PremiumPatricia CohenNew York Times·9 Jun, 2026 09:53 PM7 mins to readFront, from left: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai at US President Donald Trump's inauguration, January 2025. Photo / Kenny Holston, The New York TimesElon Musk’s potential new status as a trillionaire demonstrates in real time why there has been such a rapid rise in the concentration of wealth at the top.Fifteen years ago, the world’s billionaires collectively had US$4.5 trillion (NZ$7.7t).By 2024, their wealth had more than tripled to $14.2t.

Now