Featured Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/MG26 / Contributor / Getty
This year's Met Gala was a little different than usual, as while many of the biggest celebrities were in attendance with suitably lavish outfits, they were joined by an increasing number of names from the tech world who bring with them their often exuberant wealth.
The year-end rich lists have long been dominated by tech figures, but recent editions have seen the top names soar even further away from the rest with someone like Elon Musk standing head and shoulders above his contemporaries.
Musk himself, of course, has previously attended the Met Gala – being spotted with both his mother and then-partner Grimes in past editions of the charity event – yet his absence this year was made up from a financial perspective by several other important names.
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A significant amount of money was donated by Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez this year, with the pair providing a $10 million contribution, yet they weren't the only influence that's led some to brand this year's event the 'Tech Gala'.
Bezos was joined by fellow billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and other influential tech figures like Instagram's Adam Mosseri and Google exec Charles Porch.
Using data from Forbes' real-time billionaires list, the estimated combined net worth of these five names alone is $775.5 billion — although the vast majority of this comes from the first three, with Mosseri and Porch possessing valuations well below billionaire status despite their prominence within the industry.
While the first three are roughly close when it comes to their net worth, Brin is the richest at the time of writing with wealth exceeding $287 billion in total. Bezos follows him closely behind with $278.5 billion to his name, and Zuckerberg sits slightly below with 'only' $209.5 billion in total.
Intriguingly, the combined net worth of these three names – and all five if you include Mosseri and Porch – is still below the wealth held by Elon Musk on his own, as the Tesla CEO's hoardings currently sit at $789.9 billion.
He has continued his path towards trillionaire status, and while it has dropped slightly in recent months – and he supposedly has far less when it comes to actual cash – continued success and a public offering for SpaceX could allow him to catapult himself beyond a milestone that few thought was ever possible.
It's unclear whether he has his sights set on another appearance at future Met Gala events, yet if he does show face that would definitely trump anyone else when it comes to financial might.
