US finance professor says no new dollar trillionaires expected soon as Elon Musk leads with US$1 trillion net worth after SpaceX IPO.
WASHINGTON: The world is unlikely to see new dollar trillionaires any time soon after SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk became the first to cross the US$1 trillion personal net worth threshold, Jay Ritter, professor of finance at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, told RIA Novosti.
“We may have to wait for a very long time before anyone else becomes a trillionaire,” Ritter said.
He also noted that there is no data yet suggesting that anyone else in the world has a fortune significantly exceeding US$300 billion, with the top seven richest people in the media rankings being founders of US technology companies.
“Many of these people are planning to donate part or most of their wealth to charities. Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has already given away most of his wealth, which is why he is not among the top seven,” the expert said.
When such rankings are developed, only the market value of shares owned by billionaires is taken into account, and not tax obligations. If Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sold all his shares, he would have to pay taxes, which would affect his fortune, Ritter noted.
Musk became the world’s first trillionaire in history after his SpaceX rocket and AI company went public on June 12.
Based on Wednesday’s Bloomberg Billionaires Index data, Musk remains the world’s richest person, with his wealth growing by US$391 billion this year to US$1.01 trillion. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin rank second and third, with their wealth rising by US$32.2 billion to US$301 billion and by US$29.9 billion to US$280 billion, respectively.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is in fourth place with US$262 billion, up US$8.42 billion. Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell rounds out the top five with US$217 billion, up US$77.1 billion. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who held fifth place last month, has dropped to sixth after his wealth fell by US$44.9 billion to US$202 billion.
