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Meet some of the obscurer billionaires who got much, much richer in 2023

Dec 29, 2023, 22:54 IST
Business Insider
Barito Pacific founder Prajogo PangestuBarito Pacific/Getty
  • Indonesian business mogul Prajogo Pangestu grew his wealth seven-fold this year to $31.9 billion.
  • Pangestu was among those who saw the biggest wealth increase by percentage of fortune in 2023.
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The world's richest people added vast amounts to their fortunes in 2023.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, for example, added $95.4 billion to his net worth, according to estimates from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg added an estimated $84 billion.

But some of the people who added billions to their wealth this year are much less well known.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index tracks the estimated wealth of the world's 500 richest people.

These are the five people who saw the largest percent growth in their fortunes this year, including two relatively unknown names.

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Prajogo Pangestu

Indonesian business mogul Prajogo Pangestu, 79, grew his wealth seven-fold this year, with his estimated fortune swelling from less than $5 billion at the start of 2023 to $31.9 billion as of December 29, per Bloomberg's data. Pangestu is the founder and chairman of the Indonesian petrochemical company PT Barito Pacific.

He is the main shareholder in coal-mining company PT Petrindo Jaya Kreasi, the shares of which soared since it went public in March. He also listed Barito Renewables Energy this year.

Brian Armstrong

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.Patrick T. Fallon / Getty Images

Coinbase cofounder and CEO Brian Armstrong saw his wealth boom in 2023, growing more than 400%, according to Bloomberg's data. He's now worth an estimated $7.7 billion.

Armstrong is well-known in Silicon Valley and crypto circles. His net wealth, though impressive, still lags that of other tech CEOs such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.

Coinbase says that it holds $114 billion in safeguarded assets and claims it "powers the cryptoeconomy."

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Judy Love

At the start of the year, Judy Love, the cofounder of Oklahoma-based Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, was worth just under $4 billion. The 86-year-old is now worth $13.2 billion, according to Bloomberg's estimates.

Love's has nearly 650 locations and more than 40,000 employees. Its sites include truck service centers, restaurants, and gas stations.

Jensen Huang

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, speaks during the Hon Hai Tech Day in Taipei on October 18, 2023.I-HWA CHENG/AFP via Getty Image

Jensen Huang, the president and CEO of Nvidia, saw his net worth balloon by around $30 billion — or 219% — this year, bringing his estimated wealth up to $44 billion. Nvidia, which makes computer chips, has seen its stock soar amid the AI boom and slower inflation.

Huang was born in Taiwan but was sent to live with relatives in Washington State when he was 10. He founded Nvidia aged 29, and is currently number 28 on Bloomberg's rich list.

Changpeng Zhao

Binance founder Changpeng ZhaoHoracio Villalobos/Getty Images

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of crypto-exchange platform Binance, saw his estimated wealth almost triple this year to $37.4 billion. But his fortune is well below its peak — in early 2022, for example, he was worth almost $100 billion.

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Zhao, known as CZ, stepped down as CEO of Binance after pleading guilty in a DOJ anti-money laundering probe which had accused Binance and Zhao of failing to stop illegal trading activity on the exchange. Zhao will continue to have majority ownership of the crypto exchange.

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