Billionaires

There are many routes to making the billionaires list. Some are more likely than others.

Amazon hit a new record share price Thursday for the first time since July 2021, completing its dramatic recovery from its 2022 doldrums as investors seemingly can’t get enough of big technology stocks.

CEO Sam Altman famously has no equity in OpenAI, but startup bets like Reddit, Stripe and Helion have made him a billionaire anyway, a Forbes investigation found.

From a 19-year-old college student to Asia’s richest person, it pays wells to be born rich.

The world’s wealthiest technology moguls have ridden the AI-fueled frenzy to never-before-seen heights.

The world’s billionaires are riding high, with Forbes finding a record 2,781 of them around the globe this year, worth a record $14.2 trillion altogether. With many markets up, the surge in wealth has made 265 people billionaires over the past year, up from 150 newcomers in 2023.

Bankruptcy, scandal and stock crashes helped knock Bolt’s Ryan Breslow, Evergrande’s Hui Ka Yan and scores of others out of the three-comma club over the past year.

Here are the wealthiest people on Forbes’ annual rich list.

For the first time in 15 years, there are no self-made billionaires under the age of 30.

A contract between SpaceX and the U.S. is worth $1.8 billion, Reuters reported.