The global economic landscape is shaped by a select few people who possess immense wealth and influence. Their remarkable success stories inspire awe and fascination as they have amassed fortunes that transcend imagination.
From tech moguls to retail tycoons, their achievements have propelled them to the top of the wealth pyramid. Many of these wealthy people have holdings that exceed the gross domestic product (GDP) of many mid-sized countries, showcasing the scale of their wealth and influence.
With the U.S. stock market rallying in 2023, many billionaires saw their fortunes increase dramatically. Some of the billionaires with massive fortunes can see swings in their net worth of several billion dollars every day resulting from a few percentage point swings in their core stock market holdings.
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Among the winners, there were also losers (relatively speaking) who saw billions in losses. Here are the top five gainers and losers for 2023, as of July 10.
Massive Net Worth Gains
Elon Musk, the innovative mind behind Tesla Inc., SpaceX and Neuralink Corp., leads the way with a year-to-date gain of $106 billion, which came mainly from the growth of Tesla's stock. Musk is a serial entrepreneur who made his first millions by selling Zip2, a company he founded that was sold to Compaq Computer Corp. in 1999 for $309 million. He also made approximately $175 million selling PayPal Inc. to eBay in 2002. His net worth of around $243 billion includes more than $100 billion in Tesla stock and his large equity stakes in private firms Twitter and SpaceX, among others.
Next on the list of gainers is Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. His year-to-date gains are $60.1 billion, reflecting a rebounding stock price. Zuckerberg and Musk continue to push for tech industry dominance, with the two discussing an MMA-style fight, and Meta recently announcing Threads, a Twitter competitor that's seeing rapid adoption.
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Jeff Bezos is the third-biggest gainer, with an additional $46.9 billion increase through the year.
The CEO of Amazon.com Inc. continues to dominate online shopping and pushes the company to acquire or invest in a range of next-generation companies.
Larry Ellison is the fourth-biggest gainer, owing to his massive stake in Oracle Corp. He gained $37.6 billion year to date, reflecting Oracle's stock price gains and Ellison's other investments.
The owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team and former Microsoft Corp. CEO, Steve Ballmer is fifth on the gainers list. His wealth grew by $31.3 billion because of the stock market rally and tech stock gains.
Losing $61 Billion But Still Incredibly Rich
The first name on the list of people with the steepest losses for 2023 is Gautam Adani, an Indian industrialist with a $61.4 billion in losses this year. His net worth plunged by approximately half because a research firm accused Adani Group of fraud and stock manipulation.
Legendary financier and deal maker Carl Icahn recorded $13.4 billion in losses for 2023 because of his bets against the U.S. economy and the related short selling.
The next three largest losses came for three Chinese business leaders. Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok parent company ByteDance Ltd. The firm lost a significant amount of money through operating losses as it pushed for growth. He saw his net worth fall by $12.6 billion.
Zhong Shanshan, a bottled-water billionaire, is chairman of Hong Kong-listed Nongfu Spring and a significant shareholder of the Shanghai-listed pharma Wantai. He and other Chinese business people saw steep losses because of the country's struggling economy throughout 2023. Shanshan's net worth is down $6.1 billion so far this year.
The final person in the 10 Billionaire Winners and Losers list is Pang Kang, owner of Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food Co., the biggest supplier of soy sauce in China. He saw losses of $5.86 so far in 2023.
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