Wealth is on the rise: the world’s billionaires earned a record $2.2 trillion in a year
31 December 18:12
The total wealth of the world’s 500 richest people in 2025 grew by a record $2.2 trillion to reach $11.9 trillion, Bloomberg reports in its annual summary of the Billionaires’ Index, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
According to Bloomberg’s estimates, 2025 was one of the most successful years for the global rich in the history of observation. The rapid growth of markets – from stocks and precious metals to cryptocurrencies – has provided a sharp increase in the value of the assets of the world’s largest capital.
Why did wealth rise?
Bloomberg analysts attribute the market rally to several factors. One of the key factors is Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election at the end of 2024, which boosted investor optimism. It was only in April 2025 that growth slowed briefly due to concerns about new tariffs, when markets experienced the largest one-day drop since the pandemic.
The tech sector remained the main driver, with the excitement around artificial intelligence supporting the stocks of large-cap US corporations.
Who won the most
About a quarter of all wealth gains came from just eight individuals. Among them are Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Alphabet co-founder Larry Page, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. At the same time, their contribution was less than a year earlier, when the same billionaires accounted for 43% of the total increase.
Elon Musk earned the most over the year: his fortune reached $622.7 billion, with an annual increase of $190.3 billion. Larry Ellison, actively investing in AI, increased his capital by $57.7 billion to $249.8 billion.
Not only technology
Growth was recorded in other sectors as well. The richest person in Australia, Gina Rinehart, earned $12.6 billion amid the demand for rare earth metals. Bloomberg also notes an increase in the wealth of Donald Trump and his family – by $282 million, to $6.8 billion.
Who lost
Not all billionaires ended the year in the black. The founder of Strategy Inc. Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy Inc. lost $2.6 billion due to the fall of the cryptocurrency market.
According to Bloomberg, 2025 was also a successful year for defensive assets: high demand contributed to rising prices for metals, including copper and rare earth resources, which have gained geopolitical importance.
Cryptocurrencies showed high profitability for most of the year, with bitcoin updating historic highs after Trump’s victory and expectations of crypto-friendly policies. However, massive sell-offs on exchanges in the fall wiped out much of this growth and led to losses for some large investors.
