The billionaire owns around 13 per cent of the EV maker and holds over 300 million exercisable options – as such, his personal fortune is inextricably tied to the stock-market performance of the firm.

Zuckerberg ranked No 2 on the list of wealth gainers, with a US$61.9 billion increase in his riches to US$108 billion. The increase was fuelled by a 151 per cent year-to-date rally in the stock of his firm Meta Platforms.

8 most secretive billionaires – and dynasties – in the world, revealed

Jeff Bezos came third, adding US$46.5 billion.

Also on the list were Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Michael Dell and Spanish tycoon Amancio Ortega, who owns fast fashion giant Zara.

Interestingly, nine of the 10 billionaires were from the tech sector – underscoring how the biggest wealth-creating theme of 2023 has been the rally in technology stocks, fuelled by the investor exuberance over the rise of artificial intelligence. Ortega, founder of the Inditex fashion group, was the only exception to this.

Nvidia CEO Huang’s wealth surged by US$22.2 billion in 2023 as the chipmaker’s stock rocketed 187 per cent, outperforming every other stock in the S&P 500 index.