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The 2024 stock market boom fueled a surge in net worth gains for America's richest. Elon Musk's wealth increased by $213 billion, driven by Tesla's stock rise after the election. Other big gains came from Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Jensen Huang of Nvidia. The stock market boom in 2024 made the rich even richer, with US billionaires dominating Bloomberg's Billionaire Index.
According to the index as of December 30, just 11 American billionaires and one billionaire family gained nearly $1 trillion in wealth. The gains were fueled by a surge in technology stocks, with the Nasdaq 100 finishing the year up about 25%.
The biggest wealth gain came from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who saw his wealth rise a staggering $213 billion as shares of the electric vehicle maker soared following Donald Trump's election win in November.
In fact, the wealth gained by Elon Musk this year alone is nearly equal to the net worth of the world's second-richest person, Jeff Bezos.
All told, 11 individual billionaires and one family added $841 billion to their total wealth in 2024.
Here are the big winners.
12. Bill Gates
Bill Gates at The New York Times Climate Forward Summit in 2023.Bennett Raglin/Stringer/Getty Images for The New York Times
2024 net worth gain: $19.0 billionTotal net worth: $160 billionSource of wealth: Microsoft
11. Warren Buffett
CNBC/Getty Images
2024 net worth gain: $21.8 billionTotal net worth: $142 billionSource of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
10. Thomas Peterffy
James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images
2024 net worth gain: $28.1 billionTotal net worth: $53.8 billionSource of wealth: Interactive Brokers
9. Sergey Brin
Google cofounder Sergey Brin attends a party in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaLionel Hahn/Getty Images
2024 net worth gain: $40.0 billionTotal net worth: $160 billionSource of wealth: Alphabet
8. Larry Page
Kimberly White/Getty Images for Fortune
2024 net worth gain: $43.7 billionTotal net worth: $170 billionSource of wealth: Alphabet
7. Michael Dell
Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies.NurPhoto/Getty
2024 net worth gain: $46.1 billionTotal net worth: $124 billionSource of wealth: Dell Technologies
6. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos says he wants to help Donald Trump cut regulations.Dave J Hogan/Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images
2024 net worth gain: $63.7 billionTotal net worth: $241 billionSource of wealth: Amazon
5. Larry Ellison
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison announced that he was shifting his company's headquarters away from Texas this year.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
2024 net worth gain: $70.3 billionTotal net worth: $193 billionSource of wealth: Oracle
4. Jensen Huang
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
2024 net worth gain: $76.1 billionTotal net worth: $120 billionSource of wealth: Nvidia
3. Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg wearing Meta's Ray-Ban smart glassesMeta
2024 net worth gain: $81.2 billionTotal net worth: $209 billionSource of wealth: Meta Platforms
2. The Walton family
A Walmart store in June 2024Tim Boyle/Getty Images
2024 net worth gain: $138 billionTotal net worth: $388.5 billionSource of wealth: Walmart
1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk.Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images
2024 net worth gain: $213 billion