The world of the rich is still dominated by a handful of privileged individuals who continue to earn a lot of money. Some companies also continue to earn a lot of money, while others are stuck in a context of stagnant wages and inflationary spiral. It is possible to assert that Western countries have never experienced such inequality since the industrial revolution. However, the way wealth is distributed is different.
What would you do if you had 190 billion dollars as personal wealth? The fascination that large fortunes provoke in the rest of the population is unavoidable, and we have a very clear example in Elon Musk: his life generates interest not only because of the impact it has on relevant segments of the technology, automotive or space industry, but also because he is a walking testimony of what happens to a person when they have so much money (and power) that it escapes all earthly comprehension.
According to Forbes and Bloomberg, Bernard Arnault has surpassed his personal wealth by $200.000 million dollars today, and during the last few months, he has been placed at the top of the global economy. LVMH, one of the main French conglomerates, has invested in some of them. He is categorized as the head of all of them and has ordered his fortune from the smallest to the largest. This is a peculiar case, as Elon Musk has gathered the richest people in the world by 2023, as shown in this VisualCapitalist graph.
Elon Musk is trailed by, Jeff Bezos (116.000 billion), Larry Ellison (Oracle, 113.000 billion), Warren Buffett (106.000 billion), Bill Gates (104.000 billion), Carlos Slim (89.000 billion), Mukesh Ambani (84.000 billion), Steve Balmer (80.000 billion), and Françoise Bettencourt (78.000 billion).
Bettencourt, whose wealth derives from the modest family enterprise known as L’Oréal, also happens to be the wealthiest female individual on Earth. Within this particular classification, there are other notable individuals such as Julia Koch (the widow of David Koch with a fortune of 59.000 billion), Alice Walton (the heiress of Wal-Mart with a fortune of 58.000 billion), Jacqueline Mars (part of the Mars family with a fortune of 38.000 billion), and the Chilean Iris Fontbona, who is the widow of Andrónico Luksic, the founder of one of the most influential business conglomerates in the nation.
The regime has started to distrust the projection and power of Chinese billionaires, for whom times are not very prosperous in general. Jack Ma, currently at a low point, has fallen to the seventh position (23.000 billion), being the former star of the Chinese technology industry. Zhong Shanshan (67.000 billion), whose fortune mainly comes from a beverage and soft drink empire and a pharmaceutical company, also looks at the wealthiest people in China, according to the chart.
There are names of stability and familiarity, generally speaking. In view, a new season of Succession and 17,000 million, Rupert Murdoch, the tireless. It could also enter the technology sector, although included here, Mark Zuckerberg, 61,000 million. Michael Bloomberg stands out in the media, with 76,000 million. Millions, Tencent, Ma Huateng, 37,000. Millions, Dell, Michael Dell, 51,000. Millions, Google, Larry Page, 77,000. In recent decades, the new provider’s fortunes have stood out in the technology sector.
It is difficult to conceive of them more and more times. Giants. They are fortunes. But these fortunes depend on valuations. This is applicable to the majority of cases. If Musk’s companies, which he directs and founded, have had their investment performance directly related to other values and stocks, their wealth has both decreased and increased in the last few years. Uncle Scrooge’s image is not transformed into a liquid, as it is not all of their fortune that we should always remember, but rather the fact that it is filled with coins of gold in a crypt.