The market is off to a red-hot start this year, up more than 15% as we enter the second half of 2023, and investors from retail to institutional have done well, including some of the richest people in the world. After the market fell about 20% in 2022, America's billionaires, many of whom run companies that they also own a significant amount of stock in, have recouped much of those losses and are doing much better now. Let's take a look.
Thank you, tech and AI
Data company and news publisher Bloomberg maintains a Billionaires Index, which tracks billionaires' assets broken down into cash, private assets, public assets, and miscellaneous liabilities. Bloomberg then tracks the changes in each billionaire's net worth.
Obviously, it's not a perfect science, but roughly a ballpark estimate of what their net worth is. As of July 5, here's a list of the top 10 billionaires broken down by net worth and year-to-date gains, according to Bloomberg.
| Billionaire | Net Worth | Year-to-Date Change |
|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk | $248 billion | +$111 billion |
| Bernard Arnault | $196 billion | +$33.7 billion |
| Jeff Bezos | $155 billion | +$47.8 billion |
| Bill Gates | $134 billion | +$24.7 billion |
| Larry Ellison | $131 billion | +$39.4 billion |
| Steve Ballmer | $117 billion | +$31.6 billion |
| Warren Buffett | $115 billion | +$7.85 billion |
| Larry Page | $111 billion | +$28.3 billion |
| Mark Zuckerberg | $107 billion | +$61.5 billion |
| Sergey Brin | $106 billion | +$26.3 billion |
Data source: Bloomberg. Chart by author.
Nine of the 10 investors in the chart above live in the U.S. -- everyone but Arnault. Elon Musk is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $248 billion. But his net worth is up $111 billion this year. According to Bloomberg, Musk has $116 billion of his net worth tied up in Tesla (TSLA -1.11%) stock.
Tesla's shares have rocketed more than 156% this year although they still aren't trading at highs seen in 2021 when the market was super frothy. Investors have piled into the electric carmaker this year as the company has introduced price cuts. The market has also piled back into tech under the assumption that the Federal Reserve may soon end its rate-hiking campaign and that the U.S. economy may avoid a hard landing -- although the jury is still out on both of those views.
Zuckerberg has also done quite well this year with his net worth up roughly $61.5 billion. Almost all of Zuckerberg's net worth is tied up in Meta Platforms (META 0.43%) stock. Meta shares are up more than 135% this year, benefiting from operational improvements and a cheap valuation entering the year.
Meta, as well as many other large tech stocks, are also moving higher under the belief by investors that the company will benefit from the AI craze, which kicked into high gear this year from the release of the generative AI technology ChatGPT.
Legendary investor Warren Buffett has actually seen his net worth grow the least this year of anyone in the chart. Most of Buffett's net worth is tied up in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.76%) (BRK.B -0.69%) stock, which hasn't done nearly as well this year as some of the larger tech stocks. But remember, Buffett has donated tens of billions of dollars in the past, and Berkshire's stock also thumped the market and most tech stocks in 2022.
A lot can still happen
Just as tech and AI-related stocks have shot higher this year, they can just as easily cool off in the second half of the year, especially with it looking much more likely now that the Fed may continue to raise interest rates. The economy may also very well slip into a more severe recession, so tech stocks and therefore tech billionaires may very well see their fortunes change. But so far, billionaires have done much better than expected in 2023.
