ALBAWABA - 2023 proved to be a lucrative year for the affluent, as both American tech moguls and Russian oligarchs saw their wealth soar.
While the cost-of-living crisis posed challenges for many during the holiday season, it turned out to be a prosperous period for figures such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, James Dyson, and Jim Ratcliffe, the latest stakeholder in Manchester United.
Even amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict, a group of Russian oligarchs managed to boost their fortunes on paper. Financial data indicates that a majority of the world's wealthiest individuals experienced further enrichment in 2023, with 12 out of the top 50 witnessing monetary losses, while the remainder saw their wealth grow, unadjusted for inflation. An astonishing 77% of the top 500 billionaires, some accumulating unimaginable wealth, achieved significant financial gains.
In the realm of billionaire rankings, Elon Musk took the lead with an estimated net worth of $235 billion. Despite reports of a substantial decline in the value of his shares in X (formerly Twitter) following a $44 billion expenditure in 2022, Musk's company, Tesla, emerged as the saving grace.
Tesla's shares, surging by more than double this year, propelled the company to an approximate conceptual market value of $816 billion.
