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Who is the richest person in the world?
The richest person in the world is close to becoming a trillionaire. What is their net worth?
The net worth of the richest person in the world is nearly three times that of the billionaire with the second-largest fortune.
While the world's wealthiest people often swap places on the rich list, one person has held the top spot since 2025: Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
In total, the five richest people in the world have a combined net worth of $2.2 trillion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. Using the same index, we explore their wealth in detail below.
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Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, with a staggering $987 billion to his name.
The South African entrepreneur has added over $500 billion to his net worth in the past year, thanks to buzz around the SpaceX initial public offering (IPO).
Musk first crossed the trillion-dollar mark in June after SpaceX went public, reaching an estimated fortune of $1.45 trillion, though he has since lost that status.
However, he is still richer than the three billionaires right below him on the rich list combined.
Musk owns around 11% of Tesla and roughly 50% of SpaceX.
Jeff Bezos has a net worth of $365 billion. The billionaire is most famous for founding Amazon in 1994, which started when Bezos saw a gap in the market for e-commerce and began to sell books online, working out of his garage. Now, the empire has a market capitalisation of $2.7 trillion.
Bezos owns The Washington Post, one of the largest newspapers in the United States. He also has a stake in Blue Origin, a space exploration company he founded in 2000. Blue Origin’s latest funding round has added billions to his fortune, making him the second-richest person in the world.
Bezos is increasingly looking to dominate the world of film and fashion. He was the lead sponsor and honorary co-chair of the 2026 Met Gala and donated $10 million, making it the largest individual financial commitment in the event’s history.
Last year, Amazon took creative control of the James Bond franchise. Back in 2021, it acquired MGM Studios, a historic American production company, for $8.45 billion. Some of MGM’s most popular films include The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
3. Larry Page
(Image credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GettyImages)
Larry Page's net worth currently stands at $298 billion. He founded Google in 1998 with Sergey Brin, who is also on the rich list.
A majority of Page’s wealth comes from his stake in Google, which rebranded as Alphabet in 2015, grouping all its divisions – including Gmail, Android and YouTube – under one umbrella.
Page stepped down as CEO of Alphabet in 2019, but he remains a board member and a controlling shareholder of the company.
4. Sergey Brin
(Image credit: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Alphabet, has a net worth of $277 billion, not far behind that of fellow co-founder Larry Page.
The American businessman was the president of Alphabet until 2019, and has since remained a board member and a controlling shareholder.
Brin has been donating millions of dollars worth of his shares in Alphabet to fund research on Parkinson’s disease. He was recently awarded the National Medal of Science by US president Donald Trump at the Institute of Peace in Washington.
5. Michael Dell
(Image credit: John Lamparski/Getty Images)
Michael Dell is a new entrant to this list, with a net worth of $265 billion. He is the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies and owns 40% of the company.
It was founded in 1984 when Dell was studying at the University of Texas, and initially operated out of his university dorm room, where he sold personal computers directly to customers.
The business was originally called PC’s Limited, and it went public in 1988. In 1992, Michael Dell became the youngest CEO in Fortune’s list of the top 500 corporations. Dell was formed in 2016 through a $60 billion merger with EMC.
Since 2025, Michael Dell has added more than $100 billion to his wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Shares in the company have risen by more than 300% since the start of the year, and it has also helped Dell shoot past Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg on the rich list.
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Oojal has a background in consumer journalism and is interested in helping people make the most of their money.
Oojal has an MA in international journalism from Cardiff University, and before joining MoneyWeek, she worked for Look After My Bills, a personal finance website, where she covered guides on household bills and money-saving deals.
Her bylines can be found on Newsquest, Voice.Cymru, DIVA and Sony Music, and she has explored subjects ranging from politics and LGBTQIA+ issues to food and entertainment.
Outside of work, Oojal enjoys travelling, going to the movies and learning Spanish with a little green owl.
