Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle’s Larry Ellison had the highest, each adding $9 billion to their net worth.

Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang followed with $5.4 billion, while Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin gained $4.5 billion and $4.3 billion respectively.

The windfall results from the deepening concentration of wealth and influence among Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures. 

These are not fleeting market blips, the growth is tied to the technologies reshaping everything from global communications to financial systems.

Zuckerberg, now the third-richest person in the world with $267.7 billion, controls about 13% of Meta. The company’s stock has risen 40% since April 2025, driven by AI-powered advertising and smart glasses. 

Back in 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to donate 99% of their Meta shares over their lifetimes, one of the most noteworthy philanthropic promises of the modern era.

Just ahead of him in the global rankings is Ellison, whose $298.3 billion fortune places him second only to Elon Musk. The Oracle co-founder stepped down as CEO in 2014 but still drives the company’s strategic acquisitions. He lives permanently on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which he purchased almost entirely for $300 million in 2012.

Huang’s rise is perhaps the most emblematic of the AI era. Nvidia, once a graphics card specialist, now dominates AI hardware. In Q1 2026, its data centre division alone generated $39 billion, 89% of its revenue, with forecasts pointing to $200 billion for the fiscal year. 

Under Huang’s leadership, Nvidia’s valuation topped $3 trillion in 2024. His net worth now stands at $156.6 billion.

Page and Brin, despite stepping back from Google’s daily operations in 2019, remain among the most influential figures in tech. Their stakes in Alphabet keep their fortunes at $160.3 billion and $153 billion respectively, built on the algorithms they pioneered more than two decades ago.

As of August 2025, eight of the world’s ten wealthiest people are tech leaders, including Musk, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Page, Brin, Huang, Steve Ballmer, and Jeff Bezos. 

Their combined wealth stands at $2.1 trillion, up $100 billion since July. In total, 450 tech billionaires control an estimated $5.2 trillion, representing nearly one-third of all billionaire wealth.

The ongoing AI boom is creating new billionaires in semiconductors, cloud platforms, and generative AI startups like Anthropic and CoreWeave. Yet the same trend is intensifying debates over monopolies, digital inequality, and the vast control a handful of companies wield over critical infrastructure.

As an analyst stated, “This isn’t just a story about money, it’s a story about who owns the future.”

According to the accelerator, Google has effectively scared off competition and limited innovation.

In a court filing dated 9 May, the firm described Google as a monopolist that has “chilled independent firms like YC from funding and accelerating innovative startups that could otherwise have challenged Google’s dominance.” The document was filed in support of the U.S. government’s antitrust case against Google.

Y Combinator argued that venture capitalists have become more wary of backing emerging companies in search and AI, industries the accelerator describes as being trapped within a “kill zone” created by Google’s overwhelming control. “The result is a landscape that has been artificially stunted and stagnant,” the filing states.

While it is not explicitly calling for a breakup of Google, Y Combinator says change must happen. It wants Google to stop locking up default search agreements, specifically, the multibillion-dollar deal that keeps it the default engine on Apple devices. It also demands access to Google’s search index, so new developers and researchers can train competitive AI tools using the same data Google relies on.

“Google has effectively frozen the web search and text advertising markets for over a decade,” the filing adds. Y Combinator is particularly concerned that without intervention, Google will continue to suppress innovation in agentic and question-based AI systems, tools that have the potential to bolster how users access and interact with online information.

YC CEO Garry Tan later clarified the organisation’s position on social media: “We love Google. But we want little tech to succeed, too.” He also warned that if Google fails to implement reforms within five years, regulators should be ready to “bring the spinoff hammer.”

Google’s legal issues have been increasing recently. Last year, it lost a significant antitrust case tied to its stranglehold on the search market. Remedies are expected by August 2025 and could include forced divestments such as spinning off Chrome.

The timing of YC’s filing is particular, given its recent collaborations with Google. The tech giant previously invested in YC-backed Infisical, acquired Flutter in 2014, and Fridge in 2011. Google Cloud even provided dedicated GPU access to YC startups last year. Co-founder Larry Page made a rare public appearance at a YC event in December.

