Who will be the first trillionaire – Arno, Musk, or Bezos?

The super-rich often derive their wealth from a variety of sources: business interests, investments, real estate, cash, and personal property. To record net worth, we start by adding up all of these assets.

Then we subtract liabilities—everything from personal loans to mortgages. Someone with at least $1 trillion (or one trillion euros) in net worth would qualify as a trillionaire.

For those in the highest echelons of wealth, arriving at an accurate net worth tends to be a complex undertaking. While some assets are relatively stable, the value of business interests, in particular, can fluctuate from day to day. With that in mind, Investopedia wondered who the first trillionaire could be.

In fact, Forbes, which publishes the prominent list of the world’s richest people, updates a “Real-Time Billionaire List” that is updated every minute, based on stock valuations. At the top, in the top three positions, as of February 19, 2024, are Bernard Arnault and his family ($221.7 billion), Elon Musk ($205.2 billion) and Jeff Bezos ($190.7 billion .

Net Worth Examples: Who’s First?

Let’s look at French luxury tycoon Arnaud. The bulk of his and his family’s fortune, an estimated $221.7 billion, isn’t just sitting in a bank account. It is linked to the value of his holding company, LVMH, which owns famous brands such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Hennessy.

A rapid rise in the value of LVMH’s stock, relative to the respective holdings of Musk and Bezos, took him to the top spot in May 2021. And, indeed, the three businessmen often switch positions among themselves.

As the value of Arno’s brands increased during the pandemic, so did his net worth. As of March 2020, Forbes estimated her at $76 billion. In the nearly four years since February 2024, that number had increased by almost 200%.

Second on the current Forbes list is Musk, who has a current net worth of approximately $205.2 billion. As of February 2024, it owns about 21% of Tesla and about 42% of SpaceX aerospace. Bezos, founder of Amazon, is next with a value of $190 billion, with 12.3% ownership of Amazon shares.

As an example of how volatile these valuations of personal wealth can be, Musk lost $8.9 billion in one day in December 2020 when a JPMorgan analyst said Tesla shares were significantly overvalued.

The world’s first trillionaire?

Even Arno and Musk—at $221.7 billion and $205 billion, respectively—may seem a long way from the billionaire title. However, the rate at which some of the world’s richest people have been able to accumulate wealth suggests that it may only be a few years before someone earns that designation as well.

Arno, for example, managed to increase his net worth by about six times in eight years – from $33.5 billion in 2014 to $221.7 billion in 2024. If he repeated this feat, he would be a trillionaire before the end of decade.

Musk, who has built his wealth on game-changing companies — Tesla in the electric car realm and SpaceX for commercial rockets — may have just as good a chance. Just five years ago in 2019, the heretic businessman had a net worth estimated at $22.3 billion. As of February 19, 2024, his net worth is $205 billion.

If these ventures continue on anything similar to their current valuation trajectory, then it could reach trillionaire status soon.

Bezos, who owns the Washington Post and aerospace company Blue Origin in addition to his stake in Amazon, has experienced a similar rapid accumulation of wealth. As of 2017, Forbes’ estimate of Bezos’ net worth has soared from nearly $72.8 billion to $190 billion, an increase of more than 2 1/2 times.

How much is $1 trillion?

To put it bluntly, a $1 trillion fortune is a huge amount of money – so much that it’s hard to imagine how much wealth it actually is.

Let’s get some context: According to the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances, conducted in 2022, the median net worth of US households was $192,900. Thus, a trillionaire would have a fortune equal to 5.2 million times that of the typical American family.

Their net worth of $1 trillion represents an amount larger than the GDP of countries such as Switzerland, Sweden and Austria. In fact, only 18 countries have a GDP that exceeds $1 trillion. As for the Greek GDP… this is expected to reach 235.147 billion euros in 2024.

In conclusion

No individual has yet claimed the status of a trillionaire. But a net worth of at least one trillion US dollars or a currency of similar value is not unattainable. It just takes a few more years.

Source: ot.gr