Elon Musk becomes world’s richest billionaire
Forbes released the names of 2,668 billionaires around the globe, down from a record 2,755 last year.
The report says, in all, 329 people fell off the billionaires’ list this year-the most since the 2009 financial crisis. That includes 169 “one-year wonders”, newcomers to the 2021 ranking, including Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd and Peloton’s John Foley, who debuted a year ago and have already dropped from the list.
But no one got richer than Elon Musk, who tops the World’s Billionaires list for the first time ever. Musk was worth an estimated $219 billion, after adding $68 billion to his fortune over the past year on the back of a 33% jump in the share price of his electric vehicle maker Tesla.
He surpassed Jeff Bezos, who fell to No. 2 for the first time in four years due to a 3% drop in Amazon stock and increased charitable giving, which wiped $6 billion from his net worth. French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Amault, who added $8 billion to his fortune over the past year, remains the world’s third-richest person.
