There are more billionaires than ever in 2025, with Forbes' annual report claiming there are now a record-breaking 3,028 billionaires on its list. A marked increase of 247 members from 2024 shows that even as parts of the world seem to be getting poorer, some are getting a lot richer.
You only have to look at Elon Musk's net worth, making him the first person to ever be worth over $500 billion, putting him well on track to becoming the first trillionaire. Elsewhere, there are now three companies that've crossed the lucrative $4 trillion market worth, as Apple just claimed the honor.
Alongside Musk, the Top 5 richest people in the world include Oracle's Larry Ellison, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google co-founder Larry Page, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg.
Things got pretty awkward at the WSJ. Magazine's Innovator Awards, with Billie Eilish taking to the stage at Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art. The "Birds of a Feather" singer was there to accept the Music Innovator Award, but instead, used her platform to send a powerful message.
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Reminding us of when Sacheen Littlefeather represented Marlon Brando at the 45th Academy Awards and shared the plight of Native Americans, Eilish decided to speak from the heart, to an audience that contained plenty of billionaires.
Alongside the Meta overlord, the likes of George Lucas and Hailey Bieber were in attendance. Still, there didn't seem to be any bad blood between Eilish and Bieber, as the pair posed for a photograph after the ceremony.
Directing her fury toward the world's billionaires, a fiery Eilish said: We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark and people need empathy and help more than, kind of, ever, especially in our country."
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She continued: "Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me. If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties."
A source told People that Zuckerberg refused to clap along with the rest of the audience. Sitting by Zuckerberg was Priscilla Chan, with the tech mogul's wife being honored with the award for the 2025 Philanthropy in Science Innovator.
Praised for her work via the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the WSJ profile published to go with the awards reminded us how the pair have vowed to give away 99% of their Meta shares before they die.
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Proving she's a woman of her word, Eilish confirmed she'd donated $11.5 million from her recent tour just before stepping on the stage to make her passionate speech.
Many applauded the 23-year-old Grammy winner's speech, with someone on X writing: "She’s gonna probably get backlash for this but hell yeah."
Another added: "Wow. Billie Eilish told Zuck to his face that billionaires shouldn’t be a thing and they should all give their money away. Here for it!!! 💪."
A third concluded: "Boo-hoo, Zuck. The guy who built a multi-billion-dollar empire out of harvesting people’s dopamine and data gets his feelings bruised because Billie Eilish, someone who actually represents a generation sick of billionaire nonsense, said something mean?
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"Oh no, call the world’s smallest violin, tuned to the key of late-stage capitalism."