Not only are there more billionaires than ever before, but they're richer than ever. Billionaires comprise less than 1% of the world's ultra-high net worth population, but hold 25% of the group's total wealth, according to the annual Billionaire Census from wealth research firm Altrata.
-- The number of billionaires swelled 4% to a record 3,323 individuals
worldwide in 2023. But their collective wealth ballooned 9% to $12.1
trillion, the highest on record, said Maya Imberg, Altrata's head of
thought leadership and analytics and lead author of the report.
-- The world's 18 wealthiest people, with at least $50 billion each,
represent 16% of the world's billionaire wealth. That's quadruple the 4%
of billionaire wealth they held in 2014. North American billionaires grew
9.9% to 1,111 people, while their wealth grew 15.7% to more than $5
trillion.
-- Altrata doesn't name names, but Bloomberg Billionaires' list of the
world's wealthiest includes Tesla CEO Elon Musk with an estimated $331
billion and the world's richest person, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos
($226 billion), Oracle Chairman and co-founder Larry Ellison ($203
billion), and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($199 billion).
-- The number of female billionaires has reached 431, or 13% of the total.
About 75% of them inherited at least some of their wealth, including
Walmart heir Alice Walton, the richest woman in the world, and
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the granddaughter of L'Oréal
founder Eugène Schueller.
What's Next: The number of India's billionaires increased 16% to 131 people, with a combined $395 billion in wealth. China's billionaire count fell 15% to 304 people with nearly $1.2 trillion in wealth. The U.S.'s 1,050 billionaires have a collective $4.9 trillion in wealth.
-- Abby Schultz and Janet H. Cho
***
Over the years, gift cards have become a popular option for people seeking an easy solution to their search for the perfect present. But some consumer advocates are starting to voice concern that this form of gifting equates to a lump of coal in a holiday stocking.
MarketWatch took a look at the hidden costs of gift cards.
For more on this, read here.
-- Charles Passy
***
-- Newsletter edited by Liz Moyer, Patrick O'Donnell, Rupert Steiner
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 21, 2024 07:01 ET (12:01 GMT)
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