2024 was a key year for the world’s richest Americans, as the stock market continued to hit new highs. Standard & Poor’s 500 Beat more than 50 record levels Over the past 12 months, its first appearance was on January 19.
This means big financial gains for both investors and people who control or have significant stakes in some of the world’s largest companies, especially those operating in the broader technology industry.
Here are the billionaires who won the most in 2024. Spoiler alert: None of them earned less than $38 billion this year.
Sergey Brin The wealth comes mainly from the stocks he acquired through his co-founding of Alphabet (Google), the holding company behind Google, and other ventures, including self-driving car startup Waymo and YouTube.
He owns about 6% of the company through Class B and Class C shares. Since Google went public in 2004, he has sold more than $10 billion worth of stock, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Brain He left the company in 2019 after serving as chairman since 2015. At the time, Alphabet was the third-most cash-rich company in the world, bested only by Microsoft (MSFT) and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A). He remains a member of Alphabet’s board of directors and a major shareholder.
As of December 29, Brin’s fortune was about $161 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Year-to-date, his net worth has increased by more than $41 billion, or about 34%.
Although they helped found Google and Alphabet, Larry Page is said to be richer than Brin.
Like Brin, Paige give up Some of his control of Alphabet was granted in 2019 to CEO Sundar Pichai. Page served as CEO of Google between 1997 and August 2001, and then again between April 2011 and July 2015. At that time, he became CEO of Alphabet.
Page owns about 6% of Alphabet shares through Class B and Class C, and has sold shares in both Alphabet and Google worth more than $10 billion over the years, according to Bloomberg.
It was the page Early investor At Tesla Motors (TSLA), as was Brienne. He also made investments in companies such as Planetary Resources, which was acquired In 2018 by Blockchain Company, and Real Robotics CompanyAccording to Promotion book. The electric aircraft company, Kittyhawk, was backed by Page, the “godfather of self-driving cars,” but… It will close in 2022.
As of press time, Page’s fortune is about $171 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Year to date, his net worth has risen by at least $45 billion, or more than 35%.
Dell Technologies (DaleCEO Michael Dell has been in charge – mostly – of his company since he officially founded it in 1984.
As a result, he owns about half the company, including 29 million shares owned by his wife, according to Bloomberg. Over the years — including a public launch in the 1990s and spending half a decade as a private company — Dell’s value has changed.
Although the company’s shares are well below the peak of $179 per share it reached in May, shares are still up 68% year to date and are trading at $118 per share.
nvidia (NVDA) has named Dell as the company to contact about placing orders for the new Blackwell AI chips. Companies are Work together At the Dell AI factory to power Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot xAI. Dell’s AI business has been a strong revenue generator, helping revenue grow 34% to $11.4 billion.
The billionaire’s wealth also comes from his ownership of millions of Broadcom shares (Afgo) after Dell completed its spin-off of VMWare in November 2021. Two years later, Broadcom acquired the company in a cash-and-stock deal that turned half of Dell’s stake in VMWare into Broadcom stock and the rest into cash.
As of publication, Dell is worth about $127 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Year-to-date, his net worth has increased by $48.6 billion, or nearly 62%.
Photography: Rick T. Wilking (Getty Images)
Members of the Walton family — specifically Jim, Alice and Rob Walton, pictured above from left to right — saw their wealth increase in 2024, thanks to their ownership of the company their father founded — Walmart (And die).
Each of them is a billionaire in their own right. Jim Walton is worth $114 billion, while Rob Walton and Alice Walton are worth $111 billion, having seen their wealth grow by more than $40 billion each, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Combined, the entire Walton clan is worth a lot $432.4 billion It is considered the richest family in the world.
Walmart last week It has been detected Eight grandchildren of founder Sam Walton will receive voting rights on family property. The family said in a statement They want to “maintain an appropriate balance between family and non-family ownership” and ensure all Walmart shareholders’ goals Long term success The company remains the focus.
Walmart, which started as A convenience store in Arkansas in 1962It has now become a global power. Its shares rose by about 70% in 2024 thanks to… Gangs year Which made it give its strongest performance since 1988.
Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg (Getty Images)
Amazon (AmznJeff Bezos may be the second richest man alive, but he’s had to fight hard to maintain his position. Throughout 2024, he and some other wealthy billionaires jumped into those positions as their stock prices rose and fell.
