Yahoo Finance·2026-01-04 19:00Core Insights - Elon Musk ended 2025 as the world's richest person with a wealth of $619 billion, marking the first time anyone has reached the $600 billion milestone, with potential for further gains in 2026 due to a reported SpaceX IPO and a new pay package at Tesla [1][3] - The top 10 richest individuals saw a combined wealth increase of $578.64 billion in 2025, surpassing the $518 billion gained in 2024 [3][4] - The total wealth of the top 10 billionaires reached $2.55 trillion, ranking them as the fifth-largest company globally, exceeding the combined valuations of Meta Platforms and Walmart [4][8] Wealth Growth - The S&P 500 index gained 16.6% in 2025, contributing to the increase in wealth for billionaires whose fortunes are linked to publicly traded companies [2] - The wealth of the top 10 billionaires at the end of 2025 is significantly higher than the valuations of many well-known companies, with the $578.6 billion gained ranking 18th among publicly traded companies [3][8] Individual Rankings - The top 10 richest people in the world at the end of 2025 are as follows: 1. Elon Musk: $619 billion, +$187 billion 2. Larry Page: $269 billion, +$101 billion 3. Jeff Bezos: $253 billion, +$14.6 billion 4. Sergey Brin: $250 billion, +$91.8 billion 5. Larry Ellison: $247 billion, +$55.2 billion 6. Mark Zuckerberg: $233 billion, +$26.0 billion 7. Bernard Arnault: $208 billion, +$31.6 billion 8. Steve Ballmer: $168 billion, +$21.9 billion 9. Jensen Huang: $154 billion, +$40.1 billion 10. Warren Buffett: $151 billion, +$9.44 billion [7]