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$423 Billion and Counting: Elon Musk Reclaims World’s Richest

Forbes has unveiled its latest list of the world’s wealthiest individuals as of June 1, 2025, revealing that Elon Musk has reclaimed the top position with a staggering net worth of $423 billion. Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and X, saw a significant increase of $36 billion in May alone, largely driven by a 23% surge in Tesla shares following the announcement of its upcoming robotaxi launch.

Elon Musk’s wealth increase and his recent departure from a prominent government advisory role have “further cemented Musk’s status as the world’s wealthiest person by far,” according to Forbes.

In second place is Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, who has a net worth of $224 billion, climbing ahead of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who now ranks third with $220 billion. Zuckerberg’s ascent came after an 18% rise in Meta’s stock price, while Bezos experienced a $19 billion gain amid an 11% increase in Amazon’s shares.

Following them is Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, with a net worth of $206 billion, and Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, who stands at $158 billion. However, Buffett was noted as the biggest loser this month, dropping $9 billion after announcing plans to step down as CEO; this caused a 5% decline in shares of his company.

French luxury magnate Bernard Arnault currently holds the sixth position with $144 billion, having experienced a $3 billion decrease as shares in LVMH dipped by 2%. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin occupy the seventh and eighth spots with net worths of $142 billion and $136 billion, respectively.

Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, has moved up to ninth place with a net worth of $133 billion, after a $15 billion increase fueled by a 16% jump in Microsoft’s stock price. Spanish retail mogul Amancio Ortega rounds out the top ten with $124 billion, with only a modest increase of $600 million as shares in Inditex remained largely flat.

The latest rankings illustrate a robust month for technology billionaires, as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices rose by 10% and 6%, respectively, thanks to strong corporate earnings, easing trade tensions, and a slight recovery in U.S. consumer confidence. Collectively, the top ten richest individuals now boast a combined net worth of $1.9 trillion, reflecting an increase of $140 billion since the beginning of May.

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