Meet the 10 richest Americans and the staggering billions they added to their fortunes last year
AI hype boosted the US stock market in 2024, enriching billionaires, but experts warn tariffs may limit these gains.
Earlier this week, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned that markets might be showing “complacency” as President Donald Trump’s tariff regime goes into effect.
After reciprocal tariffs were announced on April 2, markets took a serious tumble, leading the White House to pull back and replace these highly punitive rates with a flat 10 percent duty. However, tariffs as high as 30 percent remain in effect on Chinese imports, down significantly from the 145 percent level that had led to an effective embargo between the two countries. Diamon called these levels “extreme,” given the generally low tariffs that US companies are used to dealing with. The CEO is concerned that investors might not be considering the risks that tariffs and disruptions to trade more generally could have on US assets as well as the credit market.
Stock market sustains the wealth of the US’s richest people... for now
According to Forbes, the richest people in the US, based on net worth, are:
- Elon Musk: $419.6 B
- Mark Zuckerberg: $219.9 B
- Jeff Bezos: $218.6 B
- Larry Ellison: $197.1 B
- Warren Buffett: $157.2 B
- Larry Page: $141.7 B
- Sergey Brin: $135.6 B
- Steve Ballmer: $131.8 B
- Bill Gates: $115.2 B
- Rob Walton & family: $114.1 B
For many people on this list, their companies have seen a rapid increase in stock prices as they make major investments in artificial intelligence. For individuals like Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, former leaders at Alphabet and Google, these investments in AI have helped push up stock valuations. However, the gains from these investments remain to be seen. With competition from open-source challengers like DeepSeek, it could be some time before these investments translate into increased profits. In the short term, this may suggest that technology stocks are overvalued. While we occasionally see sell-offs by investors to bring valuations back down to earth, there is still strong pressure for these investments to deliver returns, and no one seems quite ready to get off the AI train just yet.
Nevertheless, the optimism in the market has served to bolster the wealth of some of the country’s wealthiest people.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, saw his net worth skyrocket after publicly endorsing Donald Trump’s 2024 candidacy. Nevertheless, the reputational hit Musk has taken could lead to a significant downturn for Tesla. This risk may be compounded by tariffs reducing the competitiveness of its vehicles in the Chinese market.
Similarly, for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has retained a 9 percent stake in the company since stepping down as CEO, tariffs could also impact his net worth. Amazon has already warned customers to expect higher prices on the platform, citing the slim margins of many third-party sellers. Compared to the same time last year, Amazon’s stock is up 22 percent, nearly offsetting the drop it experienced in the weeks following the White House’s tariff announcement in early April.
Mark Zuckerberg owns about 13 percent of Meta’s stock, though he retains significantly more voting power than his holdings suggest. Meta’s stock is up 36 percent compared to last May, though it’s down 28 percent from its February peak of $728. Investments in artificial intelligence and a better-than-expected quarterly earnings report at the end of 2024 helped propel the stock upward.
The looming risk that could deflate these ungodly personal valuations
Today, the stock market is trading at levels similar to those before the tariffs were announced—an indication of what some financial leaders, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, view as investor “complacency.” Dimon described the current level of tariffs as “extreme” and cautioned that Wall Street’s optimistic outlook should not be mistaken for a guarantee of stable revenues or profits in the coming quarters.
“The market came down 10 percent, [and went] back up 10 percent,” Dimon said, characterizing investor behavior since the tariffs were introduced. He believes this optimism is premature, driven by the fact that many companies have yet to feel the full impact, with cargo ships carrying goods ordered after the tariffs were announced only now beginning to arrive.
“American asset prices, I still think they’re kind of high,” Dimon added, warning that stock prices could face renewed pressure once investors fully grasp the effects of higher tariffs on revenue, profit margins, inflation, and overall economic growth.
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