When we first unpacked the Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2025 back in August, Elon Musk was sitting comfortably at the top. But as this past week reminded us, billionaire rankings are never static — they rise and fall with every tick of the stock market.

On September 10, Oracle’s stock surged, propelling co-founder Larry Ellison’s net worth to about $393 billion, briefly placing him above Musk, who hovered around $385 billion. For a moment, Ellison wore the crown as the world’s richest person.

Of course, these shifts are temporary. Different wealth trackers — Bloomberg vs Forbes — calculate net worth differently, especially when private companies like SpaceX enter the picture. Still, the fact remains: the race for “richest person alive” is volatile, and fortunes worth hundreds of billions can change hands overnight.

Why This Matters

• It underscores how wealth at the very top is tied directly to market swings.
• It reminds us that “the richest person in the world” is not a permanent title, but a reflection of a given day’s trading.
• And it brings us back to bigger questions: what does it mean when so much wealth is concentrated in so few hands, able to fluctuate by billions in a matter of hours?

Forbes gave us the snapshot in April. Markets have already redrawn the picture in September. The story of wealth, it seems, is always in motion.

Since publishing the piece below, the rankings have shifted. On September 10, Oracle’s stock surge briefly pushed co-founder Larry Ellison ahead of Elon Musk as the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ellison’s net worth was estimated at $393+ billion, compared to Musk’s $385 billion.

While Forbes has not updated its official rankings, this moment is a reminder of just how volatile billionaire wealth can be, and  fortunes worth hundreds of billions can change hands overnight.

It’s also a pertinent to note that no matter how volatile it may get in the stock markets, the billionaires will still not be entirely affected or affected in the same way, the general working class is affected by a shift in finances.

I see the list making the rounds again so I thought I should share some random highlights about the 39th annual “World’s Billionaires List 2025” which was published online on April 1, 2025. Johannes von Baumbach, age 19, is the world’s youngest billionaire in 2025. He’s heir to Boehringer Ingelheim, a major family-owned pharmaceutical company, […]

Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2025 has been out for a while now, so let’s talk about it a bit