It’s never been better to be a super-billionaire.
It was another great year to be rich, especially for the select few at the very top. With markets roaring, nearly all of the 25 wealthiest people in America got wealthier over the past 12 months—some by billions, or even tens of billions, of dollars.
In all, the top 25 billionaires on The Forbes 400 list are worth a collective $2.5 trillion. They hold nearly half of the $5.4 trillion in total wealth of the entire 400.
This elite group is $471 billion richer than in 2023, with each of the top 25 up 31% on average, outpacing the 18% jump in wealth across list members overall and the S&P 500’s 27% return.
Much of the gains come from two people: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who added $75 billion to his net worth thanks to rebounding Meta stock, and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, who has ridden the AI wave to $63.3 billion in additional wealth since the 2023 ranking. They’re two of a record 12 members of The Forbes 400 who are also in the $100 Billion Club, the lucky group of tycoons whose fortunes stretch a dozen digits.
Most of these 25 were among the top 25 last year, too. But there are three fresh faces: traders Jeff Yass (who ranked No. 28 in 2023) and Thomas Peterffy (who was No. 27), plus Walmart heir Lukas Walton, who jumped from No. 31 last year to No. 25 in 2024 on the back of the retailer’s rising stock. They replace MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, who continues to give away her fortune; Miriam Adelson, whose shares of casino operator Las Vegas Sands have hit a cold streak; and investor Len Blavatnik, whose stock in Warner Music Group is worth less than a year ago. Zuckerberg jumped five spots, to No. 3; Huang jumped six, to No. 11.
Only three members of the top 25 got poorer over the past year: Elon Musk, whose fortune dropped by $7 billion but who remains the richest person in America; Bill Gates, after we increased our estimate of his 2021 divorce settlement with Melinda French Gates; and Phil Knight, following a rough run for Nike stock since last year.
Here are the top 25 members of the 2024 Forbes 400 list
Net worths are as of September 1, 2024.
25. Lukas Walton
Net worth: $33.9 billion | Source of wealth: Walmart | Age: 38
One of Sam Walton’s eight grandchildren, he inherited an estimated 4% stake in Walmart from his father, John Walton, who died in a 2005 plane crash. Lukas, who survived childhood cancer, founded and runs Builders Vision, a sustainability-focused philanthropic and impact-investing platform that has doled out more than $3 billion since launching in 2021. He is one of just two Forbes 400 members under age 40 (the other: VC investor Josh Kushner, No. 347, who is 39). His mother, Christy Walton (No. 48), cosigned a letter urging President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 election in July and has been fundraising for Kamala Harris. Two members of the family’s third generation still sit on Walmart’s board: Jim’s son Steuart Walton (Lukas’ first cousin) and Rob’s son-in-law Greg Penner, who is chairman.
24. Phil Knight & family
Net worth: $36.8 billion | Source of wealth: Nike | Age: 86
“On the doorsteps of the Olympic Games,” Knight wrote this summer in a letter to U.S. athletes, whose jerseys Nike designed, “we need to reignite the passion, desire and the want to win.” His sportswear giant could use a pep talk, too. Nike stock is down 15% since last year, making Knight, who created the company with his University of Oregon track coach in 1964, one of just three in the Top 25 to be poorer than in 2023.
23. Thomas Peterffy
Net worth: $40 billion | Source of wealth: Discount brokerage | Age: 80
Peterffy is more than $10 billion richer than last year as shares of Interactive Brokers Group, the electronic trading firm he founded in 1993, rose 30%. The company booked $4.3 billion in revenue last year, a 42% year-over-year increase. Since he failed to persuade Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to enter the Republican presidential primary race, Peterffy, a longtime supporter of free-market policies, has kept quiet on Trump’s reelection bid.
22. Ken Griffin
Net worth: $43 billion | Source of wealth: Hedge funds | Age: 55
Griffin’s hedge fund, Citadel, the most profitable of all time, raked in $8.1 billion in trading profits last year. Since then, Griffin, never one to leave money idle, has donated $50 million to the University of Miami, dropped $45 million on a Stegosaurus skeleton (a record price in the dinosaur auction business) and shelled out more than $90 million for an estate in Saint-Tropez, France.
21. Stephen Schwarzman
Net worth: $43.6 billion | Source of wealth: Investments | Age: 77
In August, Schwarzman and his wife announced plans to open their Miramar estate in Newport, Rhode Island, to the public as a museum upon their deaths. They spent $27 million on the Gilded Age mansion in 2021 and have been restoring it ever since. In May, Schwarzman, the cofounder and CEO of $1 trillion (assets) investment firm Blackstone, announced he’s backing Trump for president, two years after vowing to support someone else in 2024.
