World’s 500 richest add record US$336 billion to wealth in one day

BY ALOMOST any measure, Monday Jun 15 was a superlative day for the world’s wealthiest.

At the close of trading in New York, the 500 richest people on the globe had added US$336 billion to their fortunes, the biggest haul ever recorded in a single day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That brought their collective net worth to a record US$13.3 trillion.

Elon Musk, the world’s first trillionaire, extended his lead over the group with his net worth rising more than 10 per cent to US$1.27 trillion. And the dozen people at the bottom of the list — the least wealthy of the world’s superrich — each stood at US$7.9 billion, the highest-ever bar to enter the index.

Markets were buoyant going into Monday after the US and Iran reached an interim deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Space Exploration Technologies had just made a blockbuster debut the previous week as a public company.

The optimism pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record while the Nasdaq 100 and the MSCI World Index both ended near their all-time highs. 

SpaceX was the wealth rally’s biggest driver as retail traders poured in to snap up shares. Its market value surged 20 per cent.

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That helped to add US$164 billion to Musk’s net worth — nearly equal to the combined gain of the other 499 people on Bloomberg’s index and one of the biggest one-day increases ever recorded.

Musk’s fortune has for years illustrated the gaping wealth inequality between the world’s rich elite and everyone else. It’s now also become an example of a growing gap among ranks of the ultrawealthy.

The top 50 now control US$6.5 trillion, nearly as much as the US$6.8 trillion held by bottom 450, the index shows. BLOOMBERG