Kenya Insights

Tag: forbes billionaires

  • The World’s Top 10 Richest People in March 2025: Elon Musk Leads Despite Losses

    The World’s Top 10 Richest People in March 2025: Elon Musk Leads Despite Losses

    Tesla CEO Elon Musk remains the world’s wealthiest person despite losing $62 billion in February, as plunging Tesla shares and public backlash over his federal efficiency role dented his fortune.

    Meanwhile, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg climbed to second place for the first time, overtaking Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in a dramatic reshuffle of the global billionaire rankings.

    Key Highlights:

    – Elon Musk’s net worth fell to $359.5 billion, down from over $400 billion in December 2024, after Tesla lost a quarter of its market value. Protests at Tesla dealerships and declining sales in Europe and California contributed to the slump.

    – Mark Zuckerberg ($230.7 billion) surged to No. 2 as Amazon shares dragged Bezos ($226.7 billion) to third place.

    – Warren Buffett was the sole top-10 billionaire to grow richer, adding $14.9 billion as Berkshire Hathaway shares hit record highs.

    – The combined wealth of the world’s top 10 richest dropped by $140 billion in February, now totaling $1.89 trillion.

    Top 10 Richest (March 2025):

    1. Elon Musk: $359.5B (Tesla, SpaceX)
    2. Mark Zuckerberg: $230.7B (Meta)
    3. Jeff Bezos: $226.7B (Amazon)
    4. Larry Ellison: $204.6B (Oracle)
    5. Bernard Arnault: $186.4B (LVMH, France)
    6. Warren Buffett: $161.1B (Berkshire Hathaway)
    7. Larry Page: $141.5B (Google)
    8. Sergey Brin: $135.4B (Google)
    9. Amancio Ortega: $121.9B (Zara, Spain)
    10. Steve Ballmer: $118.9B (Microsoft)

    Musk’s Turbulent Month

    Musk’s wealth erosion followed Tesla’s stock collapse and his controversial role in the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he pushed aggressive federal job cuts. Protests erupted at Tesla dealerships in the U.S., with critics linking Musk’s policies to the backlash.

    Zuckerberg’s Rise

    Zuckerberg capitalized on Amazon’s 11% stock drop, which erased $23 billion from Bezos’ fortune. Despite Meta’s own challenges, Zuckerberg’s $230.7 billion net worth now edges out Bezos by $4 billion.

    Buffett Bucks the Trend

    The 94-year-old “Oracle of Omaha” saw his wealth grow to $161.1 billion as Berkshire Hathaway shares soared 10% in February. His strategic investments in stable sectors like insurance and consumer goods insulated him from tech volatility.

    Global and Gender Disparities

    The list underscores stark imbalances:
    – No African Representation: All top 10 are U.S.-based except France’s Arnault and Spain’s Ortega. Africa’s richest, Aliko Dangote ($15.8B as of 2024), remains outside the top 50.

    – All-Male Top 10: The richest woman, Walmart’s Alice Walton ($107.5B), ranks 15th globally.

    Source: Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List (March 1, 2025).

  • Elon Musk Eclipses $200 Billion To Become Richest Person In The World Again

    Elon Musk Eclipses $200 Billion To Become Richest Person In The World Again

    Elon Musk became the third person to ever be worth $200 billion on Monday, riding a surging Tesla stock that in turn made him the richest person in the world.

    His milestone feat follows Amazon founder and space rival Jeff Bezos, who first reached the $200 billion mark in August 2020, and luxury magnate Bernard Arnault, who did so for a short time last month. Shares of Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla continued a four-month rally, closing up 2.2% at $791.36, the highest they’ve been since February this year. Musk became $3.8 billion richer on Monday and was worth $203.4 billion at the close of markets. He surpasses Bezos, whose fortune fell by $1 billion Monday to $197.7 billion due to a 0.6%  decline in Amazon stock.

    Musk is even richer now than he was at Tesla’s peak in January—when he briefly became the world’s richest tycoon for the first time—because he’s received additional stock option grants that have increased his stake in Tesla; he has about 73.5 million Tesla options worth about $53 billion. Musk owns more than one-fifth of Tesla; Forbes discounts a portion of this stake to account for shares he has pledged as collateral for loans.

    Musk’s fortune is heavily tied to his ownership of Tesla, which ended the day Monday with a market cap of more than $792 billion, and SpaceX, which was valued at $74 billion after a funding round in February. After promising last year that he would ditch almost all his personal possessions, including six mansions, he now owns one house and counts his primary residence to be a 400-square foot rental unit.

    Shares in Tesla rocketed up more than 720% in 2020, helping to increase Musk’s net worth by more than $125 billion in a year. After trading places with Bezos as the world’s richest person for several days in January, Tesla stock began to decline. By April, Musk was surpassed by Arnault as well. The unusually frequent shuffling atop the billionaire leaderboard continued last month, when Musk became second richest again, trailing only Bezos.

    The two, who head competing rocket companies—SpaceX for Musk, Blue Origin for Bezos—have also traded banter over their billionaire space race. Last month, tensions spilled over into a lawsuit by Blue Origin against the federal government to dispute a $2.9 billion NASA contract that was awarded to SpaceX.