Who is the richest person in the world?
The richest person in the world is close to becoming the first-ever trillionaire. What is their net worth?
The net worth of the richest person in the world is double that of the billionaire with the second-largest fortune.
While the wealthiest people in the world often change places on the rich list, the one person who has consistently held the top spot since 2025 is Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk – except for one time when he briefly dropped to second place, behind Oracle’s Larry Ellison last year.
In total, the five richest people in the world have a combined net worth of close to $2 trillion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. Using the same index, we explore their wealth in detail below.
Try 6 free issues of MoneyWeek today
Get unparalleled financial insight, analysis and expert opinion you can profit from.
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
As the wealthiest bunch are all men, we take a look at the richest woman in the world in a separate guide.
The richest person in the world
1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, with a staggering $733 billion to his name.
The South African entrepreneur has added over a hundred billion to his net worth in the past year, thanks to buzz around the upcoming SpaceX initial public offering (IPO), touted to be the largest IPO in history. It has made him richer than the two billionaires right below him on the rich list combined.
Moreover, Tesla stock has surged nearly 14-fold since the pandemic, with a market capitalisation of $1.36 trillion at the time of writing.
Musk owns around 11% of Tesla and roughly 50% of SpaceX. We break down Elon Musk’s net worth in a separate guide.
2. Larry Page
Alphabet co-founder Larry Page’s net worth has topped $300 billion for the first time in history, as Google’s parent company’s stock rose in the latest Mag 7 earnings season after increased AI spending. His net worth now stands at $328 billion.
A majority of Page’s wealth comes from his stake in Google, which rebranded as Alphabet in 2015, grouping all its divisions – including Gmail, Android and YouTube – under one umbrella. He’s not the only mind behind Google in the rich list – as you’ll see below.
Find out more about Larry Page's net worth.
3. Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Alphabet, is a new entrant to this list. He has a net worth of $305 billion, not far behind that of fellow co-founder Larry Page.
The American businessman was the president of Alphabet until 2019, and has since remained a board member and a controlling shareholder. He co-founded Google with Larry Page in 1998, after the two met at Stanford University.
Alphabet became the fourth company to achieve a market capitalisation of $4 trillion, joining the likes of Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple to hit the milestone. Its stock grew by 65% last year, marking the largest single-year jump for the company since 2009.
Brin has been donating millions of dollars of his shares in Alphabet to fund research on Parkinson’s disease.
4. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos has a net worth of $284 billion. The billionaire is most famous for founding Amazon in 1994, which started when Bezos saw a gap in the market for e-commerce and began to sell books online, working out of his garage. Now, the empire has a market capitalisation of $2.85 trillion.
Bezos also owns The Washington Post, one of the largest newspapers in the United States. He also has a stake in Blue Origin, a space exploration company he founded in 2000.
Bezos is increasingly looking to dominate the world of film and fashion. He was the lead sponsor and honorary co-chair of the 2026 Met Gala and donated $10 million, making it the largest individual financial commitment in the event’s history.
Moreover, last year, Amazon took creative control of the James Bond franchise. Back in 2021, it acquired MGM Studios, a historic American production company, for $8.45 billion. Some of MGM’s most popular films include The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Find out more about the factors that contributed to Jeff Bezos’ net worth.
5. Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison is the man behind one of the world’s largest software companies, Oracle, which he founded in 1977. His net worth is $248 billion.
Ellison owns more than 40% of Oracle – making him the largest shareholder – and has holdings in Tesla, having been one of the company’s board of directors from 2018 to 2022.
On 10 September 2025, Ellison briefly overtook Elon Musk as the richest person in the world, a title Musk had claimed for just over 300 days. This was due to Oracle’s earnings report, which revealed a deal with OpenAI.
It resulted in gains of 36% in a single day for the database software company’s share price, adding almost $250 billion to its market capitalisation and around $89 billion to Ellison’s personal wealth. Major Oracle shareholders also became wealthier instantly.
Read more on Larry Ellison’s net worth and how he makes the rest of his billions away from Oracle.
