No one has ever had a tighter grasp on the title of world’s richest person than Elon Musk does right now. Since retaking the top spot on Forbes’ annual World’s Billionaires list from French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault of LVMH last year, Musk spent the past 12 months padding his stats. He got $497 billion richer—the most wealth ever gained in a single year—and is now worth an estimated $839 billion. That makes him more than three times richer than the second wealthiest person on the planet, Google cofounder Larry Page, who is worth an estimated $257 billion. Musk is now closer to becoming a trillionaire than giving up the No. 1 spot.

It was a year of major milestones for Musk, who became the first person ever worth $500 billion in October, after he announced his resignation as head of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to spend more time on Tesla in April, helping send shares of the electric vehicle maker soaring by nearly 100%........

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