The World’s Richest Person Revealed | April 2025 | Forbes - video Dailymotion

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Elon Musk blew past his billionaire rivals in a year that saw him cement his political influence.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2025/04/01/the-worlds-richest-person-2025/The World’s Richest Person 2025  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, the world's richest person 2025.

00:06After ranking as runner-up the past two years,

00:09Elon Musk reclaims the number one spot

00:12on Forbes' 2025 World's Billionaires list,

00:15our annual ranking of the planet's wealthiest people,

00:18which was just released on Tuesday.

00:21The 53-year-old businessman,

00:23who has vaulted to political prominence

00:24as one of President Donald Trump's closest advisors,

00:28boasts a net worth of $342 billion,

00:32as of March 7th,

00:33when Forbes locked in net worths for the list.

00:36That figure makes him

00:37not just the richest person in the world,

00:39but the richest person Forbes has ever tracked.

00:43He's $118 billion richer than second-place Mark Zuckerberg,

00:47a gap that is more than the entire net worth of Bill Gates

00:51and roughly equal to the market capitalization of Spotify.

00:56The man who took Musk's title on the last two lists,

00:59LVMH's Bernard Arnault,

01:01is now worth roughly half as much as Musk, at $178 billion.

01:07Since last year's ranking,

01:08Musk's already enormous fortune has grown by 75%,

01:12or $147 billion.

01:15All of Musk's largest assets have gone up in value.

01:19Even Tesla, which jumped 90%

01:21between the night before the election

01:23and the end of December, before crashing,

01:26is up 50% since last year's list.

01:29But SpaceX is now Musk's most valuable asset

01:32for the first time in five years.

01:34The rocket and satellite company is worth $350 billion,

01:38nearly double its valuation from last year.

01:41Musk owns an estimated 42% of SpaceX

01:44and 13% of Tesla, excluding options.

01:48Musk's artificial intelligence business, XAI,

01:52raised $6 billion from private investors

01:55at a $50 billion valuation in November,

01:57doubling its valuation from six months earlier.

02:01Even the social media company X is showing signs of life,

02:04though with a major assist from Musk's financial engineering.

02:08Last Friday, Musk announced that XAI was acquiring X

02:12in an all-stock deal that valued X

02:14at an enterprise value of $45 billion,

02:17$33 billion of equity plus $12 billion of debt,

02:21or $1 billion more than what Musk paid

02:24for Twitter back in 2022.

02:27The deal appears to value XAI at $80 billion,

02:30a $30 billion bump from just three months ago,

02:33bringing the overall enterprise value

02:35of the newly combined XAI up to an astounding $113 billion.

02:42This is Musk's 14th consecutive appearance

02:44on Forbes' annual World's Billionaires ranking.

02:47He made his debut in 2012

02:49with an estimated net worth of $2 billion.

02:52Back then, SpaceX was valued at just $1.8 billion

02:56and Tesla's market capitalization

02:58was less than $4 billion.

03:01From 2015 until early 2020,

03:04Musk's fortune grew slowly but steadily

03:06from $12 billion to $25 billion.

03:10Then, during COVID, it exploded,

03:13fueled by meme stock investors

03:15shooting Tesla's stock to the moon.

03:17Musk's net worth hit $151 billion on the 2021 list,

03:22then $219 billion a year later.

03:26As Musk has gotten richer,

03:27he's also used his fortune

03:29to become a political power player.

03:31He was Trump's biggest campaign donor,

03:33spending nearly $300 million

03:35during the 2024 election cycle,

03:38while remaking X into a MAGA-friendly megaphone.

03:42It paid off big time,

03:43as he became the first person ever

03:45worth more than $400 billion in December,

03:49when Tesla's market cap hit its all-time high

03:51of $1.5 trillion.

03:55As Trump's top advisor

03:56and head of the new Department of Government Efficiency,

03:59or DOGE,

04:00Musk has exerted sweeping powers

04:02over the federal government,

04:03including in ways

04:04that have seemingly benefited his businesses.

04:07Starlink, the satellite internet service

04:09controlled by SpaceX,

04:11is reportedly on the verge

04:12of securing a $2.4 billion contract

04:15with the Federal Aviation Administration.

04:18The State Department

04:19planned to purchase $400 million

04:20of armored Tesla vehicles in September,

04:23according to a public document,

04:25before seemingly backing down

04:26amid public outcry.

04:29Musk shows no signs

04:30of slowing his political involvement.

04:32As recently as last weekend,

04:34he was in Wisconsin,

04:35using his money in an attempt

04:37to influence Wisconsin's Supreme Court race.

04:40On Sunday, Musk gave $1 million checks

04:43to two different people

04:44who had already cast their votes.

04:46Musk and groups aligned with him

04:47spent $20 million to influence the race.

04:52For full coverage

04:53and to see the entire

04:542025 Forbes World's Billionaires list,

04:57check out John Hyatt's piece

04:59on Forbes.com.

05:01This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

05:04Thanks for tuning in.

The World’s Richest Person Revealed | April 2025 | Forbes

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