Source: Common Dreams
by Chuck Collins
“Based on an Institute for Policy Studies analysis of data from the ForbesReal-Time billionaire list from December 31, 2024, the last day of market activity, there are 813 billionaires with combined wealth totaling $6.72 trillion. The total number of billionaires has remained constant at 813 when Forbes published their 38th annual World’s Billionaire List on April 2, 2024. But the combined wealth of U.S. billionaires increased over the last 9 months by $1 trillion, from $5.7 trillion at the beginning of April 2024 rising to $6.72 trillion at the end of 2024. The top five billionaires and their individual wealth are: * Elon Musk of Tesla/X and SpaceX with $428 billion (up from $252.5 billion in September 2024). * Jeff Bezos of Amazon with $235.2 billion. Larry Ellison of Oracle fame moving into number three spot with $210.5 billion, surpassing Marc Zuckerberg. * Mark Zuckerberg of Meta with $204.4 billion. * Larry Page of Google, with $157.6 billion.” (01/04/25)