MOSCOW (April 1): US billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has replaced French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault as the world's richest billionaire in 2025, according to Forbes' fresh annual list published on Tuesday, reported Sputnik/RIA Novosti.

Musk's net worth was estimated at US$342 billion (RM1.51 trillion). He became the richest person in the world for the first time in 2022, but lost the position in 2023. In 2024, Musk increased his net worth by US$147 billion, which means a 1.75-fold increase over a year, according to Forbes' estimates.

The second position on the list was taken by Meta (banned in Russia as extremist) founder Mark Zuckerberg. He managed to increase his net worth by US$39 billion to US$216 billion over the past year, Forbes said.

Online retailer Amazon founder Jeff Bezos kept the third position on the list, having earned US$21 billion in 2024. His estimated fortune was US$215 billion, according to Forbes' data.

The fourth position was taken by co-founder of software giant Oracle, Larry Ellison, whose estimated net worth was US$192 billion, Forbes said.

Arnault, who heads the Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) mega-conglomerate, and his family took the fifth position. Forbes estimated their net worth at US$178 billion.

Forbes' data showed that the total number of billionaires had increased by 247 people and reached 3,028, surpassing the 3,000 milestone for the first time. All together, they had the estimated fortune of US$16.1 trillion, which was US$2 trillion more than in 2024.

The average fortune of billionaires on the list had also increased by US$200 million and had reached US$5.3 billion. There are 902 billionaires in the United States, 516 in China, including Hong Kong, and 205 in India, which means that over half of the people on the list are citizens of those countries.

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