The U.S. now has more billionaires than China for the first time in a decade, driven by AI and a booming stock market.
3 min
The number of U.S. billionaires in the world reached 870 in mid-January, outpacing the number in China for the first time in 10 years, according to a snapshot of the wealthiest in the world by the Hurun Report.
The U.S. gained 70 billionaires since last year, powered by a rising stock market, a strong dollar, and the insatiable appetite for all things AI, according to the 14th annual Hurun Global Rich List . China gained nine billionaires overall for a total of 823. Hurun is a China-based research, media, and investment group.
“It’s been a good year for AI, money managers, entertainment, and crypto,” Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, said in a news release. “It’s been a tough year for luxury, telecommunications, and real estate in China.”
Overall, the Hurun list—which reflects a snapshot of global wealth based on calculations made Jan. 15—counted 3,442 billionaires in the world, up 5%, or 163, from a year ago. Their total wealth rose 13% to just under $17 trillion.
In November, New York research firm Altrata reported that the billionaire population rose 4% in 2023 to 3,323 individuals and their wealth rose 9% to $12.1 trillion.
Elon Musk, CEO of electric-car maker Tesla and right-hand advisor to President Donald Trump, topped the list for the fourth time in five years, with recorded wealth of $420 billion as of mid-January as Tesla stock soared in the aftermath of the U.S. election, according to Hurun’s calculations.
The firm noted that Musk’s wealth has since nosedived about $100 billion, falling along with shares of Tesla although the EV car maker is benefiting on Thursday from Trump’s 25% tariff on cars made outside the U.S.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk’s wealth stood at about $336 billion as of the market’s close on Wednesday, although measuring his exact wealth —including stakes in his privately held companies and the undiscounted value of his Tesla shares—is difficult to precisely determine.
The overall list this year contained 387 new billionaires, while 177 dropped off the list—more than 80 of which were from China, Hurun said. “China’s economy is continuing to restructure, with the drop-offs coming from a weeding out of healthcare and new energy and traditional manufacturing, as well as real estate,” Hoogewerf said in the release.
Among those who wealth sank was Colin Huang, the founder of PDD Holdings —the parent company of e-commerce platforms Temu and Pinduoduo—who lost $17 billion.
Also, Zhong Shanshan, the founder and chair of the Nongfu Spring beverage company and the majority owner of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise , lost $8 billion from “intensifying competition” in the market for bottled water. The loss knocked Zhong from his top rank in China, which is now held by Zhang Yiming founder of Tik-Tok owner Bytedance. Zhang is ranked No. 22 overall.
Hurun’s top 10 billionaires is a familiar group of largely U.S. individuals including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison. The list has France’s LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault in seventh place, three notches down from his fourth ranked spot on the Bloomberg list, reflecting a slump in luxury products last year.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is ranked No. 11 on Hurun’s list as his wealth nearly tripled to $128 billion through Jan. 15. Other AI billionaires found lower down on the list include Liang Wenfeng, 40, founder and CEO of DeepSeek, with wealth of $4.5 billion and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, with $1.8 billion.
Also making the list were musicians Jay-Z ($2.7 billion), Rihanna ($1.7 billion), Taylor Swift ($1.6 billion), and Paul McCartney ($1 billion). Sports stars included Michael Jordan ($3.3 billion), Tiger Woods ($1.7 billion), Floyd Mayweather ($1.3 billion), and LeBron James ($1.3 billion).
Wealth continues to surge across the globe, but Hoogewerf noted those amassing it aren’t overly generous.
“We only managed to find three individuals in the past year who donated more than $1 billion,” he said. Warren Buffet gave $5.3 billion, mainly to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, while Michael Bloomberg —ranked No. 19 with wealth of $92 billion—gave $3.7 billion to various causes. Netflix founder Reed Hastings, ranked No. 474 with wealth of $6.2 billion, donated $1.1 billion.
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The Murdoch family has reached a deal to end its years long battle over control of its media empire.
2 min
Lachlan Murdoch is set to take control of his father’s media assets as part of an agreement announced Monday between the patriarch and his children. Lachlan will control all the votes in a new trust that will hold sizable stakes in Fox Corp. and News Corp once the deal is completed.
The Murdoch trust, which currently holds roughly 40% voting stakes in Fox and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp, was initially designed to give each of his four oldest children an equal voting share.
As part of the settlement announced Monday, Rupert Murdoch’s children James, Elisabeth and Prudence will give up their claims to the existing trust. They will instead receive new trusts with cash funded in part by sales of some of the existing trust’s Fox and News Corp stock.
The three children will also be subject to a long-term agreement preventing them from buying shares in the companies.
Fox and News Corp shares fell slightly in after market trading.
The new agreement caps a tumultuous succession drama atop media companies whose holdings include cable giant Fox News, major newspapers in the U.S., U.K. and Australia; digital real-estate companies and HarperCollins Publishers. It also brings to a close a conflict that potentially threatened the futures of both News Corp and Fox Corp.
Murdoch, 94 years old, had sought to amend the family trust to put control in the hands of Lachlan. James, Elisabeth and Prudence opposed the change.
An acrimonious family battle has played out largely behind closed doors and in sealed court proceedings in recent years. Last December, a Nevada probate commissioner ruled against Murdoch’s efforts to amend terms of the trust and give control to Lachlan.
Murdoch sought the change, in part , because Lachlan is the one most aligned with his conservative political views as well as the best manager to run the companies.
New trusts will also be created for Lachlan, who is executive chair and chief executive officer of Fox Corp. and chair of News Corp, as well as the two children that Rupert Murdoch had with Wendi Deng. Grace and Chloe Murdoch are beneficiaries of the original trust .
A holding company owned by Lachlan, Grace and Chloe Murdoch’s new trusts will control about 36% of Fox and 33% of News Corp.
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch had no comment beyond the announcement. A spokesman for Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod declined to comment. Deng and a representative for James Murdoch couldn’t be reached for comment. A spokesman for Anna dePeyster, mother of Elisabeth, James and Lachlan, declined to comment.
