- Warren Buffett surged past Google cofounder Larry Page in the wealth rankings on Tuesday.
- Buffett's fortune grew to $123 billion on the day, while Page's net worth shrunk to $122 billion.
Warren Buffett has leapfrogged Larry Page in wealth, and now threatens to overtake Larry Ellison and Bill Gates, securing the rank of the world's fourth-richest person.
The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO's net worth grew by nearly $600 million to an estimated $123 billion on Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Page, the cofounder of Google-parent Alphabet, saw his fortune shrink by $1.2 billion to around $122 billion.
Buffett is now worth only a few billion dollars less than Ellison — Oracle's chairman and a major Tesla investor — at $126 billion, and Gates — Microsoft's cofounder and one of Buffett's close friends — at $129 billion. The Berkshire chief is already wealthier than Alphabet's Sergey Brin, worth $116 billion, ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, worth $115 billion, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, worth $110 billion.
Buffett's wealth has swelled by close to $16 billion this year, reflecting a nearly 19% rise in Berkshire stock to a record high. His company has benefited from its huge bet on Apple stock, which has surged 36% since the start of January.
Berkshire, seen as a microcosm of the US economy given its vast scale and diverse interests, has also been buoyed by slowing inflation as well as fading fears of recession and further interest-rate increases.
The "Oracle of Omaha" would be even wealthier if he hadn't gifted $4.6 billion of stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates and four family foundations this summer. In total, he's donated about half of his Berkshire "A" shares since 2006 — a stake worth over $140 billion as of Tuesday's close.
All else being equal, if Buffett had retained all of his Berkshire shares, he would be the world's richest person with a net worth of over $260 billion — well above Elon Musk's $242 billion fortune.
Investors have piled into Big Tech stocks like Alphabet and Microsoft this year, as they expect those companies to cash in on the artificial-intelligence boom and continue growing even if there's an economic slowdown. The enthusiasm has boosted their stock prices, and thus the fortunes of their shareholders, including their cofounders and former bosses.