billionaires

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Bill Gates: World 'Went Backwards' in One Big Way

Child mortality rose in 2025 for the first time in years

(Newser) - Bill Gates thinks the world just flunked a basic test of progress. In his annual letter, the Microsoft co-founder notes that global child mortality rose in 2025 for the first time this century, and he links that reversal directly to reduced aid from wealthy nations. Deaths of children under 5...

California Weighs One-Time 5% Tax on Billionaires

Levy on assets of the state's 255 billionaires would largely fund health care

(Newser) - California voters may soon be asked whether to tap the fortunes of roughly 255 billionaires in a one-time bid to shore up health and social programs. A proposed ballot initiative would impose a 5% tax on the assets—not income—of California-based billionaires in 2027, potentially generating "tens of...

Something Else AI Is Creating: Young Billionaires

Forbes adds more than 50 to the ranks thanks to the boom in artificial intelligence

(Newser) - Artificial intelligence didn't just dominate headlines in 2025—it quietly turned more than 50 people into billionaires, reports Forbes . An unprecedented surge of investment into AI models, infrastructure, and workplace tools reshaped the global wealth rankings, with founders of data-labeling firms, chip suppliers, cloud providers, and coding assistants joining...

Tesla's Board Raked in Billions, Outpacing Tech Peers

More than $3B in stock-based gains fuels governance, bias concerns

(Newser) - Tesla's outside directors have turned their part-time board seats into more than $3 billion in stock-based gains—far eclipsing what peers at other tech giants have made, a new Equilar analysis for Reuters finds. Since 2004, CEO Elon Musk's brother, Kimbal, has amassed nearly $1 billion from Tesla...

She Just Became the Youngest Self-Made Female Billionaire
She Just Became the Youngest
Self-Made Female Billionaire
in case you missed it
Dec 13, 2025 3:30 PM CST

She Just Became the Youngest Self-Made Female Billionaire

Kalshi's 29-year-old co-founder, Luana Lopes Lara, has a net worth of $1.3B

(Newser) - Luana Lopes Lara, cofounder of the Kalshi prediction market, has become the world's youngest self-made female billionaire at age 29. Lopes Lara, who owns 12% of the startup now valued at $11 billion, takes the title from Scale AI cofounder Lucy Guo, 31, who overtook Taylor Swift this past...

Millionaire Inheritance Tax Flops in Switzerland

Proposal to tax inheritances over $62M couldn't get majority support anywhere

(Newser) - Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected a 50% inheritance tax on millionaires, with more than 78% voting no in a national referendum. The measure, aimed at assets over 50 million francs (about $62 million), was designed by the Young Socialists to fund climate initiatives, but it gained little traction outside the...

Scott Gives Away Billions. She Once Had to Borrow $1K

College roommate long ago loaned the future billionaire money so she could stay at Princeton

(Newser) - MacKenzie Scott, one of the world's wealthiest women and most influential philanthropists, is now known for her "no strings attached" surprise donations. But, as a Princeton sophomore, she learned what it was like to be on the receiving end of generosity. Facing the prospect of dropping out if...

Billie Eilish Slams Musk in Wake of Tesla Trillionaire Deal
Musk Responds
to Billie Eilish's Barbs
UPDATED
Nov 18, 2025 11:39 AM CST

Musk Responds to Billie Eilish's Barbs

After singer called Musk 'pathetic,' Tesla CEO reacts with some jabs of his own

(Newser) - Elon Musk is clapping back at Billie Eilish after the pop singer called him a "pathetic" expletive, expletive "coward" following Tesla's approval of a pay package that one day could make Musk the world's first trillionaire. Per Rolling Stone , Musk took to his X platform to...

Gen Z Swaps Cubicles for Gigs With Billionaires

Luxury perks, big paychecks draw young workers to private staffing

(Newser) - Many of us started our careers fetching coffee, but Gen Z seems to have found a cheat code: Fetch the coffee on a yacht. Instead of going anywhere near an office cubicle, young people are embracing life as personal assistants, nannies, or cooks for the mega rich. Business Insider reports...

Billie Eilish Has Something to Say to Billionaires

'Maybe give it to some people that need it,' pop star said at event attended by Mark Zuckerberg

(Newser) - Billie Eilish used her moment in the spotlight at the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards to call out billionaires, all while standing just feet from Mark Zuckerberg. Accepting the Music Innovator Award at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on Wednesday, Eilish, 23, urged the well-heeled crowd to...

