Richest men in the world 2025: Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Tesla and X's Elon Musk, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg

As we reach the midway point of the decade, it’s clear from the wealth lists that the tech oligarchy is tightening its grip on our planet.

American magazine Forbes calculates the wealth of the richest billionaires on the planet by analysing fluctuations in the markets, and the rankings on January 1, 2025, make it clear that tech is still king.

Elon Musk retains the top spot - and with Donald Trump’s return to The White House will only grow in influence, too. And as we look down the list, we see the familiar names - Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google inventors Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Oracle creator Larry Ellison all dominant.

In the top 10, only luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault and investor Warren Buffett are not in the tech field - and after the 2024 that chip manufacturer Nvidia had, few would bet against Jensen Huang leapfrogging those two in the next 12 months.

For those interested, the places from 11 to 20 do see a more varied roster. There are tech barons such as Michael Dell, but also - individually - the Rob, Jim and Alice Walton, scions of the Walmart dynasty. And you’ll also see a familiar face placed 16th - Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and erstwhile world’s richest man. He has donated about $60bn to the charitable Gates Foundation so far.

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