With assets of 273.5 billion dollars, Elon Musk - elected person of the year 2021 by "Time - is the richest man in the world: for Tesla's CEO, 2021 was a golden year (+75 % of profits), with a level of wealth previously achieved only by John D. Rockefeller.
Bloomberg is the one who draws up the ranking of the "scroungers" of the planet updated to post-2021.
The second year of the pandemic has made the rich richer, increasing the gap with the poorest part of the world population: the collective fortune of the 500 richest people in the world has grown in one year by one trillion and exceeds 8.4 trillion dollars. A figure higher than the Gross Domestic Product of all countries except the United States and China. Ten super-rich alone have amassed $ 100 billion in fortunes.
The recovery after the economic crisis linked to Covid-19 was in fact uneven and radicalized the disparities. The pandemic has pushed some 150 million people into extreme poverty, according to estimates by the World Bank, a number will rise if inflation continues to rise in the coming months.
Musk topped the chart, knocking Amazon founder Jeff Bezos out of the top spot with $ 194.2 billion. On the third step of the podium the French Bernard Arnault, patron of the luxury giant LVMH, with a fortune of 177.1 billion dollars: the shares of his empire grew by 55% last year, also thanks to important investments such as 15 billion dollars spent to take over Tiffany.
Bill Gates slips into fourth position, with an estimated assets of 138.3 billion dollars: his divorce from his wife Melinda , which forced him to sell a slice of Microsoft shares to his ex-spouse, weighed on his assets. Sixth Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta-Facebook, with 128.4 billion (and + 24% compared to 2020), preceded by Larry Page, owner of Alphabet-Google, who at the end of the year recorded assets of 129.5 billion dollars, up 57%.