Ultimately, Bezos is set to end 2024 strong, with a net worth of $243 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Year-to-date, his net worth has increased by $66.1 billion, or 37%.
Much of that wealth comes from his roughly 9% stake in Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, which he founded and once headed as CEO. He currently holds the position of CEO of the company. Amazon stock rose 50% in 2024 to $225 per share and a market cap of $2.37 trillion.
Bezos is also the owner and sole shareholder of Blue Origin, his space exploration company He said “Not a very good job so far.”
“I think it will be the best business I’ve ever been involved in, but it will take time,” Bezos said at the New York Times’ DealBook conference.
Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)
oracle (ORCL) CTO and CEO Larry Ellison owes much of his fortune to the software maker, which he founded in 1977.
He owns more than 42% of Oracle, according to company filings. As the stock grew over the year, its gains briefly pushed his net worth above Bezos’ net worth The second richest man In the world.
As of press time, Ellison is worth about $190 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Year to date, his net worth has increased by $67.3 billion, or nearly 55%.
In September, Oracle’s first-quarter earnings showed strong year-over-year growth, and the company has 162 cloud data centers operational or under construction. However, second quarter earnings Didn’t live up to expectationswhich led to the stock falling despite reaching an agreement with Meta to help with this Large linguistic models.
Photography: Nahac Nguyen/AFP (Getty Images)
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang has seen his net worth skyrocket along with the hype around AI due to demand for the company’s chips, which power some of the world’s leading AI models.
As of press time, Hwang is worth about $120 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Year to date, his net worth has increased by more than $75 billion, or 171.1%. For example, on January 1, 2023, his net worth was only $13.8 billion, eight times less than his current net worth.
In June, Nvidia It briefly overtook Apple of total market capitalization and exceeded the $3 trillion threshold for the first time, and later exceeded it briefly Both Apple and Microsoft To become the most valuable public company in the world. In September, Nvidia Rejoin the $3 trillion market cap club. Despite some volatility, Nivida shares are up nearly 190% to $139 per share over the past year.
The company has become a giant in the semiconductor chip industry, thanks in part to… A bunch of anonymous customers which snapped up nearly $15 billion worth of chips during the second quarter of 2024. Although Nvidia won’t disclose customers, top buyers are likely to include Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla — all players Key players in the artificial intelligence boom. .
Photo: Alex Wong (Getty Images)
meta platforms (dead) CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth comes primarily from his stake in the tech giant, which he founded about two decades ago under the name TheFaceBook.
As of September, he owns about 13% of the social media company. Meta shares are up more than 73% year-to-date. It seems that the company is ready to continue its winning streak.
Since Zuckerberg first named meta — and its newfound metaverse-centric purpose — the company has done just that invested More than $63 billion in virtual and augmented reality technology. More than 1 million advertisers used its AI creative tools to create more than 15 million ads in September, while 500 million people used the Meta AI chatbot on its social media platforms. According to Meta.
In October, dead He grew up Its full-year capital expenditures are estimated at between US$38 billion and US$40 billion, driven by AI-related costs including data centers and R&D. It expects “significant growth in capital expenditures in 2025” and “a significant acceleration in infrastructure expenditure growth next year.”
As of press time, Zuckerberg is worth about $212 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Year-to-date, his net worth has increased by $84.2 billion, or nearly 66%.
Photo: Anna Moneymaker (Getty Images)
Elon Musk is – by far – The richest man alive. While this was also true at the beginning of 2024, he, Bezos, and Zuckerberg played some jumping games. As the end of the year approached, Musk’s progress consolidated.
The value of his space company, SpaceX, has risen to 350 billion dollars This month, while his artificial intelligence startup xAI soared 6 billion dollars With a valuation of $50 billion less than two years after its founding. Despite losing some of its gains, Tesla stock is still up more than 70% year to date, mostly due to the post-election rally tied to Musk’s relationship with the incoming presidential administration. Musk owns about 13% of the electric car company, his largest asset.
He also owns 42% of SpaceX and 79% of X Corp, the social media platform that he bought for $44 billion in 2022; X’s value has declined significantly since he bought the company, formerly called Twitter. In addition, he owns stakes in xAI, tunneling company The Boring Company, brain chip startup Neuralink, and other startups.
As of December 29, Musk’s fortune was about $452 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Year to date, his net worth has increased by $223 billion, or 97%.
-Brittney Nguyen, Francisco Velasquez and Rocío Fabbro contributed to this article
