World’s richest people added $852 billion to their fortunes in the first half of 2023

The world’s 500 richest people added $852 billion (about €780 billion) to their personal fortunes in the first half of the year, according to Bloomberg data. On average, each member of the list of billionaires compiled by the news agency increased their accumulated wealth by €14 million a day over the past six months, marking the best half of the year since the last six months of 2020.

This increase in the fortunes of the world’s wealthiest comes on the heels of a stock market rally. In the first six months of 2023, investors did not take into account the successive interest rate hikes, the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine or the banking crises. The Nasdaq’s rise over the period was 39%, driven mostly by AI fever and big tech stocks, which translates into more money for Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

The former, who regained the top spot on the list of the richest people over Bernard Arnault, added $96.6 billion to his fortune. In the case of the latter, the rise was $58.9 billion, which allowed him to return to the top 20 of the world’s richest people; he is currently in 9th place, after having dropped out of the top 20 at the end of last year.

The CEO of Tesla and the founder of Facebook have been in the news in recent weeks due to a possible fight between them. It all started because of one of the projects that Meta is handling and which could be a kind of new Twitter, a social media service that has been getting a constant stream of criticism since Musk bought it. A critical comment by Zuckerberg about the Tesla executive was leaked, and Musk was quick to challenge the Facebook founder to a fight. Zuckerberg appears to have accepted the challenge, to the delight of the internet, which is rejoicing at the thought of watching the two millionaires duke it out in the ring. Until the time comes, if ever, Musk is beating Zuckerberg in terms of wealth.

There is someone who doesn’t seem to have much time to be thinking about entertainment for millionaires, and that is Gautam Adani, who keeps dropping positions in the list of the richest people in the world. The Indian entrepreneur ended 2022 in third place, behind Bernard Arnault and Musk, but in the first six months his fortune dropped by $60.2 billion, posting the biggest one-day loss of anyone in the rankings, where he is now 21st. It was on January 27 that he saw $20.8 billion go up in smoke, following accusations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation by Hindenburg Research, which Adani denies.

Hindenburg Research also triggered another one of the most talked-about crashes among the wealthy. The research and investment firm claimed that Icahn Enterprises overvalued its holdings and relied on a “Ponzi-like” structure to pay dividends. The result of such claims coming from an investor in short positions caused Icahn’s value to fall $13.4 billion, or 57%, the largest percentage decline for a member of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in the first half of the year.

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