This graphic visualizes the net worth of America’s top 20 billionaires, as of Dec. 11, 2024. Data comes from the Forbes Real-time Billionaires List.
These 20 individuals have a combined wealth of $2.7 trillion, which is more than the annual GDP of countries like Russia ($2.2T), Canada ($2.1T), and Italy ($2.0T).
Data and Key Takeaways
Tech founders & CEOs dominate this ranking of America’s top 20 billionaires. We’ve provided the raw data in the following table.
| Name | Net Worth ($ billions) |
Primary Industry |
|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk | 375 | Automotive |
| Jeff Bezos | 244 | Technology |
| Larry Ellison | 223 | Technology |
| Mark Zuckerberg | 219 | Technology |
| Larry Page | 161 | Technology |
| Sergey Brin | 154 | Technology |
| Warren Buffett | 144 | Finance |
| Steve Ballmer | 131 | Technology |
| Jensen Huang | 122 | Technology |
| Rob Walton | 113 | Retail |
| Jim Walton | 112 | Retail |
| Bill Gates | 108 | Technology |
| Michael Dell | 107 | Technology |
| Michael Bloomberg | 105 | Finance |
| Alice Walton | 104 | Retail |
| Julia Koch | 74 | Diversified |
| Charles Koch | 68 | Diversified |
| Stephen Schwarzman | 55 | Finance |
| Thomas Peterffy | 54 | Finance |
| Jeff Yass | 50 | Finance |
Net worth is the total value of someone’s assets minus their debts. In the case of billionaires, most of their wealth comes from their ownership of businesses.
For example, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has climbed the billionaire rankings as his company quickly become one of the world’s most valuable corporations this year.
For more context, check out this graphic which shows how much a $5,000 investment in Nvidia would be worth today.
Musk Takes Off Into Space
Another billionaire who’s wealth has skyrocketed in 2024 is Elon Musk.
This is primarily due to his ownership stakes in Tesla (12% excluding options) and SpaceX (42%), and xAI (54%).
SpaceX is worth approximately $350 billion based on a private share sale in Dec. 2024, while xAI could be valued at up to $50 billion.
Sam Walton’s Heirs
The three retail billionaires featured in this graphic are the heirs of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. Together, Rob, Jim, and Alice control roughly 45% of Walmart’s shares.
Walmart is the world’s most valuable retailer after Amazon, though Amazon has significant operations in other areas like cloud computing.
To learn more about Walmart’s massive scale, check out our classic post from 2019, Walmart Nation: Mapping America’s Biggest Employers.
Credit: Visual Capitalist
