Billionaire Wealth Surges Amid US Stock Rally... Musk's Assets Increase by 126 Trillion Won

As the U.S. stock market continued its rally in the first half of this year, the asset values of the world's top 500 billionaires, including Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, surged by more than 1,000 trillion won.

According to Bloomberg's billionaire index compiled on the 3rd (local time), the total asset value of the world's top 500 billionaires increased by $852 billion (approximately 1,112.71 trillion won) in the first half of the year. This means they earned about $14 million (approximately 1.83 billion won) per person per day over the past six months. Bloomberg reported, "For billionaires, this was the best half-year since the economy rebounded in the second half of 2020 following the COVID-19 crisis."

The sharp increase in the asset values of the wealthy is interpreted as a result of the broad stock market gains in the first half of the year, despite the Federal Reserve (Fed) and other central banks around the world raising benchmark interest rates, the prolonged Ukraine war, and the regional banking crisis. In particular, the artificial intelligence (AI) boom led to a rally in tech stocks, with the Nasdaq index soaring 32% compared to the beginning of the year. The S&P 500 index, which is centered on large-cap stocks, also rose about 16%.

Elon Musk, the world's richest person and CEO (with $234 billion), saw his net worth increase by a staggering $96.6 billion (approximately 126.16 trillion won) over the past six months. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms (with $104 billion), also saw his net worth rise by $58.9 billion. These figures rank first and second in terms of net worth growth among the world's top 10 billionaires. During this period, Tesla and Meta Platforms' stock prices rose by 112% and 138%, respectively, significantly contributing to this net worth expansion.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon (with $154 billion), and Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle (with $133 billion), also saw their net worth increase by $47.4 billion and $40.8 billion, respectively, as Amazon and Oracle stock prices surged amid the AI boom this year. Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton Mo?t Hennessy (LVMH), whose wealth has been closely competing with Musk for the top spot, saw his assets increase by $38.2 billion to $200 billion, while Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, saw his assets grow by $24.4 billion to $134 billion.

On the other hand, the billionaire whose net worth decreased the most was Gautam Adani, chairman of India's Adani Group. Over the past six months, Adani's net worth dropped by a staggering $60.2 billion (approximately 78.62 trillion won). This decline is attributed to the fallout from a report released earlier this year by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research, which accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. Adani denied the allegations, but the stock price plummeted.

Hindenburg also dragged down the assets of another billionaire investor, Carl Icahn. The stock price of Icahn Enterprises, Icahn's holding company, plunged after Hindenburg's short-seller report was released in May, and the New York Attorney General launched an investigation. As a result, Icahn's net worth fell by $13.4 billion, a 57% decrease in the first half of the year. Bloomberg added that this was the largest decline rate among the world's top 500 billionaires.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.