The collective net worth of America’s richest 12 men has hit $2 trillion, less than $2 trillion short of the wealth of the bottom half of the U.S.
An analysis by Forbes showed that as of December 3, America’s top billionaires, including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, accumulated a collective net worth of more than $2 trillion.
This sum is only $1.8 trillion off the total net worth of the nation’s bottom 50 percent, which, as of the second quartile of this year, hit $3.82 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis data, showing the extent of the economic inequality in the U.S.
The 12 most wealthy Americans have changed over the years, and this month’s newcomer is Jensen Huang, the co-founder and CEO of the technology company Nvidia.
In 2020, his wealth was $4.7 billion, but after a whopping 2,504 percent increase in his net worth, he now has $122.4 trillion, situating him as the ninth wealthiest American, according to Forbes data.
His wealth is directly tied to the rising market for artificial intelligence, as his company produces the computer chips used by AI systems.
Nvidia is gaining so much economic momentum that Forbes reported Huang might have been the world’s first trillionaire if he had increased his ownership of the company, which is currently 3.5 percent, to 40 percent.
Musk has also seen a massive boost in his net worth over the last four years, an increase of 1,256 percent, which has made him America’s richest man.
Musk’s wealth is primarily tied to Tesla, of which he owns a 12 percent stake, and, more recently, SpaceX, of which he holds a 42 percent stake. As of the second half of this year, SpaceX was worth $210 billion.
Musk also founded the startup xAI in 2023, now worth around $50 billion, of which he owns around 54 percent.
Purchasing the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, in 2022 did not boost his wealth as his other ventures have, for the platform is now worth 70 percent less compared to when he bought it, Forbes reported.
Evan Vucci/AP
The fact that 12 American men collectively hold $1.8 trillion less than the country’s bottom 50 percent highlights the issue of economic inequality in the U.S.
Former Secretary of Labor Richard Reich, who served during the Clinton administration, commented on the update on X, writing, “Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.”
There are hundreds of billionaires in America, most of whom live in California, even though the state’s median household income is not the wealthiest and instead ranked fifth.
Analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that in recent years, the wealth gap in the U.S. has been continuing to expand, and in 2022, the bottom 50 percent of Americans held 2 percent of the country’s wealth.
Meanwhile, the top 10 percent of families owned 74 percent of the country’s wealth.
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