This October, according to Forbes, has been a wild one as six of the ten richest people on the planet witnessed a change in their wealth, resulting in a rejig of their position on the billionaire list.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, with a wealth of $497 billion, has continued to hold the top position since May 2024. This October, he had a brief run-in with a $500 billion fortune twice, which made him the first person to achieve that kind of wealth, albeit briefly.
But this is not all for Elon Musk, who is all set to become the first trillionaire in the world over the next decade, now that Tesla shareholders have approved the extravagant pay package that gives Musk up to $1 trillion in additional stock.
Meta's Mark Zuckerberg had the worst October, as his fortune fell by an estimated $29 billion, dropping him two places on the list, and helping Amazon's Jeff Bezos improve his ranking.
For the first time in years, Warren Buffett has not made it to the top 10 list as his fortune fell by $7 billion. Buffett's #10 spot is now taken by Michael Dell of Dell Technologies.
With that said, the top 10 richest people are all men, each worth $155 billion or more. Forbes also noted that nine out of ten of these men are Americans — the only non-US citizen is France’s Bernard Arnault.
Here are the 10 richest people on earth as of 1 November 2025, according to Forbes:
1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk currently has a net worth of $437 billion, up $6 billion since last month, making him the richest person in the world. Now that the Tesla board has approved the landmark pay packet, he is also set to become the world's first trillionaire.
On October 27, Tesla chair Robyn Denholm reportedly wrote a letter to shareholders saying that Musk could leave the company if the vote doesn’t go his way.
Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX, chairman and chief technology officer of social media company X (formerly known as Twitter), and the founder of artificial intelligence firm xAI. In late March, xAI acquired X at a valuation that Musk stated was $45 billion (including debt); he paid $44 billion to acquire Twitter in 2022.
Currently, before the new Tesla pay package kicks in, he owns approximately 12% of Tesla’s stock and has pledged some of his shares as collateral for loans.
2. Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison cofounded the software firm Oracle in 1977 and served as its CEO until 2014. He now serves as chairman and chief technology officer of the company.
His net worth currently stands at $320 billion, down from $22 billion since last month.
3. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos founded the e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 and served as its CEO until July 2021. He is currently the executive chairman of the company.
In July 2021, he went to space on a rocket built by private rocket company Blue Origin, which he founded and has funded with billions of dollars.
Bezos' net worth has been estimated at $254 billion, up $22 billion since last month, which has also improved his ranking on the list.
4. Larry Page
Larry Page cofounded the search engine Google with fellow Stanford PhD student Sergey Brin in 1998 and served as CEO from 1998 to 2001 and from 2011 to 2015.
He serves as a board member of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and remains a controlling shareholder.
Page's net worth, as of November 1, is reportedly $232 billion, up $30 billion since last month. He also witnessed a rank upgrade his month.
5. Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg cofounded Facebook when he was a student at Harvard University in 2004. Now known as Meta, it has grown to become the world’s largest social network, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp.
Zuckerberg's wealth fell $29 billion since last month to $223 billion. His ranking in the list also fell by two places.
6. Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, came out of semi-retirement to submit changes to Google’s Gemini AI chatbot last year and was listed as a “core contributor” when the model was released in December.
His net worth has been estimated at $215 billion, up $28 billion since last month.
7. Bernard Arnault
Bernard Arnault is CEO and chairman of luxury goods group LVMH. He used $15 million from his father's fortune to acquire Christian Dior, and has since built the largest luxury goods company in the world, with over 70 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, Sephora, and jeweller Tiffany & Co.
Arnault was the world’s richest person for most of the first half of 2023 and again from February through late May 2024.
His net worth currently stands at $183 billion, up $23 billion since last month.
8. Jensen Huang
Jensen Huang cofounded Nvidia in 1993 and has served as its CEO and president ever since. Under Huang, Nvidia's GPUs became dominant first in computer gaming and now in AI, helping the company become the first ever to reach a worth of $5 trillion in October.
His net worth currently stands at $176 billion, up $14 billion since last month.
9. Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer is the former CEO of Microsoft. In June, he announced his intention to retain most of his Microsoft shares, which he had held since leaving the company in 2014. After retirement, he purchased the NBA team, the Los Angeles Clippers, for $2 billion.
His net worth currently stands at $156 billion.
10. Michael Dell
Michael Dell, the chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, got his start at 19, selling computers out of his University of Texas dorm room. After the shares of Dell Technologies and Broadcom jumped in October, Dell’s personal fortune grew by $14 billion, to an estimated $155 billion.
After briefly becoming the 10th-richest person in the world for the first time in mid-December last year, he is back on the list in November.