Composite showing Elon Musk (left), Gautam Adani (center) and Jensen Huang (right)
Reuters
A version of this article first appeared on CNBC's Inside Wealth with Robert Frank, a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. Register to receive future issues directly to your inbox.
On September 29, 1916, newspapers across the country announced a milestone of wealth that had been thought unattainable: the world's first multimillionaire.
“Standard Oil's $2,014 Stock Price Makes Its Chief a Billionaire,” the New York Times headlined, adding that the rise in Standard Oil's stock price “makes John D. Rockefeller, founder and largest shareholder, almost certainly a billionaire.”
More than a century after the first American billionaire (in measurable dollar terms), the question of who will be the first to reach the trillionaire mark remains a fascinating one. At least half a dozen companies have done so, the most recent Berkshire Hathawaywhich hit $1 trillion just before Warren Buffett's 94th birthday. Nvidia It now stands at $2.6 trillion, having hit the 13-figure club last year.
And what about individuals? According to a new report from Informa Connect Academy, which predicts billionaire status based on the average annual rate of wealth growth, Tesla CEO Elon Musk will likely become the world's first trillionaire.
Musk is currently the richest person in the world, at $251 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Connect Academy projects Musk will become a trillionaire sometime in 2027, assuming his wealth continues to grow at an average annual rate of 110%.
According to the report, the second to reach billionaire status will be Indian Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani Group conglomerate. If Adani maintains his recent annual growth rate of 123%, the report says he will be a billionaire by 2028.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, whose fortune has soared from $3 billion to more than $90 billion in five years, would become a trillionaire by 2028, the report said. His wealth would need to continue growing at an average annual rate of 112%. Nvidia shares have already risen about 115% this year, after tripling in value last year.
Fourth on the list is Indonesian Prajogo Pangestu, founder of mining and energy conglomerate Barito Pacific. The report predicts that Pangestu could reach billionaire status by 2028.
Completing the top five would be LVMH Chief Executive Bernard Arnault, who is currently the world's third-richest person at just under $200 billion, will become a trillionaire sometime in 2030, the report said. Goal CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Some of the top billionaires who seem like strong candidates to quickly make it into the four-comma club don't appear in the top 10. Jeff Bezos, currently the world's second-richest person at $200 billion, according to Bloomberg, is ranked No. 12, and wouldn't become a trillionaire until 2036. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the richest people in the world, are ranked No. 10. Google Founders will also have to wait 12 years to become billionaires, although artificial intelligence may accelerate their rise.
It's true that wealth watchers have been predicting the emergence of the first trillionaire for years, and stocks in Tesla, Nvidia and LVMH may not rise as fast over the next five years as they have over the past five.
However, more than 100 years after the first billionaire, the first trillionaire could well be crowned within the next decade.
