World's richest men double fortune as first trillionaire expected 'in a decade'

The combined wealth of the world's five richest men grew 114 per cent since 2020, Oxfam says
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (left) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Composite
Miriam Burrell15 January 2024

The world’s richest men, including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, more than doubled their fortunes in just three years to more than £680 billion, an Oxfam report revealed on Monday.

Combined wealth of the Tesla boss and Amazon founder, along with Oracle's Larry Ellison, investment guru Warren Buffett and luxury goods firm owner LVMH Bernard Arnault, increased 114 per cent to $869 billion (£683 billion) since 2020.

The world's first trillionaire could emerge within a decade, the charity's Inequality Inc report predicted.

But global poverty won’t be eradicated for 229 years as the world's poorest 60 per cent, 4.7 million people, become 0.2 per cent poorer.

Musk is estimated to be work £180 billion alone, according to a real-time Forbes list used in the Oxfam report.

The billionaires are meeting political leaders at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen are among political leaders attending.

Oxfam's Aleema Shivji said the "ever-widening gulf" between the rich and the rest "isn't accidental, nor is it inevitable".

"Governments worldwide are making deliberate political choices that enable and encourage this distorted concentration of wealth, while hundreds of millions of people live in poverty," he said.

"A fairer economy is possible, one that works for us all. What's needed are concerted policies that deliver fairer taxation and support for everyone, not just the privileged."

The report said: "People worldwide are working harder and longer hours, often for poverty wages in precarious and unsafe jobs."

"Across 52 countries, average real wages of nearly 800 million workers have fallen. These workers have lost a combined $1.5tn (£1.17 trillion) over the last two years, equivalent to 25 days of lost wages for each worker."

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