How was your August? For aviation mogul Kenn Ricci, the answer must be fantastico, after his epic 70th birthday party on Italy's Lake Como. The multinight, black-tie affair, which per Italian media featured entertainment from Mariah Carey, John Legend, Elton John, and Kenny G, was held at the Villa d'Este in Cernobbio. The five-star luxury hotel, formerly a noble residence from the 16th century, is "a favorite and regular stop for Ricci [pronounced 'Ricky']...on his many visits to Lake Como for over 30 years," notes the website of Flexjet, the company he chairs.
The party engendered a spirited debate among locals as to whether hosting an affair of this magnitude was too much for Lake Como. Leading up to the party, news outlet La Provencia reported that "a small army is hard at work: hundreds of professionals including artistic directors, audio/lighting technicians, set designers, drivers, makeup artists, hairstylists, and service staff. Other villas and lodging facilities have been reserved to accommodate the crew."
It's the stuff of "Champagne wishes and caviar dreams," as Robin Leach used to say-and some light summer fare for Barron's readers. But Ricci's blowout is also emblematic of the flood of wealthy Americans invading Europe (basking in the summer glow of the strong U.S. dollar), and the soaring business of private aviation (no doubt, many of his guests flew on Ricci's Flexjet-a smaller, privately held competitor of Berkshire Hathaway-owned NetJets).
Most significantly, though, Ricci's little soiree reflects the unfettered, inexorable rise of the ultrarich, a point brought home in a new report, Billionaire Census 2026, by research firm Altrata. The study calculated the number of billionaires around the globe climbed 8.2% in 2025 to 3,795, the biggest increase in five years. As for their wealth, that was up a brisk 12.8% to a record $15.1 trillion, equal to 20% of the market capitalization of the S&P 500, the third consecutive year of accelerating growth.
The main driver, of course, was the U.S. tech business. Ball don't lie. The number of billionaires in the U.S., home to a third of the world's "billies," grew 11.5% to 1,265. They're worth $6.7 trillion, or 44% of global billionaire wealth. Yes, China's billionaire population climbed 13%, but the U.S. still has three times more.
Then there's the very top of the food chain. "The planet's 29 richest people, each with fortunes above $50 billion, had a combined net worth of $4.1 trillion, or a staggering 27% of all billionaire wealth," Altrata notes. This domain is dominated by U.S. tech bros. According to the Bloomberg Billionaire List, the nine richest people on the planet are all U.S. technology male centibillionaires, worth collectively over $2.6 trillion.
As for metropolises, don't tell Zohran Mamdani, but New York is the leading city for billionaires, with that population rising 8% last year to 164. NYC has more billionaires than any country other than Germany, China, and of course, the U.S. San Francisco comes in at number three, with 99.
The Nos. 2 and 4 cities, Hong Kong and London, respectively, were the only top 15 municipalities whose billionaire population fell. One could argue both are retreating from globalism-in London's case, post-Brexit, and in Hong Kong's, the Chinese government's economic and societal crackdown. Singapore's billionaire population grew the most last year, perhaps at Hong Kong's expense.
But back to the pride of Cleveland, Kenn Ricci, who didn't make his fortune via today's typical wealth-creating acronyms (GPUs or AI). Ricci got superrich the old-fashioned way, he earned it, (as John Houseman said in Smith Barney ads of yore), serving the superrich, specifically, selling them fractional shares of private jets. Flexjet doesn't release financials beyond saying it did $4.6 billion in combined 2025 year-end revenue-up from zero when it was founded in 1995. Last year, private-equity group L Catterton, which is backed by LVMH, led an $800 million investment in Flextjet.
Ricci is a Horatio Alger story on wings. Growing up in modest means and beginning as a pilot out of the Air Force, Ricci borrowed money, including $500 from his Dad, and bought a small charter business. He flew musical acts like Barbra Streisand and Elton John, and became Bill Clinton's pilot on his run for president in 1992. Ricci would later partner with Raytheon, and then buy Flexjet from Bombardier.
"We've chosen as a family not to disguise and not to hide from our wealth," he said recently in "How Kenn Ricci Went From Pilot to Billionaire," the first episode of The WSJ Money Interview. "We have family meetings every quarter, and we're passing on wealth. I'm not waiting till I die. I want to watch my kids enjoy their wealth. We have a family limited partnership the kids can borrow from to start businesses." Talking about money, he says, "is more important than sex."
Ricci, on the board of his alma mater Notre Dame, has donated $100 million to the university through a philanthropic succession partnership, which he developed. "I think the best part of wealth is it allows you to be the exact person that you want," Ricci says.
Ricci's extravagant party has perhaps exceeded Steve Schwarzman's 2017 70th birthday blast in Palm Beach (or Schwarzman's infamous 60th in New York). Stay tuned, though. Schwarzman, now worth a cool $53 billion, turns 80 on February 14th.
Here's to living your exact life.
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