Legendary investor Warren Buffett has dropped to 10th place on the list of the world’s richest people, despite becoming even richer in 2023, as the technology sector once again took center stage in the US stock market at the end of the year, Markets Insider reports.

Earlier this year, Buffett was worth more than even Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world for many years, and was on the verge of surpassing even Bill Gates, but he has now dropped from fifth place to tenth in the ranking. billionaires of the world, according to Bloomberg.

But this situation has nothing to do with the returns on shares of his investment company Berkshire Hathaway or some of Buffett’s less inspired decisions. In fact, Berkshire’s stock is up 16% in 2023, and Buffett’s personal fortune has grown by $10 billion to $120 billion. 99% of Buffett’s wealth comes from the shares of his investment company.

In 2023, Buffett would have become even richer, but he has donated almost 6 billion dollars to charitable causes.

2023 has been an incredible year for technology companies in the United States

But Buffett’s decline in the ranking of the world’s billionaires is largely due to the much better performance of technology company shares on the US stock market compared to his investment company.

After last year’s spectacular crash, Tesla had a good new year in 2023, even if it will soon lose its position as the world’s top-selling electric car maker. Elon Musk has once again capitalized on the fruits of a years-long campaign to have Tesla considered a “tech” company rather than a traditional automaker.

While not all investors were convinced by his explanation, Tesla’s stock price is up more than 100% this year, which should add $98 billion to Musk’s personal fortune in 2023.

The price of Amazon shares, in turn, increased by 83%, thus Jeff Bezos increased his fortune by 71 billion dollars. Microsoft also had an exceptional year, with its stock price up 56%.

It brought Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, his former assistant and then CEO of Microsoft, $31 billion and $45 billion, respectively, on the New York Stock Exchange.

The fortunes of Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), and Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, also increased more than Buffett’s this year.

The ranking of the world’s 10 richest people is practically dominated by entrepreneurs or executives (in the case of Ballmer) who founded or headed technology companies in the United States.

The only two exceptions are Buffett and Bernard Arnault, founder and chief executive of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH.

What does the ranking of the world’s richest people look like at the end of 2023

1. Elon Musk (Bloomberg’s fortune is estimated at $235 billion)

2. Bernard Arnault ($179 billion)

3. Jeff Bezos ($178 billion)

4. Bill Gates ($140 billion)

5. Steve Ballmer ($130 billion)

6. Mark Zuckerberg ($128 billion)

7. Larry Page ($128 billion)

8. Larry Ellison ($124 billion)

9. Sergey Brin ($121 billion)

10. Warren Buffett ($120 billion)