Forbes Releases '2025 World's Billionaires List'
Trump Ranks 700th Thanks to Cryptocurrency Investments
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has reclaimed the top spot in the global billionaire rankings.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has reclaimed the number one spot in the global billionaire rankings. Yonhap News
According to the recently released '2025 World's Billionaires List' by Forbes, Musk's assets increased by $147 billion from the previous year to $342 billion (approximately 500 trillion KRW), making him the richest person in the world. Musk previously held the No. 1 spot in Forbes' billionaire rankings in 2022. However, in 2023 and 2024, he was pushed to second place by Bernard Arnault and the LVMH family.
Despite Tesla's stock price plummeting due to Musk's political moves following the inauguration of the second Trump administration in the U.S., his total assets increased compared to the previous year. Even after recent adjustments, Tesla's stock price remains significantly higher than it was a year ago. Additionally, the increased valuation of Musk's stakes in private companies such as SpaceX also contributed. Forbes analyzed, "As the values of Musk-owned companies like space company SpaceX and AI firm xAI surged, his total net worth grew by 75% over the past year."
The second richest person this year is Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, Facebook's parent company, with assets worth $216 billion (approximately 318 trillion KRW). Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ranked a close third with $215 billion (about 316 trillion KRW). The Arnault family, who held the top spot for the past two years, fell to fifth place behind Larry Ellison, Oracle's chairman, who ranked fourth with $192 billion (approximately 282 trillion KRW).
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ranked 13th with $108 billion (about 159 trillion KRW), and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang ranked 16th with $98.7 billion (about 145 trillion KRW).
Former U.S. President Donald Trump also made the list. Having succeeded in cryptocurrency investments, his assets increased to $5.1 billion, placing him at 700th in the wealth rankings.
In South Korea, Cho Jung-ho, chairman of Meritz Financial Group, ranked 361st with assets of $8.4 billion (approximately 12 trillion KRW). Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong ranked 369th with $8.2 billion (about 12 trillion KRW), and Seo Jung-jin, chairman of Celltrion Group, ranked 464th with $7.1 billion (about 10 trillion KRW).
This year's billionaire list includes 3,028 individuals, an increase of 247 from last year. Their combined assets exceeded $16 trillion (approximately 2,350 quadrillion KRW). By country, the billionaires were concentrated in the U.S. (902), China (516), and India (205). Sixty-seven percent of the billionaires were self-made. Among them, 15 individuals have assets exceeding $100 billion, surpassing the 14 in 2024 and marking the highest number ever recorded.
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