Michael Dell has become the world’s fourth-richest person after the artificial intelligence boom pushed his fortune above $273 billion. The Dell Technologies founder overtook Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin after Dell Technologies shares rose sharply following a positive assessment from investment bank Morgan Stanley.
According to Forbes, Dell added more than $11 billion to his fortune during trading on Friday, September 25. His wealth briefly reached $276.4 billion, putting him just $6 billion behind Google co-founder Larry Page. By Monday, Dell’s fortune stood at $273.7 billion. He was ahead of Sergey Brin, who had $259.8 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune stood at $257.6 billion.
Dell founded his company in 1984 with just $1,000. Dell Technologies first became a major player in the personal computer market before expanding into servers and data storage. Its business is now benefiting from the rising demand for AI infrastructure. According to Forbes, the 10 richest people in the world have a combined fortune of more than $3 trillion. All 10 are American, while nine built most of their wealth through technology companies.
Elon Musk remains far ahead of Jeff Bezos
Elon Musk remains the world’s richest person, with an estimated fortune of $929 billion. His wealth comes from businesses including Tesla, SpaceX and xAI. He also owns X. His businesses cover electric vehicles, space technology, artificial intelligence and social media.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ranks second with a fortune of $369.6 billion. Bezos built Amazon from an online bookstore into a global retail and technology company. Its cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services, has become an important part of the company and the wider AI industry. Bezos also owns the space company Blue Origin.
Google co-founder Larry Page is the third-richest person, with a fortune of $282.3 billion. Page co-founded Google with Sergey Brin in 1998 while they were students at Stanford University. Most of his wealth comes from his stake in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which has businesses in online advertising, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
Michael Dell moves ahead of Brin and Zuckerberg
Michael Dell now ranks fourth with a fortune of $273.7 billion. His wealth has risen sharply as demand for AI infrastructure has increased. Dell founded his company in 1984 with $1,000. The business grew from a personal computer maker into a major technology company offering servers, storage and other infrastructure.
Dell Technologies has benefited from the growing need for computing infrastructure used to build AI data centres. The rise in the company’s share price has helped push Dell’s personal fortune higher.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin ranks fifth with $259.8 billion. Brin was born in Moscow and moved to the United States as a child. He later co-founded Google with Page. Most of his wealth comes from his stake in Alphabet, which is investing heavily in artificial intelligence.
Mark Zuckerberg ranks sixth with $257.6 billion. He founded Facebook, which later became part of Meta. The company now owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and is investing heavily in AI. Zuckerberg briefly moved ahead of Dell after Meta shares rose. A later fall in Meta’s share price pushed him back to sixth place.
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Oracle’s Larry Ellison make the list
Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang ranks seventh with an estimated fortune of $194.9 billion. His wealth has grown rapidly as demand for Nvidia’s AI chips has increased. Nvidia’s graphics processing units are used to train and run AI models. The company has become a major supplier to technology companies building large data centres.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison ranks eighth with a fortune of $181.1 billion. Ellison made his wealth through Oracle’s database and enterprise software businesses.
Oracle has expanded its cloud computing operations and is also investing in infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence. Ellison’s stake in Oracle remains a major source of his wealth.
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer ranks ninth with $160.2 billion. Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 and served as its chief executive from 2000 to 2014. His fortune mainly comes from his Microsoft shares. He also owns the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.
Investor Warren Buffett completes the top 10 with an estimated fortune of $143.7 billion. Buffett built his wealth through Berkshire Hathaway, which has investments across insurance, railways, energy and major publicly traded companies. Buffett is the only person in the top 10 whose wealth was not built mainly through technology.