All ten of the world's richest people are now United States citizens for the first time on record, according to Bloomberg. The shift came after French luxury magnate Bernard Arnault, founder of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), fell out of the top ten, with his fortune slipping below that of American investor Warren Buffett.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is topped by Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, whose fortune stands at $918.8 billion, far ahead of anyone else on the list. Bloomberg said it is the first time since the index launched in 2012 that all ten top spots have been held by Americans.
Who else made the top ten
The rest of the list is made up of Google co-founder Larry Page ($286 billion), Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($274 billion), Google co-founder Sergey Brin ($266 billion), Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell ($245 billion), Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg ($229 billion), Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison ($208 billion), Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang ($181 billion), former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer ($172 billion) and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett ($144 billion).
Why Arnault's fortune has fallen
Bloomberg said the drop in Arnault's wealth has been especially sharp since the start of the year, with his fortune down $65 billion over that period, the largest decline among the 500 richest people in the world.
The war in the Middle East has hit the French billionaire's business, reducing demand in Dubai shopping malls for LVMH brands including fashion houses Dior, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany, as well as luxury drinks such as Dom Pérignon champagne and Hennessy cognac. The company has also run into trouble in China, where a trademark dispute with a local tea producer has weighed on sales.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index of American stocks has climbed 11% since the start of the year, driven largely by technology companies amid demand linked to artificial intelligence.
Arnault's run at the top
Bloomberg said Arnault had been among the world's ten richest people since 22 March 2017, and had periodically topped the ranking since December 2022. He was the first person from outside North America, and the only consumer goods magnate, to reach number one on the index, and no one else from outside that group has managed it since.
Wider billionaire trends
In May 2026, reports emerged that the number of dollar billionaires worldwide was rising sharply and could reach almost 4,000 by 2031, with Europe growing its share of the total while the United States' share falls despite growth in absolute numbers. In March, Forbes updated its ranking of the world's richest people, which included seven Ukrainian dollar billionaires.
