Richest in June: Ellison added 71 billion, Musk closer to a trillion

May was a good month for billionaires, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes rose 5% and 8%, respectively, increasing the total worth of the world’s ten richest people to $2.9 trillion as of June 1. As a group, they are $220 billion richer than the previous month.

No one had a better May than Larry Ellison, who returned to the top five after adding a staggering $71 billion to his fortune, which now stands at an estimated $276 billion. For that Ellison can thank the huge demand for AI technology. The software giant Oracle, which he co-founded and leads as president and chief technical officer, is building several multi-gigawatt data centers across the US and on May 1 announced an agreement with the US Department of Defense to implement its AI tools on classified networks for military, intelligence and corporate operations. Oracle shares, of which Ellison owns about 40%, jumped 40% in May.

Behind Ellison is Michael Dell, the second-biggest gainer in May with a $67 billion increase in wealth as the AI ​​boom continues to boost the value of his Dell Technologies company. The tech giant posted record results on May 28, beating expectations and revealing 757% year-over-year growth in AI server revenue, sending the stock up 33% in its best trading day ever. In total, Dell’s stock value rose more than 100% in May. Both Ellison and Del overtook Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who fell to No. 7. Although he became $7 billion richer, shares of Facebook’s parent company rose only 3%. That’s a weaker result than the broader market and most of Zuckerberg’s billionaire competitors, due to huge investments in artificial intelligence and layoffs at Meta.

Elon Musk (Elon Musk) added $53 billion to his already historic wealth in May, which is the third best result among billionaires. Musk is now worth an estimated $835 billion and firmly holds the position of the richest man in the world.

Shares in Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla rose 14% last month, but his rocket and satellite business SpaceX has drawn the most attention from investors. The company filed for an IPO last month, which could be the largest IPO in history. The company is estimated to be worth $1.8 trillion, slightly lower than initially sought, but enough to break Saudi Aramco’s 2019 record — which would likely push Musk’s personal fortune into 13 figures.

Shares should start trading as early as June 12, which means June 2026 could be the month the world gets its first billionaire.

Arno is back in the top ten

The decline of the Walton family opened up space for two new names in the top ten in May. Bernard Arnault (Bernard Arnault), the French magnate, who in April fell from the top ten list for the first time in three years, climbed to ninth place after the shares of the luxury giant LVMH rose by 4%. Steve Ballmer returned to the top ten after falling in February, taking tenth place with Microsoft shares up 10%.

Forbes has been tracking billionaires around the world since 1987. In March 2026, we discovered 3,428 billionaires for our annual list.

Who is the richest woman in the world?

The richest woman in the world is Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. As of June 1, 2026, her estimated wealth is $123 billion. That ranks her as the 15th richest person in the world, down from 13th in May. Her fortune lies in her ownership stake in Walmart, which she inherited from her late father. The widow of her late brother John Walton (John Walton, who died in 2005) Christy Walton (Christy Walton) and their son Lucas Walton (Lukas Walton) inherited John’s shares and are both on the Forbes list of billionaires.

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The Top 10 Richest People In The World | June 2026