By Abby Schultz

The tech-heavy ranks of the world's wealthiest got shuffled in October along with the shifting stock values of their companies.

Yes, Tesla CEO Elon Musk still has a secure hold as the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $469 billion as of the end of October, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That's despite a 4.6% slide in Tesla shares on Thursday as some AI stocks sold off.

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison also has a firm hold on second place, with a net worth of $323 billion.

Ellison rose from No. 4 on Bloomberg's list at the start of the year to No. 2 by the end of the third quarter as Oracle shares soared on unexpectedly strong earnings released on Sept. 9. Ellison owns about 41% of the enterprise software maker and is its largest shareholder.

Ellison's wealth has also benefited from the company's stock buyback strategy over many years, according to a Barron's analysis. His 1.2 billion shares used to comprise about 23% of the company.

The more recent spike in Oracle's share value has everything to do with its rising artificial intelligence fortunes. The latest earnings report revealed the company's business of renting AI services in the cloud was attracting strong demand.

But AI is having the opposite influence on Meta Platform's fortunes and on the fortunes of its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Meta's shares sank 11% on Thursday, after the company announced it would be making even larger capital expenditures on AI than previously stated.

Worried about the costs of AI spending on Meta's income prompted investors to sell, pushing Zuckerberg -- who owns about 13% of the company -- from his No. 3 rank among the top billionaires on Sept. 30 to No. 5 as of Friday. His net worth fell from $258 billion to $229 billion during the month.

Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos jumped ahead of Zuckerberg to claim the No. 3 spot with a net worth of $265 billion. Amazon's shares surged 9.6% on Friday to hit a record close of $244.22 after reporting better-than-expected earnings results a day earlier. Bezos owns about 8.6% of Amazon, according to Bloomberg.

With the exception of Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of French luxury conglomerate LVMH who is ranked No. 7 with a net worth of $193 billion, the 10 wealthiest people in the world can all credit their good fortunes to the tech world. Google co-founders Larry Page ($244 billion) and Sergey Brin ($228 billion) were ranked fourth and sixth, respectively, as of Friday, and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer follows Arnault to rank No. 8 with a net worth of $178 billion.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang holds the ninth spot, up from No. 12 at the start of the year with a net worth of $176 billion. Huang, who owns about 3.5% of Nvidia according to Bloomberg, has benefited as the AI chipmaker's shares have gained 50% so far this year. This past Wednesday, Nvidia's market value crossed the $5 trillion mark, a first for any company. (The shares later fell slightly from a closing price of $207.04 on Wednesday to $202.49 on Friday).

Michael Dell, chief executive of computer maker Dell Technologies, sits at No. 10 with a net worth of $164 billion, swiping the spot from Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, who announced in May that he would step down as the company's CEO at the end of this year. Shares of Berkshire -- which announced a 33% gain in operating profits on Saturday -- have been under pressure since Buffett's announcement. Buffett, with a net worth of $144 billion, is now ranked No. 11 on Bloomberg's list.

All of the top 10 billionaires, including Arnault, have seen their wealth swell this year amid a 16.3% gain in the S&P 500.

Of course, determining the world's richest takes a bit of guesswork and it fluctuates constantly. Most billionaire wealth isn't only tied up in publicly traded stock; it's also in privately held companies that aren't easily valued. Though many of the names on the list are likely to be the same at year-end, expect more trading places to occur.

Write to Abby Schultz at abby.schultz@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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November 01, 2025 14:46 ET (18:46 GMT)

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