Elon Musk
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The world’s richest man, Elon Musk. Photo from X |
The world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk, 54, has an estimated net worth of $463 billion, according to U.S. magazine Forbes.
The chairman of automaker Tesla was born in South Africa and came to the U.S. through Canada as a college student at the age of 17.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in physics and economics, he enrolled at Stanford University. He dropped out after his first few days to pursue his three main areas of interest: the Internet, clean energy and space.
He now owns about 13% of Tesla, the world’s most valuable carmaker, according to the company’s 2024 proxy statement.
Sergey Brin
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Sergey Brin. Photo by Flickr/Steve Jurvetson |
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, 51, ranks as the second richest immigrant with a fortune estimated at $186 billion.
His family fled Russia when he was six due to anti-Semitism.
Brin co-founded Google with Larry Page in 1998 after meeting at Stanford University while pursuing advanced degrees in computer science.
Google went public in 2004 and reorganized as Alphabet, a parent company, in 2015.
Brin has donated over $1.5 billion to Parkinson’s research, focusing his philanthropy on central nervous system conditions and climate change.
Jensen Huang
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang seen in Hanoi in December 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Luu Quy |
Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, 62, is America’s third richest immigrant with a net worth of $154 billion.
Born in Taiwan, Huang moved to Thailand as a child, then to the U.S. at age nine to escape social unrest in Thailand.
He is one of 11 billionaire immigrants from Taiwan, up from 4 in 2022.
“That is enough to tie Taiwan with Israel as the place with the second most billionaire immigrants,” Forbes said.
Thomas Peterffy
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Thomas Peterffy, Chairman of Interactive Brokers Group Inc., speaks during the Piper Sandler Global Exchange and FinTech Conference in New York City, U.S., June 5, 2024. Photo by Reuters |
In the fourth place is Thomas Peterffy, 80, with a net worth of $75 billion. He is the chairman of Interactive Brokers, which markets its specialized trading platform to sophisticated investors.
Peterffy arrived in America in 1965 at age 21 as descendant of Hungarian aristocrats who lost nearly everything due to political conflicts.
He is a major landowner, with more than 560,000 acres, primarily located in his home state of Florida.
Miriam Adelson
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Miriam Adelson (middle) listens to U.S. President Donald J. Trump during the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. October 28, 2023. Photo by Reuters |
Miriam Adelson, 79, rounded up the list with $36 billion in wealth.
She is the widow of Sheldon Adelson, the former CEO and chairman of casino company Las Vegas Sands, who died at 87 in 2021.
Born in Israel, Adelson became a medical doctor focusing on addiction.
She and her family now own more than half of the New York Stock Exchange-listed gambling empire, which has casinos in Singapore and Macao.
There are now 125 foreign-born American citizens on Forbes’ billionaires list residing in the U.S., a rise of more than one-third from 92 in 2022.
These immigrants come from 41 countries and represent 14% of nearly 900 American billionaires.
Collectively, they hold a record $1.3 trillion in wealth, accounting for 18% of the total $7.2 trillion billionaire wealth in the U.S.
