraordinary stock market rally. The S&P 500 Index reached its highest ever post-election surge on November 6, marking a period during which billionaires amassed $505 billion—equating to 34% of the year's total wealth growth within just five weeks.
Adding another layer to the financial narrative, the triumph of Trump brought forth a historic rally in digital assets, with Bitcoin surpassing the $100,000 mark for the first time. This milestone provided a strong boost to cryptocurrency billionaires, significantly increasing the fortunes of key figures such as Zhao Changpeng of Binance Holdings and Brian Armstrong of Coinbase Global.
However, after a Christmas market sell-off, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index recorded a slight dip in tracked wealth, closing at $9.8 trillion. This figure remains marginally below the December 11 peak of $10.1 trillion, yet it is still a testament to the astronomical wealth accumulation that mirrors the combined GDP of Germany, Japan, and Australia from the previous year.