19. Jacqueline Mars
Net worth: $47.6 billion | Source of wealth : Candy, pet food | Age: 84
19. John Mars
Net worth: $47.6 billion | Source of wealth: Candy, pet food | Age: 88
In August, their Mars Inc. announced it’s gobbling up snack and cereal maker Kellanova (formerly Kellogg’s) for $35.9 billion. The deal will put brands like Pringles, Pop-Tarts and Froot Loops under the Mars umbrella alongside Snickers, M&M’s and Kind bars. It’s the company’s biggest acquisition since it bought Wrigley in 2008 for $23 billion. The Mars siblings own an estimated two-thirds of the $50 billion (2023 revenue) business but have no role in daily operations.
18. Jeff Yass
Net worth: $49.6 billion | Source of wealth: Trading, investments | Age: 66
Yass’ fortune nearly doubled after Forbes revalued his trading firm, Susquehanna International Group—and Yass’ share of profits—based on tax returns leaked to ProPublica. With a potential TikTok ban threatening Susquehanna’s estimated 15% stake in the social media app, Yass has made nearly $70 million of federal political contributions during the 2024 election cycle, including $20.5 million to the Club for Growth Action, a conservative super PAC that has publicly opposed the TikTok ban (but denies having been influenced by Yass).
17. Charles Koch & family
Net worth: $67.5 billion | Source of wealth: Koch, Inc. | Age: 88
16. Julia Koch & family
Net worth: $74.2 billion | Source of wealth: Koch, Inc. | Age: 62
In August, Koch Industries became Koch, Inc., as Charles rebranded the increasingly tech-focused $125 billion (revenue) conglomerate for the first time since taking over the family firm after his father’s 1967 death. Julia Koch, the widow of his brother David (d. 2019), and her three children paid nearly $700 million that same month for 15% of BSE Global, which owns the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA’s New York Liberty and operates the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
15. Alice Walton
Net worth: $89.2 billion | Source of wealth: Walmart | Age: 74
14. Rob Walton & family
Net worth: $94.3 billion | Source of wealth: Walmart | Age: 79
13. Jim Walton & family
Net worth: $95.9 billion | Source of wealth: Walmart | Age: 76
Rob Walton retired from Walmart’s board in June after more than four decades as a director of the firm his father Sam Walton (d. 1992) cofounded in 1962. He and his siblings’ estimated 35% stake in the retail giant is worth more than ever as shoppers flock to Walmart’s “Every Day Low Price” strategy to escape high inflation, driving both its revenue and shares to all-time highs. Jim still chairs the family’s $26 billion (assets) Arvest Bank Group. Alice, the richest woman in America for the ninth time in 10 years, reclaimed the title of the world’s wealthiest woman in early September from L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers of France for the first time since May 2022.
12. Michael Dell
Net worth: $101 billion | Source of wealth: Dell Technologies | Age: 59
Dell scored his biggest payday ever in November, when semiconductor giant Broadcom acquired his cloud computing spinoff VMware; Dell swapped his 39% stake for an estimated $33 billion in cash and Broadcom shares. Around that time, he put $3.6 billion in cash and stock into his family’s charitable foundation and pumped at least $500 million into a donor-advised fund. Dell’s net worth is up 40% this year, thanks to 90% and 64% jumps in Broadcom and Dell Technologies share prices, respectively.
11. Jensen Huang
Net worth: $104 billion | Source of wealth: Semiconductors | Age: 61
Huang keeps climbing into rarer air: He has added $63.3 billion to his fortune, pushing him up six more notches on The Forbes 400 (he jumped 31 spots last year), on the back of a 162% rise in Nvidia shares. As his wealth grows, so does his celebrity: Paparazzi followed his every move on a trip to his native Taiwan this summer—a phenomenon termed “Jensanity.” Huang cofounded Nvidia, which designs and sells more chips used for artificial intelligence systems than any other company, in 1993 and has served as CEO and president since.
10. Michael Bloomberg
Net worth: $105 billion | Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP | Age: 82
The former mayor of New York City and cofounder of financial-data and media firm Bloomberg LP was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Biden in May. Over the next three months, Bloomberg announced $1.6 billion of gifts to the medical schools of his alma mater, Johns Hopkins, and four historically Black colleges.
