The top billionaires won again in 2024, despite the cost of living crisis

2024 has been an excellent year for the world's most prominent billionaires. The Forbes top five rich men have grown their fortune significantly.

This productive year sits on top of three excellent years for these billionaires. While the world grappled with the consequences of the pandemic, the richest grew their fortunes.

That was the conclusion of the report at the beginning of the year. It said the five wealthiest billionaires nearly doubled their fortunes to $864 billion between 2020 and 2023.

Oxfam, a global organization that fights inequality, collects data on the wealth of the super-rich from Forbes to create a yearly inequality report.

This edition came after years of growing income inequality worldwide, with 5 billion people becoming poorer. The US also saw a growth in income inequality in 2023.

The Oxfam briefing highlighted that, at the current rhythm, it would take humanity more than 200 years to end poverty, as a CNN recount of the report stated.

The report only included data from 2020 to 2023, but 2024 has been an excellent year for some billionaires, even one that was not in the top five at the beginning of the year.

Among the top five, Elon Musk is by far the largest beneficiary: his fortune has grown by more than 700% since 2020. This year was not his best; he is projected to grow by 8% compared to 2023.

Bernard Arnault, the chairman of French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns over 60 brands, including Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, increased his wealth by 111%. He also flatlined in 2024 but remained in the top 5.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the wealthiest men in America, had a fortune of $167.4 billion in November 2023, up 24% from March 2020. However, 2024 was a great year for him, reaching a 75% growth.

Oracle founder Larry Ellison's wealth grew 107% from 2020 to 2023, but considering 2024 projections, the percentage is closer to 200.

Mark Zuckerberg's fortune grew similarly (200%) if we take 2024 into account. However, the tech giant was out of the top 5 billionaires last year. His fortune only grew 20% between 2020 and 2023.

Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, ended last year with 48% more wealth than he had in 2020, but 2024 projections are not satisfactory for him: he has fallen out of the top 5.

Overall, according to CNN's account of the Oxfam report, billionaires' wealth has increased by 34% between 2020 and 2023 to $3.3 trillion.

Oxfam says the top 1% hold around 40% of the world's financial assets. In the US, the top 1% controls 34% of the market, in Asia 50%, in the EU 47%, and in the Middle East 48%.

The report also warned about market concentrations in many sectors. That means a handful of companies control a significant percentage of a global market.

A precise example of that is the pharmaceutical industry. Over the last two decades, 60 pharma companies have merged into ten giant global corporations.

The same happens with the seed market: 40% is now controlled by two companies. In contrast, 25 years ago, ten companies shared that percentage.

The wealth accumulation by these billionaires happened when the world was battling against deep economic crises fueled by the pandemic.

Inflation rose when the global market tried to reactivate, provoking a cost of living crisis in many developed nations, including Australia, the UK, and Canada.