Elon Musk’s personal net worth of $681 billion now exceeds the combined fortune of the world’s ten richest billionaires in 2015, highlighting a seismic shift in global wealth concentration.
At a Glance
- The top 10 billionaires’ combined $559 billion in 2015 falls short of Musk’s current $681 billion
- Only five names from the 2016 elite list remain in today’s top 10
- The staying billionaires’ collective worth has more than doubled the entire 2016 rankings
- Why it matters: The chasm between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else has widened dramatically in under a decade
A decade ago, Bill Gates led the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with $84 billion. Today, Musk-who didn’t even crack the 2016 top 10-commands a fortune that eclipses the whole cohort from that year.
The 2016 Top 10 vs. Today
2016 leaders and their year-end fortunes:
| Rank | Name | Net Worth |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Gates | $84 billion |
| 2 | Amancio Ortega | $73 billion |
| 3 | Warren Buffett | $63 billion |
| 4 | Jeff Bezos | $59 billion |
| 5 | Carlos Slim | $53 billion |
| 6 | David Koch | $50 billion |
| 7 | Charles Koch | $50 billion |
| 8 | Mark Zuckerberg | $46 billion |
| 9 | Larry Page | $40 billion |
| 10 | Larry Ellison | $40 billion |
Combined total: $559 billion
Fast-forward to the current index:
- Elon Musk sits at No. 1 with $681 billion
- Larry Page holds No. 2 with $282 billion
- Jeff Bezos ranks No. 4 with $261 billion
- Larry Ellison is No. 5 with $244 billion
- Mark Zuckerberg places No. 6 with $220 billion
- Warren Buffett rounds out the top 10 at No. 10 with $149 billion
The five repeat members alone now amass $1.156 trillion, more than double the entire 2016 top 10 combined.
Fallen Rankings
Several 2016 titans have slipped down the list:
- Amancio Ortega now stands at No. 15 with $134 billion
- Carlos Slim ranks No. 16 with $114 billion
- Bill Gates places No. 17 with $106 billion
- Julie Flesher Koch, David Koch’s widow, is No. 21 with $79.8 billion
- Charles Koch ranks No. 24 with $71.6 billion
Musk’s AI Prediction
Beyond the numbers, Musk recently claimed on the Moonshots podcast that retirement savings will soon become irrelevant.
“You won’t need to save for retirement,” Musk said, predicting that artificial intelligence advancements will make traditional financial planning obsolete. “In the relatively near future, you could have whatever you want.”
He added: “It won’t matter to worry about, like, squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years.”
Key Takeaways
- The wealth gap among the ultra-rich has expanded dramatically, with Musk’s individual fortune surpassing the collective 2016 top 10
- Only half of the 2016 billionaires maintain top 10 status today
- The five remaining billionaires from 2016 have seen their combined net worth more than double the entire 2016 top 10
- Musk’s rise from outside the top 10 to commanding a $681 billion fortune represents the fastest wealth accumulation in modern history
