Combination showing Elon Musk (L), Gautam Adani (C) and Jensen Huang (R)
Reuters
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future releases directly to your inbox.
On September 29, 1916, newspapers across the country announced a milestone of wealth once thought out of reach: the world’s first billionaire.
“Standard (Oil) at $2,014 Makes Its Head a Billionaire,” screamed the New York Times headline, adding that Standard Oil’s soaring stock price “makes John D. Rockefeller, founder and largest shareholder, nearly a billionaire for sure.”
More than a century after the first US billionaire (in measurable dollar terms), the question of who will reach the trillionaire mark first continues to fascinate. At least half a dozen companies have done so, more recently Berkshire Hathawaywhich exceeded $1 trillion just before Warren Buffett 94th birthday. Nvidia it’s now at $2.6 trillion, having hit the 13-figure club last year.
And what about individuals? According to a new report from Informa Connect Academywhich predicts trillionaire status based on the average annual growth rate of wealth, Tesla CEO Elon Musk will likely be the first trillionaire.
Musk is currently the richest person in the world, with $251 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Connect Academy predicts Musk will become a trillionaire sometime in 2027, assuming his wealth continues to grow at an average annual rate of 110%.
The second to reach trillionaire status, according to the report, will be India’s Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani Group. If Adani maintains its recent annual growth rate of 123%, the report says it will become a trillionaire in 2028.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has seen his fortune soar from $3 billion to more than $90 billion in five years, would become a trillionaire by 2028, according to the report. His wealth should continue to grow at an average annual rate of 112%. Nvidia stock is already up about 115% this year, after more than tripling last year.
Fourth on the list is Indonesian Prajogo Pangestu, founder of Indonesian energy and mining group Barito Pacific. The report predicts that Pangestu could reach trillionaire status by 2028.
Rounding out the top five would be LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, who is currently the third richest man in the world, with just under $200 billion. The report states that the king of luxury will become a trillionaire sometime in 2030, along with After CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Some top billionaires who seem like strong candidates to quickly join the four-party club don’t make the top 10. and wouldn’t become a trillionaire until 2036. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the Google founders, are also expected to wait 12 years to become trillionaires — though AI may accelerate their rise.
Admittedly, wealth watchers have been predicting the first trillionaire for years. And shares of Tesla, Nvidia and LVMH may not rise as fast in the next five years as they have in the past five.
However, more than 100 years after the first billionaire, the first billionaire could well be crowned in the next decade.
