Elon Musk leads as world's richest despite Service X setback, upstaging Angola's GDP

The British newspaper reviewed changes during the last 12 months to Bloomberg's list of the world's 500 richest people. Elon Musk has held the list's top spot for several months, having dethroned Bernard Arnault.

Despite a sharp drop in Service X's value following Musk's takeover, the world's richest man saw his wealth rebound in the longer term thanks to a diversified investment portfolio.

Tesla played a significant role in offsetting this decline. After a substantial drop at the end of 2022, the automaker began 2023 with a strong start, compensating for previous losses. As a result, Musk's valuation was "repaired," and within one year, the total value of his assets increased by $98 billion. This increase outpaced Angola's GDP, The Guardian reported.

Bernard Arnault finished the year in second place, the only person in the top ten not from the United States. His holdings include the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy corporation.

Jeff Bezos, who led Bloomberg's ranking from 2018-2021, rounds out the top three. The former Amazon CEO passed the reins to Andy Jassy in 2021 and currently acts as the corporation's chair while devoting more attention to his other ventures: the space exploration company Blue Origin and The Washington Post.

Indonesian entrepreneur Prajogo Pangestu experienced the most significant wealth increase among the top 50, as his value increased sevenfold in the last 12 months, moving him up to 47th place.

Twelve of the world's 50 richest people saw their wealth decline in 2023, while 115 people in the top 500 also encountered wealth decreases. Surprisingly, a group of Russian oligarchs officially sanctioned by the West in response to Russia's attack on Ukraine managed to increase their assets.

Gautam Adani, an Indian businessman ranked 15th, experienced the largest wealth loss over the year. His fortune declined by $36 billion.