Elon Musk, with a net worth of $210.1 billion, climbed back to first place on Monday.
The world's three richest billionaires are in a fierce race for first place.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault have occupied the top three of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for 94% of the year. But fluctuations in their wealth have led to the trio switching places six times since May 29 — a hectic pace for a hierarchy that has remained largely stable since Musk lost his top spot in early March.
The game of musical chairs has been affected by a fight over Musk's pay package, a snap election call in France and a tech stock rally that shows no sign of letting up.
Musk, 52, with a net worth of $210.1 billion, climbed back to the top spot on Monday for the second time since early March, replacing Bezos. The shares of Tesla Inc. rose last week after shareholders voted to reapprove its 2018 compensation package, which was voided by a Delaware judge, and move the company's incorporation status to Texas. This removed the overhang on the shares as investors feared Musk would leave the company if the price was rejected.
Musk and Tesla's board have spent the past two months rallying support for the measures, with particular emphasis on the pay deal that made Musk eligible for as much as $55.8 billion in stock options based on achieving of certain milestones by the company. Those options now account for almost a quarter of his assets.
His fortunes have also been buoyed by a new round of funding that will value his artificial intelligence venture xAI at more than $24 billion. Bloomberg's wealth index estimates that Musk owns 65% of the company, which uses data from social media posts on X to train its chatbot, Grok.
Arnault, meanwhile, recently dropped to third place with a fortune of $200.4 billion, after spending most of the past three months in first place. The 75-year-old's fortune has fallen by almost $13 billion since French President Emmanuel Macron's surprise election call sent that country's markets to their worst week in years. He derives most of his wealth from LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods manufacturer.
Amazon.com Inc. founder Bezos, 60, currently ranks second on the Bloomberg wealth index with a net worth of $206.6 billion. Since May 29, he has regained the top spot three times as Amazon's shares hit near-record highs. The stock has benefited from a broader rally in the big tech sector, which is responsible for nearly three-quarters of the S&P 500 Index's gains this year.
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