9. Bill Gates
Net worth: $107 billion | Source of wealth: Microsoft | Age: 68
The Microsoft cofounder’s rank is lower than it has been in 34 years, due mostly to a new Forbes estimate of his 2021 divorce settlement. In September, Netflix released a five-episode series called What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates, which tackles topics including AI and income inequality. In February 2025, he’s set to publish a memoir, Source Code. TerraPower, the next-generation nuclear power company he cofounded in 2008, broke ground on a demonstration plant in Wyoming in June. That same month, his ex-wife, Melinda, resigned as co-chair of the couple’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and walked away with $12.5 billion for her own philanthropy.
8. Steve Ballmer
Net worth: $123 billion | Source of wealth: Microsoft | Age: 68
“Damn, I’m fired up!” exclaimed Ballmer in August at the grand opening of his Los Angeles Clippers’ new 18,000-seat Intuit Dome stadium, which boasts a 38,000-square-foot circular scoreboard. He bought the Clippers a decade ago for a then-record $2 billion after running Microsoft as CEO for 14 years, and spent $2 billion of his own money on the new stadium; Forbes now values the team at more than $4.6 billion.
7. Sergey Brin
Net worth: $130 billion | Source of wealth: Google | Age: 51
6. Larry Page
Net worth: $136 billion | Source of wealth: Google | Age: 51
A federal judge ruled in August that Page and Brin’s Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, which is responsible for 57% of parent company Alphabet’s sales. (The tech giant reportedly plans to appeal.) Shares hit an all-time high in July thanks to Google’s continued push into generative AI and cloud services, including a partnership with Oracle, before slipping in recent months.
5. Warren Buffett
Net worth: $150 billion | Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway | Age: 94
More than seven decades in, the investing legend is staying plenty busy. In August, Berkshire Hathaway became America’s first non-tech company to hit $1 trillion in market capitalization. In June, Buffett—the nation’s greatest philanthropist, with some $60 billion in lifetime giving—donated $5.3 billion of Berkshire stock, with a twist: He clarified that the vast majority of his remaining fortune will go to a charitable trust run by his three children, instead of the Gates Foundation, as was previously assumed.
4. Larry Ellison
Net worth: $175 billion | Source of wealth: Oracle | Age: 80
It was another banner year for the Oracle cofounder, chief technology officer and more than 40% shareholder, with the software firm’s shares up 12% to record highs. He’s spending accordingly: Ellison splashed out nearly $300 million on a Florida resort in August, adding to his $2 billion–plus real estate portfolio. He also plans to invest a reported $6 billion into the on-again-off-again merger between Paramount Global and Skydance, his son David’s media production company.
3. Mark Zuckerberg
Net worth: $181 billion | Source of wealth: Facebook | Age: 40
No one got richer over the past year, in sheer dollar terms, than Zuck. He’s $75 billion wealthier, and ranks five spots higher, following a 75% runup in Meta Platforms stock. Revenue has been growing more than 20% per quarter, and the social media giant repurchased $31 billion of its shares over the past year. Zuckerberg, who turned 40 in May, has taken on a new look, sporting a gold chain, letting his wavy hair grow out and ditching his uniform hoodie for a shearling jacket. He also surprised his wife, Priscilla, with a seven-foot-tall statue in her likeness.
2. Jeff Bezos
Net worth: $197 billion | Source of wealth: Amazon | Age: 60
Since last summer, Bezos has snapped up three homes on Miami’s “billionaire bunker” island for $234 million. He has the cash: Since moving to tax-friendly Florida last November, the Amazon founder has offloaded more than $8 billion (pretax) of his shares; he still owns 9% of the e-commerce Leviathan, whose stock is up 29%. The Bezos Earth Fund, through which he has given $2 billion of a $10 billion pledge, will hand out up to $100 million to winners of an AI for Climate and Nature challenge beginning later this year.
1. Elon Musk
Net worth: $244 billion | Source of wealth: Tesla, SpaceX | Age: 53
Tesla’s self-proclaimed “technoking” tops The Forbes 400 for the third straight year, despite losing $7 billion as shares of his electric vehicle maker fell 14% and a Delaware judge voided $56 billion of his stock options in January. In May, Musk’s new AI startup, xAI, raised $6 billion at a $24 billion valuation. A month later, his rocket maker, SpaceX, launched a tender offer valuing the company at around $210 billion, up from nearly $180 billion. In an X post seen by 220 million, Musk endorsed Donald Trump within an hour of the assassination attempt on the former president. Trump now vows to name Musk to a new government efficiency commission if elected.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
