Elon Musk has become the wealthiest individual ever recorded, with an estimated fortune of $839 billion, according to the latest rankings released by Forbes on Tuesday.
The business magnate topped the Forbes World’s Billionaires list for the second consecutive year after his wealth surged by about $500 billion over the past year, largely driven by rising valuations of Tesla and SpaceX, the latter targeting a public offering in 2026.
He is the first person to exceed the $800 billion mark and is widely viewed as being on track to become the world’s first trillionaire.
Record number of billionaires
The 40th annual billionaires ranking by Forbes reported a record 3,428 billionaires worldwide, whose combined wealth has climbed to an unprecedented $20.1 trillion, up from $16.1 trillion in 2025.
“It’s the year of the billionaire,” said Chase Peterson-Withorn, senior editor for wealth at Forbes. “The planet added more than one billionaire per day over the past twelve months as the AI-powered stock market boom boosted fortunes to previously unimaginable heights.”
Top five richest people
Trailing far behind Musk in the rankings is Larry Page, co-founder of Google, with an estimated $257 billion fortune. He is followed by fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin at $237 billion.
Jeff Bezos occupies the fourth position with $224 billion, while Mark Zuckerberg completes the top five with an estimated $222 billion.
Trump’s fortune rises
Meanwhile, the wealth of Donald Trump increased by 27 percent to an estimated $6.5 billion, largely due to cryptocurrency-related ventures and the dismissal of a fraud penalty in New York. He is ranked 645th globally.
Newcomers join the list
The 2026 edition also introduced 390 new billionaires, including music stars Dr. Dre and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, as well as tennis legend Roger Federer.
The United States continues to lead the world in billionaire numbers, with a record 989 individuals on the list.