Elon Musk Just Did What No Other Billionaire Has Ever Done

Tesla surge helps him reach net worth of $500B, inching him closer to trillionaire status

(Newser) - Elon Musk has reached a new milestone, becoming the first person whose net worth hit $500 billion, reports the Guardian , though the figure slipped back to $499 billion shortly after, per Forbes . The Tesla CEO's fortune has soared in 2025, largely riding a 70% rebound in Tesla's...

This Could Be the Biggest One-Day Wealth Increase Ever

After Oracle's stellar news, Larry Ellison could become world's richest person Wednesday

(Newser) - Elon Musk has been the world's richest person for a little over 300 days—a streak that could be over within hours. Hot on Musk's heels is Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose fortune climbed by $70 billion after market close on Tuesday as the database software company reported...

Billionaires Face Lower Tax Rates Than Most Americans

Researchers find that ultra-wealthy benefit most from recent tax changes in the US

(Newser) - America's wealthiest citizens are paying a lower share of their income in taxes than the rest of the country, according to a new study by economists at UC Berkeley. Researchers found that billionaires—specifically the top 400, as listed by Forbes —had an average effective tax rate...

David Mamet Pokes Holes in Billionaires' Escape Plans

If society collapses, they're just ordinary schumucks like the rest of us

(Newser) - Playwright David Mamet has a question or two for the billionaires plotting to escape to compounds in New Zealand or some such if society collapses. They'll need to hire a pilot to fly them to safety, for example, but wouldn't the pilot want to bring his family, too?...

Rosie O'Donnell Goes After Jeff Bezos' Wedding Guests

Comedian wasn't impressed with excess of nuptials to Lauren Sanchez, nor with stars who attended

(Newser) - Speaking out the loudest against the extravagant Jeff Bezos-Lauren Sanchez wedding on Friday in Venice, Italy: environmentalists, Venetian locals, and ... Rosie O'Donnell. BuzzFeed reports that the comedian has some thoughts on the nuptials— thought to cost around $25 million and even up to $50 million-plus—as revealed on her...

Mamdani: Billionaires Shouldn't Exist

Trump warns he better 'behave' if elected or NYC will lose federal money

(Newser) - Two politicians at polar opposites of the political spectrum exchanged jabs on weekend news shows: President Trump warned New York City political upstart Zohran Mamdani to "behave" if he's elected mayor, while Mamdani suggested that Trump and other billionaires shouldn't have as much money as they do:...

Bezos' Venice Wedding Illustrates Rise of Tackiness

Flaunting one's wealth is in, writes Amy Odell

(Newser) - "Stealth wealth" is out. "Swaggy and braggy" is in, or so it seems as we approach the nuptials of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. The occasion has Amy Odell taking a look at how wealth is manifesting itself these days: Being understated and quiet about it is no...

World's Wealthiest Female Entrepreneurs

Forbes ranks the world's richest self-made ladies

(Newser) - "It's never been a better time for women entrepreneurs," proclaims Forbes , and its latest ranking seems to bolster that assertion. For the first time, the financial publication has put together a list of the world's 50 wealthiest self-made women, who all together are worth about $276...

Most of Trump's Net Worth Isn't in Real Estate Any More
It's a Surprise Shift
in Trump's Net Worth
in case you missed it
Jun 15, 2025 11:05 AM CDT

It's a Surprise Shift in Trump's Net Worth

Forbes reports he now has more in cryptocurrency than real estate

(Newser) - The latest assessment of President Trump's net worth by Forbes pegs it at $5.5 billion, and the figure comes with a surprise: For the first time, most of Trump's worth does not stem from his real estate empire. Instead, it's in cryptocurrency. Key details:
  • The magazine
...

Soros-Backed Initiative Aims to Make Texas a Blue State

But Democrats haven't won a statewide race since the 1990s

(Newser) - A figure much vilified on the right is funding a Democratic mission with the tall order of turning Texas into a blue state. The Texas Majority PAC, which is funded by billionaire George Soros, launched a "Blue Texas" initiative that will pour millions of dollars into the effort, reports...

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