How Much Do These Top Billionaires Make Per Hour?
Nobody ever said life was fair. If it was, everyone might earn close to the same amount of money. But the wealthiest billionaires earn more cash in an hour than many people will see in their entire lives. Here’s how much top billionaires earn hourly thanks to the outsized impact they have on the economy.
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Breaking Down the Math
When calculating how much billionaires earn hourly, assume they work 40 hours a week — or around 2,080 hours annually. That’s probably not entirely accurate, but it’s a reasonable estimate.
Next, you can look at how much a billionaire’s net worth has increased over the past 12 months. Divide that figure by the 2,080 hours they worked in the year and you have the best estimate possible for the amount they earned on an hourly basis.
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Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos created Amazon, turning it into a trillion-dollar company before retiring. His net worth is around $203 billion, according to Bloomberg, which is up $26.4 billion over the last 12 months.
Using the math from the previous section, that means he earned about $1.27 million per hour last year. Not bad considering the average American brings in around $1.7 million in lifetime earnings. Plus, Bezos is technically retired from his role at Amazon now. So he may have earned that amount without even working 40 hours a week.
Mark Zuckerberg
As the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most recognizable billionaires on the planet. His net worth is around $154 billion — up $26.1 billion over the last 12 months, as cited by Bloomberg. That means he earned about $1.25 million per hour last year — close to what Bezos made.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates didn’t do quite as well as his tech peers Zuckerberg and Bezos last year. According to Bloomberg, his net worth increased by $9.28 billion over the last 12 months, which comes out to around $44.6 million per hour.
Warren Buffet
Next up is the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet. His net worth increased by $12.9 billion over the last 12 months, according to Bloomberg — good for roughly $62 million hourly.
Buffet is a bit of a unique addition to the list. Many of his peers built their wealth by starting technology companies or assuming prominent roles in massive ones at an early stage. Buffet didn’t. He built his fortune by consistently making genius-level investment decisions throughout his over 50 years in the market. His savvy has helped him outperform the S&P 500 market index over time.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk actually saw his net worth decline over the past 12 months, unlike many of his counterparts on this list. It dipped by a cool $27.5 billion, as Bloomberg cited, meaning he lost around $1.3 million for every hour he worked.
Don’t feel too bad for Musk, though. His net worth of around $202 billion still leaves him as the third-wealthiest man in the world. Plus, he was earning around $333.33 million per day in early 2022.
Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison created Oracle, one of the most valuable companies in the world and a major player in the growth of Silicon Valley. His net worth grew by $8.75 billion over the last year, according to Bloomberg — meaning he earned about $42 million each hour he worked.
Steve Balmer
Steve Balmer was the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014 and owns the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers today. During his time as CEO, Ballmer amassed a 4% ownership stake in the company, which is worth billions today, as reported by Techopedia. This helped Ballmer reach a net worth of around $139 billion, Bloomberg cited. That figure increased by $8.67 billion over the last 12 months, good for around $41.6 million per hour.
Bernard Arnault
Bernard Arnault is currently the richest man in the world with a net worth of around $217 billion, according to Bloomberg. He made his wealth by creating some of the most popular luxury brands on the planet, including Louis Vuitton, Hennessey and Moet. Over the last 12 months, Arnault’s fortune increased by about $9.28 billion — good for around $44.6 million per hour. Suffice it to say, he can more than afford his own products.
Sergey Brin
Next on the list is Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google. His net worth of $132 billion increased by $8.75 billion over the last 12 months, as cited by Bloomberg. Given that, you can assume he earned around $42 million each hour he worked.
Jensen Huang
A relatively new entrant to the billionaire club, Jensen Huang had the best year of any name on this list. The founder of NVIDIA increased his net worth by around $33.3 billion over the last months, according to Bloomberg. That’s around $1.6 million he made every hour.
Huang’s fortune has grown as the AI boom has taken off. NVIDIA has become a trillion-dollar company under his watch and the darling of this burgeoning industry.
How These Figures Compare to the Average Person
Comparing these figures to the average salary can feel depressing. But it’s a great way to put into perspective just how much wealthier these top billionaires are than other people.
The average U.S. worker earns only around $34.69 per hour, according to Indeed. If you earn that much, you’d have to work for 46,122 hours — around 22 years — just to equal what NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang made per hour last year.
The disparity is even more impressive if you look at average income on a global basis. The latest data shows that the average worker on planet Earth earns around $8,700 annually. They would need to work nearly 184 years to reach what Huang earns every hour.
What Does This Look Like For You?
The richest people on the planet earn enough in an hour for the average person to retire comfortably. But don’t let that dissuade you from pursuing your financial goals. You may never reach the hourly earnings of Bezos or Zuckerberg, but you can put yourself in a better financial position tomorrow than you are today.
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