The world’s 10 richest people added US$402 billion to their collective net worth in 2021, making it a banner year for the ultra-wealthy.

As the year came to an end, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was the biggest winner, adding US$121 billion to his fortune, which is now the largest in the world at US $277 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who started the year in the top spot, sank to No. 2, adding a mere US$4.54 billion to his net worth, which now stands at US$195 billion.

After Musk, French billionaire Bernard Arnault, the founder of luxury goods company LVMH and currently the third richest man in the world, had the largest gains for the year, adding US$61.3 billion to his fortune.

For Musk, it was an eventful year, marked by a hosting appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” a break-up with girlfriend Grimes, and his self-coronation as “Technoking” of Tesla. Musk made huge waves as he sold off many billions worth of his Tesla stock in a move purportedly dictated by a poll he posted on Twitter.

In reality, at least some of the stock sales were driven by mandatory taxes as he exercised stock options that will expire in August.

He has sold US$16.4 billion worth of shares since early November when he said he would sell 10 percent of his Tesla stock if Twitter users agreed, which they did.

In total, Musk has sold 15.7 million shares in Tesla late in 2021. He exercised options granted in 2012 to buy nearly 23 million shares at US$6.24 each, a fraction of Tesla’s share price, which stood at US$1069.33 in late trading last Thursday, the final trading session of the year.

Tesla shares have fallen from their record highs, reached two days prior to Musk’s infamous Twitter poll, but still ended the year up 54 percent from Jan. 1, 2021.

Elsewhere on the top-10 billionaires list, Microsoft founder Bill Gates added US$7.13 billion to his fortune, the fourth largest in the world at US$139 billion.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin added US$47.4 billion and US$45.1 billion to their net worths respectively.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gained US$24.3 billion for the year, bringing his total to US$128 billion.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gained US$41.2 billion in 2021, and Warren Buffett added US$21.4 billion.

Larry Ellison, the executive chairman of Oracle, added US$28.8 billion to his wealth.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【得意年】déyì nián banner year a year that is good because something is successful

【据称】jùchēng purportedly allegedly, reportedly, supposedly

2021年是超级富豪的得意之年，这一年全球十大富豪的总净资产增加了4020亿美元。

随着2021年落下帷幕，特斯拉首席执行官埃隆•马斯克成为最大赢家，他的财富增加了1210亿美元。根据彭博亿万富翁指数，马斯克现在资产为2770亿美元，成为全球首富。

亚马逊创始人杰夫•贝索斯在2021年年初是全球首富，现在降到了第二位，他的净资产只增加了45.4亿美元，现在达到1950亿美元。

法国亿万富翁、奢侈品公司路易酩轩创始人伯纳德•阿尔诺2021年的财富涨幅仅次于马斯克，阿尔诺目前在全球富豪榜中排名第三，他的财富增加了613亿美元。

对马斯克来说，2021年是不平凡的一年，这一年他在《周六夜现场》节目中担任嘉宾，与女友格莱姆斯分手，并自封为特斯拉的“电音王”。

马斯克抛售了价值数十亿美元的特斯拉股票，引起轩然大波，他号称是根据自己发布在推特上的一项投票做出这一决定。实际上，马斯克抛售股票至少有一部分原因是为了缴纳税款，因为他要行使将于2022年8月到期的股票期权。2021年11月初，马斯克声称如果推特用户支持，他将出售10%的特斯拉股票。在多数网友投赞成票后，他出售了价值164亿美元的股票。

2021年末，马斯克一共抛售了1570万股特斯拉股票，他行使了2012年获得的期权，以每股6.24美元的价格买入接近2300万股特斯拉股票 ，这个价格是特斯拉上周四收盘前价格1069.33美元的零头。

虽然特斯拉股票已经从历史高位回落，但从2021年1月初起涨幅依然高达54%；股价在马斯克发起推特投票两天前达到最高点。

此外，在全球十大富豪榜中，微软创始人比尔•盖茨的财富增加了71.3亿美元，以1390亿美元的身价位居世界第四。

谷歌联合创始人拉里•佩奇和谢尔盖•布林的净资产分别增加了474亿美元和451亿美元。

脸书首席执行官马克•扎克伯格2021年财富增加了243亿美元，总资产达1280亿美元。

微软前任首席执行官史蒂夫•鲍尔默在2021年财富增加412亿美元，沃伦•巴菲特财富增加了214亿美元。

甲骨文公司执行主席拉里•埃里森的财富增加了288亿美元。(chinadaily.com.cn)