Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Jeff Bezos have already added a combined $100 billion to their fortunes in early 2026. Musk accounts for most of the increase, driven largely by xAI’s valuation jumping to $250 billion this month. Page, Brin, and Bezos have benefited from January gains in Alphabet and Amazon shares.
In just over three weeks, the world’s four richest people have grown their wealth by more than the market value of companies like Nike, Robinhood, or UPS.
Musk has taken the biggest share. His net worth has risen by about $70 billion since the start of January, reaching roughly $690 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That increase alone would place someone among the world’s 25 richest individuals.
The surge is mainly tied to Musk’s stake in xAI, the company behind the Grok chatbot. A 4% jump in Tesla shares on Thursday, following updates on robotaxis and Optimus robots, also added about $13 billion to his wealth in a single day.
Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the world’s second- and third-richest people, have each gained around $13 billion this year as renewed excitement around Alphabet’s Gemini AI pushed shares up about 6%. Their fortunes now stand at roughly $283 billion and $263 billion.
Jeff Bezos rounds out the group, adding about $3 billion so far this year as Amazon stock climbed, bringing his net worth to approximately $257 billion.
Not all tech billionaires are seeing gains. Oracle’s Larry Ellison has lost about $16 billion after a near 9% drop in the stock, while Microsoft shares sliding almost 7% cut Steve Ballmer’s fortune by around $11 billion.
The strong start to 2026 follows a huge year for mega-billionaires. The world’s 10 richest people added $579 billion in 2025, pushing their combined wealth above $2.5 trillion. Musk led last year’s gains, followed by Page and Brin, with Bezos posting a more modest increase.