There Are Now More People Worth Over $100 Billion Than Ever

The rich simply keep on getting richer.

There were 15 people worth more than $100 billion on Thursday, the most to ever hold that amount of wealth at the same time, Bloomberg reported. Together, they had increased their riches 13 percent this year, to a cumulative total of $2.2 trillion. That was just about a quarter of the wealth of the world’s 500 richest people.

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At the top of the heap is Bernard Arnault, the founder and CEO of the luxury conglomerate LVMH. As the wealthiest person on the planet, he has a rather impressive net worth of $221 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, with $206 billion, and Tesla founder Elon Musk, with $188 billion. While he was once the richest man in the world, Musk has seen his fortune decline by a whopping $41 billion so far this year.

The ultra-ultra-rich have seen their ranks rise thanks to the addition of some new members: Michael Dell, Carlos Slim, and Françoise Bettencourt Meyers all surpassed $100 billion in the past five months, Bloomberg noted. Dell is now the 11^th-richest person on the planet, with a fortune of $112 billion that has been helped along by his Dell Technologies’ push into the artificial-intelligence space. Slim, meanwhile, is sitting in the 13^th spot on the ranking. The Mexican businessman—he’s involved in everything from construction to restaurants—is worth $106 billion, thanks to a boom in the peso.

And Bettencourt Meyers became the first woman to be worth more than $100 billion in December, Bloomberg wrote. She’s an heiress to L’Oréal, which last year had its best year since 1998. On Thursday, she sat as the 14^th wealthiest person with a net worth of $101 billion. (Since then, her fortune has fallen to just below the threshold, at $99.9 billion, putting her in the 15th spot.)

One other notable member of the 12-figure club is Gautam Adani: He recently returned to the fold after losing more money than anyone last year thanks to a short-seller attack. While all 15 people had surpassed $100 billion prior to this week, this was the first time they all sat at that level at the same time, Bloomberg noted.

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