10 Businessmen Who Made the Most Money in 2025

The numbers don’t make sense until you realize we’re living through the fastest wealth explosion in human history. Elon Musk just surpassed the $500 billion milestone in net worth – and he’s the first person ever to hit that mark. Larry Ellison added $89 billion to his fortune in a single day. At the same time, Jensen Huang watched his wealth multiply 60 times since 2016.

So, the 10 richest U.S. billionaires added $698 billion to their collective net worth over the last year, which is more money than most countries’ entire GDP. Now, let’s check out who’s making the most money in 2025 and exactly how they’re doing it.

Elon Musk Hits the $500 Billion Mark While Running Trump’s Government Efficiency Department

Musk’s net worth reached $464 billion by November, but he didn’t stop there. Tesla’s CEO recently became the first person worth $500 billion, shattering every wealth record that existed.

His money comes from everywhere at once – Tesla maintains a trillion-dollar market cap, while SpaceX hit a $400 billion valuation after a private tender offer in August 2025. His AI startup xAI jumped from $24 billion to what Musk claims is now $80 billion. He owns X (Twitter) and runs many other projects.

But the thing is that Musk entwined himself with Donald Trump’s successful re-election bid and now leads a ‘waste-cutting’ department in the US government. So, the richest man on Earth now has direct government influence, and his wealth will likely keep climbing as his companies take the lead in EVs, space, and AI.

Larry Ellison’s $89 Billion Day – Oracle’s AI Bet Pays Off Massively

Larry Ellison just pulled off the impossible – Oracle’s founder saw his wealth soar $89 billion after Oracle reported quarterly results that surpassed analysts’ expectations, which is the biggest single-day wealth gain anyone’s ever recorded.

The 80-year-old now sits at around $350.7 billion as of October 2025 – and he briefly passed Musk as the world’s richest in September. Ellison owns 41% of Oracle, and investors went crazy when the company announced a projection of 700% revenue increase from its cloud infrastructure business over the next four years.

Oracle pivoted hard into AI infrastructure at exactly the right moment. Ellison also owns almost all of Hawaii’s Lanai island, because when you have $350 billion, why not buy an island?

Mark Zuckerberg’s $254 Billion Comeback Through AI and Meta Superintelligence Labs

Zuckerberg engineered one of the biggest wealth comebacks ever. So, his net worth hit approximately $254.7 billion as of October 2025, growing more than 50% this year alone.

The 41-year-old transformed Meta from a social media company into an AI powerhouse. He built Meta Superintelligence Labs and recruited Shengjia Zhao, co-creator of ChatGPT, as chief scientist. Meta is building two huge data center superclusters called Prometheus and Hyperion.

His bet on AI-powered advertising and metaverse tech paid off huge. While everyone mocked the metaverse pivot, Zuckerberg quietly built the infrastructure to compete with OpenAI and Google in artificial intelligence.

The turn to online has reached every corner of business, even traditional industries. Today’s successful entrepreneurs use technology everywhere – from AI platforms to online entertainment.

In gaming, for instance, innovative platforms now surpass the usual ones in many aspects. Particularly interesting are casinos that do not require KYC, which let players sign up and withdraw winnings without submitting passports, utility bills, or bank statements. Such platforms show us how removing barriers and prioritizing user convenience can bring success in business – the same philosophy that makes billions for tech entrepreneurs.

Jensen Huang Turns Nvidia into First $5 Trillion Company

Jensen Huang’s story beats every rags-to-riches tale you’ve heard. The guy who started Nvidia at a Denny’s in 1993 now controls US$179 billion, making him the eighth-wealthiest person in the world.

But what’s crazy is that Nvidia became the world’s first company to reach a $5 trillion market cap. So, while every AI company needs Nvidia’s chips – ChatGPT, autonomous cars, data centers… they all run on Nvidia hardware.

Huang revealed his company has $500 billion in orders for chips through 2026, which is half a trillion dollars of guaranteed revenue. His wealth has multiplied 60 times since 2016, the fastest wealth surge in corporate history. Almost 96% of his current fortune appeared after 2020 when AI went mainstream.

Warren Buffett Gains $25 Billion in His Retirement Year While Others Lost Fortunes

At 94, Warren Buffett announced he’ll retire by year’s end, but he’s going out on top. His net worth reached US$160.2 billion as of May 2025, and here’s the remarkable part: his wealth increased by $11.5 billion in a year while other billionaires lost tens of billions.

