2024 was the year of the rich – specifically, the 500 richest people in the world. Together, they broke the 10-trillion-dollar mark, leaving an economic footprint larger than the combined economic output of Germany, Japan, and Australia. But who benefited the most?

An Unprecedented Rally: The Power of Technology

The driving force behind this financial surge was the unwavering rally of US technology stocks. With a total gain of $1.5 trillion, almost half of this wealth increase was attributed to the tech titans. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang were at the forefront of a movement that swept through the stock markets and generated unimaginable wealth.

Elon Musk, now considered a close confidant of the newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump, sits atop with a fortune of $442.1 billion. Thanks to rising stock values of his companies Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, Musk has gained over $213 billion in just one year – the largest gap ever recorded to the second place on the Bloomberg list.

Trump, the Billionaire Engine

Donald Trump's re-election was not only a political, but also an economic earthquake. The S&P 500 reached an all-time high after the election, and in the five weeks following alone, the billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index amassed $505 billion. Trump himself benefited from this boom. The majority of his gains are due to his stake in the Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., whose market value rose by 95% despite reports of losses.

The "Magnificent Seven": How Seven Stocks Dominated the Markets

Musk, Zuckerberg, and Huang were part of the so-called "Magnificent Seven," a small group of tech giants that accounted for more than half of this year's S&P 500 performance. Thanks to the AI boom, Nvidia temporarily became the most valuable company in the world, increasing its CEO Jensen Huang's wealth by $76 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, despite record-high EU antitrust fines, was able to record a wealth increase of $81 billion thanks to Meta's 70% stock price increase.

The Comeback of the Chinese Billionaires

After years of setbacks, Chinese billionaires experienced a turnaround. With an average increase of 14%, they benefited from a recovery in the technology sector, led by Tencent CEO Pony Ma and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun. However, not everyone had reason to celebrate: Colin Huang, founder of e-commerce giant Temu, saw his fortune plummet by $18 billion after poor quarterly figures caused his company's stock to crash.

Losses in the luxury industry and elsewhere

Not all industries benefited in 2024.