How much will tech billionaires earn in 2024?

The S&P 500 has surged an impressive 25% this year, reflecting a strong recovery and investor confidence in the economy, while the tech-focused Nasdaq has soared 33%, marking a boom year for the sector.

Many billionaires and ultra-rich investors, who hold large stakes in corporations included in these two indexes, have reaped huge profits, further bolstering their massive fortunes.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of December 27, the top 5 billionaires on the list of the biggest earners in 2024 recorded impressive net worth growth, with a total of $542 billion added to their huge fortunes.

This reflects strong growth from strategic investments, a recovery in the stock market and the outstanding performance of the companies they own or run. These billionaires have benefited not only from the growth of the global economy but also from technology trends, innovation and international market expansion.

Each individual in this group has seen their personal wealth increase by tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars, catapulting them to new heights in the rankings of the world's richest people.

Billionaire Elon Musk: Increased by more than 239 billion USD

Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, now has a massive net worth of $468 billion, almost doubling since the beginning of 2024. Much of this impressive increase in wealth comes from the strong recovery of the US stock market following Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election.

Since Election Day, Musk's fortune has increased by more than $200 billion, largely thanks to the surge in the stock price of Tesla, which accounts for the bulk of his net worth.

Despite a slowdown in global electric vehicle sales this year, Tesla's stock has posted a stunning gain, with more than 70% of its value added thanks to investor confidence in the company's long-term potential.

In addition, Musk's other businesses, including SpaceX and Neuralink, also recorded positive growth in valuation. Of which, SpaceX - the leading private aerospace company founded by Musk - had a boom year. The company's valuation doubled in the past 12 months, reaching $350 billion.

This success is fueled by significant advances in reusable spacecraft launch technology, the rapid expansion of the Starlink network, and lucrative contracts with NASA and many other commercial customers.

Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg: Increased by more than 85 billion USD

Mark Zuckerberg is enjoying a banner year with the strong recovery of Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. With a net worth of $213 billion, Zuckerberg is now the company's largest individual shareholder, holding about 13% of the shares.

This increase in asset value is driven by Meta's ambitious transformation strategy, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual universes (Metaverse), as well as sustainable growth in online advertising.

With strategic vision and steadfast leadership, Zuckerberg has skillfully steered Meta through major challenges, reinforcing investor confidence and helping the company's stock achieve important milestones in 2024, with an increase of more than 70% this year.

This not only strengthens Meta's position in the technology market but also moves Zuckerberg further up the rankings of the world's richest billionaires.

Billionaire Jensen Huang: Added more than 78 billion USD

This year's AI boom has made Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of semiconductor company Nvidia, one of the world's most prominent billionaires with a net worth of $122 billion.

Huang, who owns about 3.5% of Nvidia, has seen his fortune soar as the company’s stock has risen more than 175% since the start of the year. This success is largely due to Nvidia’s dominance in the AI ​​chip market, with its powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) becoming the go-to choice for groundbreaking AI applications, from supercomputers to advanced machine learning platforms.

Jensen Huang's strategic vision and leadership not only made Nvidia a giant in the technology industry but also helped him carve his name into the list of the most powerful billionaires of the AI ​​technology era.

Billionaire Larry Ellison: Increased by more than 70 billion USD

Larry Ellison, founder and chief technology officer of Oracle, is now worth $193 billion. The bulk of his wealth comes from shares of Oracle, the leading database software company, which has seen an impressive increase of more than 60% since the beginning of this year.

This growth is largely due to the strong development of cloud services and infrastructure, technologies that are widely used in training AI models.

In addition to Oracle, Ellison is also an important shareholder of Tesla, owning more than 1% of shares, with an estimated value of up to 20 billion USD, continuing to increase his assets thanks to the outstanding growth of this electric car company.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos: Increased by more than 69 billion USD

Jeff Bezos, co-founder of the world's largest e-commerce corporation Amazon, continues to be the company's largest individual shareholder, owning nearly 9% of Amazon's total market value, currently at $2.4 trillion.

His stake in the retail and tech giant accounts for more than 80% of Bezos' $246 billion personal fortune, cementing his place among the world's richest people.

Amazon shares, which have risen more than 45% this year, saw a sharp jump following the election of Donald Trump. Additionally, Amazon continues to benefit from its leadership in e-commerce and cloud computing, with services like Amazon Web Services (AWS) contributing significantly to the company’s sustained growth.

The combination of groundbreaking business strategy and brand power has helped Bezos maintain his wealth and influence globally.

Phan Van Hoa