Elon Musk is the richest person in the world at $936 billion, a fortune worth more than double that of second-placed Jeff Bezos. The 10 richest people in the world are all American, all men, and hold $3.1 trillion between them, measured as of October 1, 2026.
Six of the 10 are worth at least $200 billion, a threshold no one had crossed before 2024. The table lists all 10 with the company or sector each fortune rests on, and the sections below explain what each stake actually consists of and why these valuations move so sharply from month to month.
| # | Name | Net worth | Source of wealth | Age | Residence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elon Musk | $936B | SpaceX, Tesla | 55 | Austin, Texas |
| 2 | Jeff Bezos | $370B | Amazon | 62 | Miami, Florida |
| 3 | Larry Page | $286B | 53 | Palo Alto, California | |
| 4 | Michael Dell | $268B | Dell Technologies | 61 | Austin, Texas |
| 5 | Sergey Brin | $263B | 53 | Los Altos, California | |
| 6 | Mark Zuckerberg | $251B | Meta | 42 | Palo Alto, California |
| 7 | Jensen Huang | $200B | Semiconductors | 63 | Los Altos, California |
| 8 | Larry Ellison | $179B | Oracle | 82 | Manalapan, Florida |
| 9 | Steve Ballmer | $161B | Microsoft | 70 | Hunts Point, Washington |
| 10 | Warren Buffett | $142B | Berkshire Hathaway | 96 | Omaha, Nebraska |
How These Fortunes Are Counted
Almost none of this wealth is cash. It is overwhelmingly equity: shares in companies the person founded or led, valued at the market price on a given day. That single fact explains most of what looks strange about the list.
For publicly listed companies the arithmetic is straightforward. The size of an executive’s stake is disclosed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Form 4 that insiders must file that insiders must submit when their holdings change, and the stake is multiplied by the share price.
Private companies are harder and are where the biggest swings now originate. A stake in a company with no public share price has to be valued from the most recent funding round or a comparable listed business. When a private company raises money at a new valuation, a founder’s paper wealth can move by tens of billions in a single day without anything being bought or sold.
- Listed equity is marked to the closing share price and changes every trading day
- Private equity stakes are revalued when a funding round, tender offer or listing sets a new price
- Restricted stock that cannot yet be sold is generally excluded until it vests
- Debt secured against shares is subtracted, which is why a large stake does not always translate into an equally large net worth
The 10 Richest People in the World, Ranked
Figures are as of October 1, 2026. Month-on-month changes are shown because they make clear how much of this is share-price movement rather than earnings.
1. Elon Musk: $936 Billion
Net worth: $936B · Change in a month: up $44B · Source: SpaceX, Tesla · Age: 55
Musk became the world’s first trillionaire on June 12, 2026, when SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq and closed its first trading day with a market capitalisation of nearly $2.2 trillion. SpaceX stock has fallen about 6% since, which is what has brought him back below the trillion mark.
He owns a 38% stake in SpaceX including options, and close to 11% of Tesla, which carries a market capitalisation of $1.4 trillion. A further block of Tesla restricted stock worth roughly $102 billion is excluded from the figure because he forfeits it unless he stays at the company through January 2028. He has held the top position continuously since May 2024.
2. Jeff Bezos: $370 Billion
Net worth: $370B · Change in a month: up $102B · Source: Amazon · Age: 62
Bezos gained an estimated $102 billion in a single month, the largest move anywhere on the list, after private investors valued his rocket company Blue Origin at more than $130 billion and his industrial AI startup Prometheus at $41 billion. Neither company is listed, so the entire gain came from revaluation.
He founded Amazon in 1994 and remains executive chairman, stepping down as chief executive in 2021. He has funded Blue Origin with close to $30 billion of his own money and holds roughly 20% of Prometheus, where he is co-chief executive. In September he became only the fourth person ever worth more than $300 billion.
3. Larry Page: $286 Billion
Net worth: $286B · Change in a month: up $8B · Source: Google · Age: 53
Page cofounded Google with Sergey Brin in 1998 while both were doctoral students at Stanford. He was chief executive of parent company Alphabet until 2019 and has held no operating role since, though he remains a board member and controlling shareholder.
His $8 billion gain was the smallest in the top six, which cost him second place. He had entered each of the previous 10 months ranked second, and the fall to third came from Bezos gaining rather than Page losing.
4. Michael Dell: $268 Billion
Net worth: $268B · Change in a month: up $28B · Source: Dell Technologies · Age: 61
Dell founded his company in a University of Texas dorm room in 1984 and took it private in 2013 before returning it to the public market in 2018. Shares rose 18% over the month on demand for the company’s AI servers, lifting him two places.
During September he was briefly the second richest person in the world, the first time he had ever held that position. His fortune is the most concentrated in a single listed company of anyone in the top five, which makes it the most volatile.
5. Sergey Brin: $263 Billion
Net worth: $263B · Change in a month: up $7B · Source: Google · Age: 53
Brin holds a stake in Alphabet close to his cofounder’s, and the $23 billion gap between him and Page reflects differing share classes and decades of separate sales and donations rather than any difference in the business.
He gained $7 billion over the month and still fell a place, passed by Michael Dell. Two of the 10 richest people in the world built their fortunes on the same company, which is true of no other business on this list.
