The only billionaires making money this year are in tech

(Bloomberg) -- If 2026 feels like a banner year for the world's tech billionaires, the numbers bear it out.

The roughly 100 technology fortunes among the world's 500 richest people gained a combined $845 billion through Sept. 30, the most ever for the first nine months of a year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Fueling that surge were the same forces driving global markets: the artificial intelligence boom and soaring technology stocks, particularly in the US. Tech billionaires are now worth a combined $4.6 trillion, accounting for 36% of the index's wealth despite making up only about a fifth of its members.

The divergence is stark. Billionaires who made their fortunes outside technology lost a combined $62 billion over the period, while Americans accounted for 94% of the index's net gains. Since Sept. 10, all 10 of the world's richest people have been from the US — the first time that's happened since Bloomberg began tracking billionaires in 2012.

The gains have also been heavily concentrated at the very top. Elon Musk, the world's richest person, added $310 billion to his fortune this year through the end of September, or roughly 40% of the index's total increase. He briefly became the world's first trillionaire after SpaceX merged with his artificial intelligence company, xAI, and went public in June.

Nine of the world's 10 wealthiest people owe their fortunes to American tech firms. Dell Technologies Inc. founder Michael Dell saw his wealth increase 81% to $254 billion as his company's data center sales business ballooned. Mark Zuckerberg added $23 billion to his net worth this year as shares of Meta Platforms Inc. gained 27% in September — its best month in almost four years — after rolling out its new Muse personal AI assistant.

The world's 500 richest people hit a peak of $13.4 trillion in combined wealth in mid-June. That's since fallen 6% to $12.6 trillion amid a broader market slowdown and growing doubts about some of the biggest AI names.

The historic debt binge fueling Big Tech's AI ambitions is making some investors uneasy. Larry Ellison briefly became the world's richest person in September 2025, gaining $89 billion in a single day after Oracle Corp. touted explosive growth in its AI-linked cloud infrastructure business.