The world’s richest billionaire is £109bn better off in 2025 than just 12 months earlier | World | News
The ranking of the world’s richest billionaires in 2025 has been revealed, and the man at the top spot is a whopping £109 billion better off than he was last year. According to the latest data, there are more than 3,000 billionaires in the world. However, the richest one has a staggering amount of wealth.
Forbes recently released its list of the richest billionaires in 2025, revealing the increase in their wealth this year compared to last year. Topping the list is the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. The South African businessman retains his place as the richest man on earth and is even wealthier than he was in 2024.
This is largely due to several factors, primarily the significant increase in value of his largest assets, such as Tesla and xAI. This is despite a slew of controversies surrounding the X owner, including his public falling out with US President Donald Trump.
According to Forbes, Tesla stocks have gone up an impressive 50% in value year on year, while rocket maker SpaceX is worth $350 billion, almost doubling in value compared to 2024.
Additionally, xAI, Musk’s AI business, raised $6 billion (about £4 billion) from private investors at a $50 billion valuation in November. Meanwhile, xAI will acquire X (formerly Twitter) in an all-stock deal that values X at more than what Musk paid in 2022.
xAI’s value gained a $30 billion (about £22 billion) boost in just three months. With these massive jumps, Elon Musk has set a record, becoming the first person to ever surpass a net worth of more than $600 billion (around £447 billion).
This marks a massive jump in wealth for Musk. In March 2020, his net worth was reported to be at $24.6 billion (around £17 billion). However, he surpassed the $100 billion mark later that year.
Last year, he became the first person to pass a net worth of more than $500 billion. He tops the list of the wealthiest people on earth in 2025, ahead of several other billionaires with eye-watering net worths.
In second place is Mark Zuckerberg with $216 billion (around £160 billion). The top ten richest billionaires in the world in 2025 are:
- Elon Musk
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Jeff Bezos
- Larry Ellison
- Bernard Arnault & family
- Warren Beffet
- Larry Page
- Sergey Brin
- Amancio Ortega
- Steve Ballmer
