A trillionaire is a person whose net worth is at least one trillion (one thousand billion or one million million in word notation; 1,000,000,000,000 in numerical digit notation; 1 × 10¹² in scientific notation) units of a given currency, typically US dollars. It is a subcategory of the concept of ultra-high-net-worth individuals. In 2026, Elon Musk became the first and only US dollar trillionaire.
Etymology
The earliest evidence of the word trillionaire according to the Oxford English Dictionary is from a letter to the editor published in an 1861 issue of the Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser.[1][2] The New York Times first used the word in 1922, in reference to "trillionaires in rubles" in the Soviet Union.[3]
In US dollars
Predictions before 2026
In 1999, Evan L. Marcus of Wired provided four scenarios in which Microsoft founder Bill Gates becomes not only the first trillionaire in US dollars, but also the first quadrillionaire (having a net worth of one thousand trillions or one quadrillion).[4] In 2005, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson also said that Gates would become the first trillionaire.[5] A 2017 Oxfam report suggested that the first trillionaire would emerge within 25 years, pointing to increasing global wealth inequality and individuals such as Gates.[6]
In 2015 Tyson predicted that the space industry would produce the first trillionaire by exploiting asteroid natural resources.[7] In 2018, US senator Ted Cruz predicted that the "first trillionaire will be made in space", alluding to the wealth gained from asteroid mining.[8] Andrew Glester of Physics World was skeptical of this claim, questioning its feasability of precious metal extraction as well as of the effect on prices that a sudden influx of a supply of precious metals might have.[9]
Entrepreneur Mark Cuban declared in 2017 that the first trillionaire would make their fortune from the artificial intelligence industry.[10]
A study by Approve, a platform for finance teams, predicted in 2022 that Elon Musk would become the world's first trillionaire by 2024.[11] The same study also predicted nine other individuals would become trillionaires after Musk: Gautam Adani in 2025, Zhang Yiming in 2026, Bernard Arnault in 2029, Mukesh Ambani in 2029, Jeff Bezos in 2030, Larry Page in 2032, Sergey Brin in 2032, Steve Ballmer in 2032, Michael Dell in 2033.[11]
A study by wealth-tracking service Informa Connect in 2024 predicted Musk would become a trillionaire in 2027, Adani in 2028, Prajogo Pangestu in 2028, Jensen Huang in 2028, Mark Zuckerberg in 2030, Arnault (and his family) in 2030, and Phil Knight (and his family) in 2030.[12]
First trillionaire
Musk became the first and only person whose net worth exceeded US$1 trillion, on June 12, 2026, following the initial public offering of his company SpaceX.[13][14][15][16]
Reactions
The emergence of a trillionaire has prompted criticism from campaign groups concerned with global wealth inequality. In June 2026, international charity Oxfam said that a US$1 trillion fortune would make Musk wealthier than the poorest 46% of the world's population, or 3.8 billion people, combined. Oxfam described the milestone as an example of extreme wealth concentration and called for higher taxation of the ultra-wealthy.[17]
In other currencies
People have been considered trillionaires in other currencies, almost exclusively due to hyperinflation, such as the Hungarian pengő in 1946 and the Zimbabwean dollar in 2008.[18][19]
See also
- Billionaire
- Millionaire
- List of wealthiest families
- List of centibillionaires
- Wealth of Elon Musk
- Inflation
- Deinflation
References
- ^ "trillionaire". Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/3884835417. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^
Jones, Frederick Robert (November 30, 1861). "The pinch of sir John Ramsden's position with tenant-right". Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser – via British Newspaper Archive.
And thus Sir John sees clearly that to whip the poor wretches now will be, as a first "benefit," to enable him to exact higher ground-rents for 99 years; and, as a second "benefit," to render his fortunate successor a trillionaire!
- ^ "TRILLIONAIRES IN RUBLES.; Soviet System Gives Speculators Fortunes of Gigantic Figures". The New York Times. July 31, 1922. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
- ^ Marcus, Evan L. (September 1, 1999). "The World's First Trillionaire". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
- ^ Tyson 2005, p. 22.
- ^ Hardoon 2017, pp. 5, 20.
- ^ Kramer, Katie (May 3, 2015). "Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Space Ventures Will Spawn First Trillionaire". NBC News. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
- ^ Glester 2018, p. 33.
- ^ Glester 2018, pp. 34–35.
- ^ Clifford, Catherine (March 13, 2017). "Mark Cuban: The world's first trillionaire will be an artificial intelligence entrepreneur". CNBC. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
- ^ a b Batchelor, Marlena (June 16, 2022). "Who will become the world's first trillionaire?". The CEO Magazine. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
- ^ Morris, Chris (January 16, 2024). "Trillionaire? One study says we'll see them within a decade". Fortune. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
- ^ Ovide, Shira; Siddiqui, Faiz (June 11, 2026). "See how Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire thanks to the SpaceX IPO". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
- ^ Nishant, Niket; Saini, Manya (June 11, 2026). "SpaceX IPO makes Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire". Reuters. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
- ^ "SpaceX Filing Starts Countdown to Massive IPO". The Wall Street Journal. May 20, 2026. Retrieved May 27, 2026.
- ^ Ma, Jason (May 22, 2026). "Musk may already be a trillionaire while these SpaceX employees and investors will hit multibillion-dollar jackpots after blockbuster IPO". Fortune. Retrieved May 27, 2026.
- ^ "Soon-to-be trillionaire Elon Musk's wealth grew by over $1 million per minute in the last year". Oxfam International. June 11, 2026. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
- ^ "Zimbabwe: Country of trillionaires couldn't buy bread - Zimbabwe | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. June 29, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2026.
- ^ "What can you buy for $100 trillion in Zimbabwe? Not even a candy bar". The World from PRX. June 12, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2026.
Bibliography
-
García, Emilio José; Vale, Brenda (2025). "Wealth and the Rich". Wealth and the Built Environment. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 15–37. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-81954-4_2. ISBN 978-3-031-81953-7. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
If Elon Musk, the richest person in the 2022 Forbes list of billionaires, had kept growing his fortune at the current rate of 129% per year, he could have been the first trillionaire in 2024 ... Batchelor (2022) notes that by 2033, there could be about ten trillionaires, mostly males from the technology industries.
- Glester, Andrew (June 2018). "The asteroid trillionaires". Physics World. 31 (6): 33–35. doi:10.1088/2058-7058/31/6/29. ISSN 0953-8585.
- Hardoon, Deborah (January 16, 2017). An Economy for the 99%: It’s time to build a human economy that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few (Report). Oxfam. doi:10.21201/2017.8616.
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Tyson, Neil deGrasse (2005). "Powers of ten". In Blackwell, Alan; MacKay, David (eds.). Power. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-44559-7.
In fact, Bill Gates will become the world's first trillionaire. Even if he sold all his Microsoft stock and bought conservative savings bonds, he would still be a trillionaire before he dies.
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