On February 4th, Forbes released its February ranking of the world's ten wealthiest individuals. While half of the billionaires experienced shifts in their positions on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List in January, Elon Musk continued to hold a commanding lead, firmly securing his status as the world's richest person. As of midnight Eastern Time on February 1st, his fortune was estimated at $775 billion. Over the past month, his net worth reportedly surged by $48 billion, and his wealth now surpasses that of the second-ranked Google co-founder, Larry Page, by nearly $500 billion; Page's net worth is estimated at $277 billion. Driven by advancements in artificial intelligence and his company xAI Holdings, Musk is now on the verge of becoming the first person in history to amass a fortune exceeding $800 billion. In early January, xAI Holdings raised $20 billion from private investors at a valuation of $250 billion, boosting the value of Musk's approximate 49% stake by $62 billion to $122 billion. With the valuations of his two core assets, SpaceX and Tesla, continuing to climb, Musk first became the first person to surpass $500 billion in October of last year, subsequently breaking the $600 billion and $700 billion barriers on December 15th and 19th, respectively. Even Tesla's first-ever annual revenue decline failed to halt the relentless growth of Musk's fortune.
Larry Page, who held the position of the world's second-richest person for three consecutive months, emerged as the second-biggest gainer this month, trailing only Musk. As the stock price of Google's parent company, Alphabet, rose by 8%, Page's wealth increased by approximately $20 billion. His co-founder, Sergey Brin, saw his net worth grow by $18 billion to an estimated $255 billion, ascending two spots to claim the No. 3 position on the Forbes global rich list. Similarly, an 8% rise in the stock of Facebook's parent company, Meta, propelled Mark Zuckerberg's fortune higher by $19 billion, reaching approximately $246 billion and moving him up one rank to No. 5.
The biggest "loser" in January was Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. A 17% drop in Oracle's share price resulted in Ellison's net worth shrinking by $34 billion, estimated now at $211 billion, causing his rank to fall from No. 3 to No. 6. French luxury titan Bernard Arnault retained his position at No. 7, yet he was the second-largest wealth decliner this month: a 14% decrease in the share price of his luxury conglomerate LVMH reduced his fortune by $26 billion, estimated to have contracted to $169 billion.
Spanish fast-fashion magnate Amancio Ortega re-entered the global top ten for the first time since last June. Although a 2% drop in the share price of Zara's parent company, Inditex, pared his wealth by $1 billion to around $145 billion, his rank still improved from No. 11 to No. 9, displacing Steve Ballmer. The latter saw his fortune decline by $13 billion to an estimated $134 billion due to a 12% fall in Microsoft's stock, causing his ranking to drop three places to No. 13. This also marks the first time since last June that more than one non-U.S. citizen has appeared in the top ten of the global billionaire list.
February 2026 Global Top Ten Billionaires 1. Elon Musk Net Worth: $775 billion (Increase of $48 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, X (formerly Twitter) Age: 54 Residence: Austin, Texas Citizenship: United States
2. Larry Page Net Worth: $277 billion (Increase of $20 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Google Age: 52 Residence: Palo Alto, California Citizenship: United States
3. Sergey Brin Net Worth: $255 billion (Increase of $18 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Google Age: 52 Residence: Los Altos, California Citizenship: United States
4. Jeff Bezos Net Worth: $250 billion (Increase of $8 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Amazon Age: 61 Residence: Miami, Florida Citizenship: United States
5. Mark Zuckerberg Net Worth: $246 billion (Increase of $19 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Meta (Facebook) Age: 41 Residence: Palo Alto, California Citizenship: United States
6. Larry Ellison Net Worth: $211 billion (Decrease of $34 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Oracle Age: 81 Residence: Woodside, California Citizenship: United States
7. Bernard Arnault Net Worth: $169 billion (Decrease of $26 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: LVMH / Luxury Goods Age: 76 Residence: Paris Citizenship: France
8. Jensen Huang Net Worth: $166 billion (Increase of $4 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Semiconductors Age: 62 Residence: Los Altos, California Citizenship: United States
9. Amancio Ortega Net Worth: $145 billion (Decrease of $1 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Zara Age: 89 Residence: A Coruña, Spain Citizenship: Spain
10. Warren Buffett Net Worth: $142 billion (Decrease of $7 billion from previous month) Wealth Source: Berkshire Hathaway Age: 95 Residence: Omaha, Nebraska Citizenship: United States
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