It was an extraordinary year for the super-rich, with 402 billion added to their total net worth by the 10 world’s richest individuals in 2021.
Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, was the greatest winner as the year ended. He added $121 billion to his fortune which now stands at $277 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who started the year in the top spot, sank to number two, adding a mere $4.54 billion to his net worth, which now stands at $195 billion.
French billionaire Bernard Arnault (founder of luxury goods firm LVMH) had the biggest gains, adding $61.3 million to his fortune.
In 2021, the world’s 10 richest individuals added $402 billion to their total net worth. This makes it an exceptional year for ultra-wealthy people.
Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, was the greatest winner. He added $121 billion to the fortune of his company, now valued at $277 billion.
Musk’s year was filled with events, including a Saturday Night Live hosting role, the breakup of his girlfriend Grimes and his self-coronation in Tesla Technoking.
Musk’s sale of Tesla stock worth billions was an enormous success last month. It was apparently prompted by a Twitter poll.
In fact, the mandatory taxes that he paid for stock options expiring in August were responsible at least part of his stock sales.
Since November, he has already sold shares worth $16.4 billion. He originally stated that he would only sell 10% of Tesla stock to Twitter users if they agreed.
Musk, however, had created a plan to sell stock options related to option expiring in the next year. Tesla made a Tuesday filing confirming that this program is complete.
Musk stated last week that he was done with selling shares once his programed sales were over, which means that the saleoff is complete.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (left), who earned $24.3 Billion for the year. Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft (right), took home $41.2 billion.
Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) added $7.13B to his fortune. It is fourth in size at $139B.
Reports on Tuesday showed that the last trades included exercise of an option to purchase 1.6 million shares, and then selling 934.090 shares to cover taxes.
Musk, a billionaire, has now sold about 15.7 million Tesla shares late this year. This is approximately 10% of the stake he had promised to sell.
The options granted by 2012 allowed him to purchase nearly 23,000,000 shares for $6.24 each. That’s a fraction compared to Tesla’s share price of $1069.33 late Thursday trading.
Tesla shares are down from record heights reached just two days before Musk’s famous Twitter poll. However, they still have the potential to finish the year at 54 percent above January 1.
Bill Gates is the fourth richest person in the world, with $7.13billion.
Larry Ellison (left, the executive chairman of Oracle, added $28.8 billion to his wealth, while Warren Buffett (right) added $21.4 billion
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin added $45.1 billion and $47.4 trillion respectively to their respective net worths
Google founders Larry Page, Sergey Brin and $47.4 Billion to their respective net worths.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, has earned $24.3 Billion for the year. His total now stands at $128.2 billion. But his fortunes continue to decline as Facebook stock dropped 9 percent this fall after damaging documents were leaked by a whistleblower.
Steve Ballmer was the former Microsoft CEO and he earned $41.2 Billion in 2021. Warren Buffett received $21.4 Billion.
Larry Ellison, Oracle’s executive chairman, has added $28.8 trillion to his fortune.
The vast majority of world’s richest people are stock-based, with their profits driven by the booming market.
The main U.S. stock indices have been delivering stunning returns for the third consecutive year as 2021 nears. This is due to historic fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulation.
The S&P 500 is looking at its strongest three-year performance since 1999.
The S&P 500 posted 67 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 65 new highs and 344 new lows.