So, Buffett sold $134 billion worth of stocks in 2024 and parked the cash in Treasury bills – and when markets crashed in 2025, Berkshire Hathaway sat on $334 billion in cash while everyone else bled money. He dumped 70% of his Apple stake before the stock tanked from China tariffs.

The Oracle of Omaha proved that sometimes the best investment is no investment at all. He’s one of only two top-10 billionaires whose wealth grew during 2025’s market chaos.

Jeff Bezos Maintains $232 Billion Empire While Launching All-Female Space Crew

Jeff Bezos doesn’t top the rankings anymore, but his $232.5 billion net worth still makes him richer than most nations. The Amazon founder stepped back from daily operations to focus on Blue Origin and his investment firm.

He owns just 8% of Amazon now after years of selling and donating shares. In 2025, Blue Origin sent an all-female crew to space, including Katy Perry. While Musk gets more attention, Bezos keeps building his space empire steadily.

His investment firm, Bezos Expeditions, backs companies such as Airbnb and Workday. Even “just” taking care of his wealth while others lose billions shows why Bezos remains one of business’s sharpest minds.

Google Founders Page and Brin Quietly Amass $340 Billion Combined

Larry Page and Sergey Brin don’t make headlines like Musk, but they’ve quietly built massive fortunes. Page’s worth $202.2 billion while Brin has $138 billion.

The Google co-founders stepped back from daily operations but remain board members and controlling shareholders of Alphabet. Their wealth jumped when antitrust cases actually strengthened Google’s market position. As Google races to compete with ChatGPT in AI, its stakes keep appreciating.

They mastered the art of making money while barely working – their search engine prints cash 24/7, and they just watch their wealth grow.

Bernard Arnault’s Wild Ride – From $209 Billion to $146 Billion Back to $192 Billion

Bernard Arnault’s 2025 shows how even luxury billionaires can face big swings. The LVMH chairman started the year worth $209 billion, crashed to $146 billion by June, then got $19 billion overnight in October after strong earnings.

Currently worth US$148.7 billion, Arnault controls 75 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Tiffany. His 48% LVMH stake makes his fortune completely dependent on whether rich people buy $5,000 handbags.

Chinese demand pushes his wealth more than any other factor. When Chinese consumers stopped buying luxury goods, Arnault lost $63 billion – but when they started again, he got $19 billion in one day.

& 10.  Steve Ballmer and Michael Dell Round Out Tech’s Wealth Dominance

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Dell founder Michael Dell complete the top 10, each worth more than $100 billion. Ballmer’s fortune comes entirely from Microsoft stock he kept after retiring – Dell owns his computer company, plus a huge Broadcom stake.

Well, these guys prove you don’t need to run a company anymore to make billions. Just own the right stocks and watch them grow.

The Bigger Picture – Tech Billionaires Now Control $5.2 Trillion

Forbes counted 3,028 billionaires worth $16.1 trillion total in 2025, up 247 people and $2 trillion from 2024. Technology seems to be behind almost everything – 46 of 288 new billionaires came from tech.

The concentration keeps getting worse, though. The richest 0.1% of U.S. households now own 12.6% of all assets, the highest share since the Federal Reserve started tracking in 1989. We haven’t seen wealth this concentrated since the 1800s robber baron era.

Each top-10 billionaire gained an average $69.8 billion last year, which is 833,631 times what the average American households make – so, one year of their gains equals centuries of normal wages.

AI changed everything. Every breakthrough needs its chips, its cloud services, its platforms. Nvidia’s chips, Google’s search, Meta’s social networks, Microsoft’s cloud, Oracle’s databases – these billionaires own the infrastructure running the entire online field.

The speed keeps accelerating, and fortunes that once took decades now happen in months. Single earnings reports add $89 billion to someone’s net worth – stock rallies make more wealth in hours than entire countries produce in years.

But it’s not guaranteed – Arnault lost $63 billion when luxury demand dropped, while Musk’s fortune swings billions each day based on Tesla’s stock. Also, Government regulations, market crashes, or consumer changes can vaporize hundreds of billions at one moment.

Yet, one thing’s certain: 2025 marks when individual fortunes reached levels that break our ability to understand them. All these businessmen made history, setting records that might stand until the next revolution changes everything again.