But there’s another aspect, YC’s deep ties to OpenAI, a direct rival to Google in the AI-powered search arena. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman formerly led Y Combinator, and OpenAI was the first team to emerge from YC Research.

This connection has been noticed. VC Sheel Mohnot, who spotted the brief online, pointed out, “The biggest beneficiary of YC’s proposed remedies, by far, would be OpenAI.”

However, even with the strategic implications, Y Combinator has not offered specific examples of startups it might have funded were it not for Google’s monopoly.

Google, for its part, has remained silent on the brief. It previously defended itself in a blog post, calling the DOJ’s proposed remedies “radical and sweeping” and warning they could harm businesses, consumers, and developers.

Y Combinator believes the growth of tech depends on loosening Google’s hold, and it’s willing to put that on the record.

Jeff Bezos is the 3rd-richest person in the world, with about $127 billion in current real-time total net worth. Bill Gates ranked 4th with a personal wealth of $120 billion, followed by Warren Buffett with $107 billion.

The list of the world’s wealthiest people can vary daily, depending on their latest net worth and financial performance.

Larry Ellison ranked 6th with a personal wealth of $107 billion, followed by Steve Ballmer with $102 billion.

Larry Page is placed 8th with a net worth of $95.8 billion. Sergey Brin ($91.6 billion) occupied the 9th position on the top 10 wealthiest people in the world list, followed by Francoise Bettencourt Meyers (No. 10, $88.4 billion).

These are the top billionaires: Here’s a countdown of the 100 World Richest Men 2023 on the planet by net worth:

Rank Billionaire Net Worth Country:

1. Bernard Arnault $199 billion France

2. Elon Musk $187 billion United States

3. Jeff Bezos $127 billion United States

4. Bill Gates $120 billion United States

5. Warren Buffett $107 billion United States

6. Larry Ellison $107 billion United States

7. Steve Ballmer $102 billion United States

8 Larry Page $95.8 billion United States

9 Sergey Brin $91.6 billion United States

10 Francoise Meyers $88.4 billion France

11 Carlos Slim $86.6 billion Mexico

12 Mukesh Ambani $80.5 billion India

13 Mark Zuckerberg $77.9 billion United States

14 Amancio Ortega $68.5 billion Spain

15 Zhong Shanshan $67.7 billion China

16 Charles Koch $67.3 billion United States

17 Julia Flesher Koch &family $67.3 billion United States

18 Jim Walton $66.5 billion United States

19 Rob Walton $66.0 billion United States

20 Alice Walton $64.6 billion United States

21 Gautam Adani $56.4 billion India

22 Jacqueline Badger Mars $55.6 billion United States

23 John Mars $55.6 billion United States

24 Michael Dell $49.6 billion United States

25 Alain Wertheimer $48.4 billion France

26 Gerard Wertheimer $48.4 billion France

27 Phil Knight & family $46.0 billion United States

28 Francois Pinault $45.1 billion France

29 Klaus-Michael Kuehne $44.3 billion Germany

30 Giovanni Ferrero & family $43.8 billion Italy

31 Ma Huateng $42.5 billion China

32 Zhang Yiming $42.3 billion China

33 Len Blavatnik $36.6 billion United States

34 Miriam Adelson $36.1 billion United States

35 Ken Griffin $35.3 billion United States

36 Jack ma $34.4 billion China

37 Tadashi Yanai $34.1 billion Japan

38 Zeng Yuqun $34.0 billion Hong Kong

39 Jeff Yass $33.8 billion United States

40 Abigail Johnson $30.7 billion United States

41 Changpeng Zhao $30.4 billion Canada

42 Stephen Schwarzman $30.4 billion United States

43 German Larrea $29.5 billion Mexico

44 Vladimir Potanin $29.0 billion Russian Federation

45 Low Tuck Kwong $28.9 billion Indonesia

46 Li Ka-shing $28.7 billion Hong Kong

47 Shapoor Mistry $28.0 billion India

48 William Ding $27.5 billion China

49 Leonard Lauder $26.8 billion United States

50 Colin Huang $26.7 billion China

51 Takemitsu Takizaki $26.5 billion Japan

52 Leonid Mikhelson $26.3 billion Russian Federation

53 Thomas Peterffy $25.7 billion United States

54 Iris Fontbona & family $25.5 billion Chile

55 James Simons $25.5 billion United States

56 Shiv Nadar $25.4 billion India

57 Susanne Klatten $25.4 billion Germany

58 Jensen Huang $25.2 billion United States

59 Dieter Schwarz $24.9 billion Germany

60 Carl Icahn $24.7 billion United States

61 Rodolphe Saade & family $24.3 billion France

62 Henry Cheng $24.3 billion Hong Kong

63 He Xiangjian $23.5 billion China

64 Xu Yangtian $23.5 billion China

65 Gina Rinehart $23.5 billion Australia

66 Lukas Walton $23.5 billion United States

67 Thomas Frist $23.1 billion United States

68 Andrew Forrest $23.0 billion Australia

69 Stefan Quandt $22.7 billion Germany

70 Jorge Paulo Lemann $22.6 billion Brazil

71 Mackenzie Scott $22.6 billion United States

72 Harold Hamm $22.4 billion United States

73 Azim Premji $22.4 billion India

74 Elaine Marshall $22.4 billion United States

75 Budi Hartono $21.6 billion Indonesia

76 Eric Schmidt $21.4 billion United States

77 Mark Mateschitz $21.2 billion Austria

78 Lee Shau Kee $21.1 billion Hong Kong

79 Vladimir Lisin $21.0 billion Russian Federation

80 Dan Gilbert $20.6 billion United States

81 Ernesto Bertarelli & family $20.6 billion Switzerland

82 Eyal Ofer $20.2 billion Monaco

83 Wang Chuan-Fu $20.0 billion China

84 Aliko Dangote $19.8 billion Nigeria

85 Idan Ofer $19.8 billion Israel

86 Lakshmi Mittal $19.6 billion India

87 Michael Hartono $19.4 billion Indonesia

88 Alisher Usmanov $19.2 billion Russian Federation

89 Alexey Mordashov $19.1 billion Russian Federation

90 Vagit Alekperov $18.5 billion Russian Federation

91 Reinhold Wuerth $18.4 billion Germany

92 Sammy Lee $18.1 billion Hong Kong

93 Peter Woo $17.8 billion Hong Kong

94 Qin Yinglin $17.6 billion China

95 Vicky Safra $17.6 billion Greece

96 Robert Kuok $17.5 billion Malaysia

97 Zhang Zhidong $17.3 billion China

98 Donald Bren $17.2 billion United States

99 Liu Yongxing $17.2 billion China

100 Cyrus Poonawalla $17.2 billion India

Detailed findings & method (World Richest Men 2023):

CEOWORLD magazine put together a panel of experts to review data points from virtually every reputable wealth-tracking media outlet, including Bloomberg, The Richest, Money Inc, Cheat Sheet, GO Banking Rates, Celebrity net worth, Wealthy gorilla, Forbes, and more.

The list includes self-made billionaires, heirs to family fortunes, to business tycoons who have made a lasting impact on the population.

Their power and influence extend beyond those in the industry, so much so that even those with no interest in business want to know how to get to the top of the chain.

Based on a consensus from these sources, the final decision for the ranking was judged editorially.

All data is for the most recent period available. Some were not included in the official statistics for various reasons, primarily due to the lack of necessary data.

Remember, these values and fluctuations are estimations based on multiple variables and publicly available documents.

The margin of sampling error for the entire data sample is plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, one should remember that, as in all research, there are possible sources of error—such as coverage, nonresponse, and measurement error——that could affect the results.

All figures of the World Richest men 2023 are in US dollars.