6. Mark Zuckerberg: $251 Billion
Net worth: $251B · Change in a month: up $55B · Source: Meta · Age: 42
Zuckerberg added an estimated $55 billion as Meta shares rose 27% following the launch of its personal AI agent, Muse. That was the second largest monthly gain on the list and still left his rank unchanged at sixth.
At 42 he is by a wide margin the youngest person in the top 10, 11 years younger than the next youngest. He has controlled Meta through a dual-class share structure since its 2012 listing, which means his voting power does not fall when his economic stake does.
7. Jensen Huang: $200 Billion
Net worth: $200B · Change in a month: up $9B · Source: Semiconductors · Age: 63
Huang cofounded Nvidia in 1993 and has run it ever since, the longest unbroken tenure of any chief executive on this list. He is the only member of the top 10 whose company sells primarily to other businesses rather than to consumers.
His $9 billion gain moved him up one place to seventh. He is the first person from the semiconductor industry to reach the top 10, and his fortune has been built almost entirely in the last five years.
8. Larry Ellison: $179 Billion
Net worth: $179B · Change in a month: down $13B · Source: Oracle · Age: 82
Ellison cofounded Oracle in 1977 and served as chief executive until 2014, remaining chairman and chief technology officer. He lost an estimated $13 billion over the month as Oracle shares fell 8%, the largest decline on the list, dropping him from seventh to eighth.
He owns most of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which he bought in 2012. Along with Musk, Bezos and Page he is one of only four people ever to have been worth more than $300 billion.
9. Steve Ballmer: $161 Billion
Net worth: $161B · Change in a month: up $5B · Source: Microsoft · Age: 70
Ballmer is the only member of the top 10 who neither founded nor cofounded the company his fortune comes from. He joined Microsoft in 1980 as its 30th employee and was chief executive from 2000 to 2014.
He has never sold the bulk of his Microsoft stake, which is why an employee who was granted shares rather than founding the business sits among founders. He bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion in 2014, a price since dwarfed by the valuations in our ranking of the most valuable sports teams.
10. Warren Buffett: $142 Billion
Net worth: $142B · Change in a month: down $1B · Source: Berkshire Hathaway · Age: 96
At 96 Buffett is 34 years older than the next oldest person in the top 10 and the only one whose wealth comes from investing in other companies rather than building one product business. He took control of Berkshire Hathaway, then a failing textile maker, in 1965.
He returned to the top 10 this month despite losing $1 billion, swapping places with Amancio Ortega of Zara owner Inditex, whose fortune fell by an estimated $6 billion to $141.8 billion. Buffett has pledged to give away almost all of his wealth and has already donated more than $60 billion, which is why he is not far higher on this list. His reasoning is set out across decades of Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters.
Every One of the 10 Is American
All 10 of the richest people in the world are United States citizens. That has not always been the case: Bernard Arnault of LVMH and Amancio Ortega of Inditex have both held top-five positions within the last five years, and Ortega sits just outside at 11th.
The concentration is sectoral as much as national. Eight of the 10 fortunes come from technology, and the two exceptions are Buffett, whose holding company owns large technology stakes, and Dell, whose recent gains came from AI hardware. Nine of the 10 live in just five states.
Texas, California and Florida each house two or more of the group. Three live in California, two in Texas and two in Florida, a pattern that tracks the location of the companies themselves more than tax policy, though both Texas and Florida are among the states with no income tax.
What It Takes to Reach the Top 10
The entry price has risen faster than almost any other economic measure. Buffett holds tenth place at $142 billion, a figure that would have led the entire ranking as recently as 2017.
Three structural features appear in nearly every fortune here. Each person founded or joined their company very early, each held a concentrated stake instead of diversifying, and each company reached a market capitalisation above $500 billion. Diversification is what the rest of finance recommends and is precisely what none of them did.
Ownership structure does the rest. Dual-class shares at Meta and Alphabet let founders keep control while selling down, and private ownership at SpaceX, Blue Origin and Prometheus lets valuations be set by funding rounds. The definition of a billionaire has stayed fixed while the scale at the top has not.
Reading the Numbers Sensibly
These figures are estimates of paper wealth on one specific day, not bank balances. Bezos gained $102 billion in a month without selling anything, and Ellison lost $13 billion the same way.
Compare the gap, not the rank. Musk at $936 billion is further ahead of Bezos at $370 billion than Bezos is ahead of everyone below tenth place. The top of this list is not a close race.
Scale is easier to grasp against national output. The combined $3.1 trillion held by these 10 people would place them above all but a handful of the largest economies in the world if it were a national economy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the richest person in the world?
Elon Musk, at $936 billion as of October 1, 2026. He has held the position continuously since May 2024 and became the first person ever worth $1 trillion on June 12, 2026, after SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq.
How much are the 10 richest people worth together?
$3.1 trillion, up from $2.8 trillion a month earlier. Six of the 10 are individually worth more than $200 billion, and the smallest fortune in the group is Warren Buffett’s $142 billion.
Why do these net worth figures change so much?
Because they are almost entirely shares rather than cash. A listed company’s stake is revalued every trading day, and a private company’s stake is revalued whenever a funding round sets a new price. Bezos gained $102 billion in one month purely from the revaluation of two private companies.
Is Bill Gates still one of the richest people in the world?
No. Gates left the top 10 in October 2024 and has not returned. He has given away a large share of his wealth through his foundation, and the thresholds above him have risen sharply since.
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