Read it and weep: The Forbes billionaires just got a lot richer

Awe, anger, disdain, envy and concern – these about cover off on the responses to the annual publication of the Forbes list of the world’s most colossal fortunes, owned by the elite group of 2781 who count themselves members of the billionaires club.

And as the saying goes, the rich have gotten richer over the past year. They have increased their collective wealth by $US2 trillion ($3.1 trillion) since 2023 to $US14.2 trillion. To put this into perspective, this is larger than the gross domestic product of any country other than the US and China.

Bernard Arnault, the French luxury magnate who runs LVMH, tops the list. Credit: Bloomberg

It’s been a particularly good year for those at the pinnacle, with the top 20 names having added a combined $US700 billion to their coffers, thanks in large part to the strong sharemarket returns and booming growth in AI-related technology stocks. More than a dozen new AI-related billionaires joined the list, including Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI. Global pop sensation Taylor Swift also joined their ranks, with her fortune hitting $US1.1 billion.

The No.1 spot is held by Bernard Arnault, the majority owner of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, whose fortune, Forbes calculates, has increased by 10 per cent to $US233 billion. Elon Musk is in second place with $US195 billion, up 8 per cent on last year.

It has been a particularly alarming year in terms of the disparity between the mega rich and the struggling poor.

The concentration of the world’s wealth is no cause for celebration and presents an enormous geopolitical challenge, as the division between rich and poor brings with it extreme social and economic risks.

If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade, according to a recent Oxfam report on global inequality.

The Forbes list will leave a sour taste in the mouths of the millions of people around the globe who are grappling with a post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis.

The recent World Economic Forum in Davos heard that “Our economic divide, and the extreme nature of concentrated wealth, are leading to compounding crises for democratic institutions, the global economy, national social fabrics, and for our planet.”

There is nothing healthy about a small number of individuals monopolising the world’s wealth.

While the largest group of billionaires hail from the US and China, the three richest Australians, Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest and Harry Triguboff, have doubled their wealth since 2020, according to Oxfam.

Oxfam Australia chief executive Lyn Morgain noted earlier this year that the amassing of unimaginable wealth is driving alarming and growing inequality in our society.

“Across the globe, we have begun a decade of division, with billions of people shouldering the perilous economic shock of the pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires’ fortunes boom,” she said.

Elon Musk takes second place.Credit: AP

“At the same time as billionaires are hoarding more wealth, rocketing cost-of-living pressures mean that everyday Australians are being forced to cut back on food for their families and heating and cooling for their homes, just to keep their heads above water.”

World leaders and corporate heavyweights at Davos were delivered an open letter from 250 billionaires and millionaires that called for additional taxes to be levied on the super-wealthy.

A report titled Proud to Pay More suggested that young people, especially those faced with economic exclusion and a lack of social mobility, are finding a natural outlet for their outrage in the form of populist demagogues.

“All the while, taxes on working people continued to rise, austerity raged, inflation soared, and nearly two billion people struggled to meet the rising cost of living. Simultaneously, billionaire wealth continues to grow dramatically,” the report stated.

While headlines from the Forbes Rich List splashed the news that Taylor Swift had made the cut this year, and that it had been a big year for the exclusive club she has joined, the joy won’t be widespread.

Read more:

• The leather-jacket-wearing CEO who just made $15 billion in a day
• Australia has more billionaires than ever. That’s nothing to celebrate
• How Hermes became Europe’s biggest family fortune after spurning LVMH’s ‘wolf in cashmere’
• How the ‘king of the cannibals’ Sam Altman took over Silicon Valley

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