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Within Bloomberg’s ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, technology fortunes gained a combined $845 billion through September 30, 2026, while fortunes made outside technology lost $62 billion collectively. That is a sector-level comparison within one ranking—not evidence that every non-tech billionaire lost wealth, or that technology was the only source of billionaire gains worldwide.
What Bloomberg’s 2026 figures measure
Bloomberg’s comparison covers roughly 100 technology fortunes among the 500 people in its Billionaires Index, through September 30. The index put those fortunes at a combined estimated $4.6 trillion—36% of the wealth in the ranking, despite technology fortunes accounting for about one-fifth of its members. Bloomberg described the $845 billion increase as a record gain for the first nine months of a year. The Irish Examiner’s October 5, 2026 report gives the figures and attributes them to Bloomberg’s index.
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The comparison is about changes in estimated net worth, not salaries, cash income, or money actually collected by selling shares or businesses. Bloomberg describes its index as a daily ranking and says its estimates respond to market movements, the economy, and Bloomberg reporting. Its index description and billionaire profiles explain the ranking and how individual fortunes are tallied. Because estimates move with asset values and new information, the September 30 result is a dated snapshot, not a fixed annual total.
Why the technology fortunes rose
Bloomberg identified the AI boom and rising technology stocks, particularly in the United States, as drivers of the sector’s gain. The reported change therefore reflects the estimated value of billionaire holdings as markets moved; it does not show that the people concerned earned the full increase as realized profit.
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Several fortunes illustrate how uneven the movement was within the sector. Bloomberg’s estimates showed Elon Musk adding $310 billion through September, Michael Dell’s estimated wealth rising 81% to $254 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg adding $23 billion. These are changes in estimated net worth reported by the index, not cash earnings.
Why “only” needs a boundary
The non-technology fortunes in Bloomberg’s top 500 lost $62 billion combined through September 30. That aggregate does not mean every person classified outside technology became poorer: some individual fortunes may have risen even as the group total fell. Nor does the ranking cover every billionaire in the world. The headline is defensible only when “only” is understood as shorthand for the contrasting sector totals in this selected index.
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The rise was not uninterrupted
Bloomberg’s figures also show a setback during the period. The combined wealth of the 500 people in the ranking peaked at $13.4 trillion in mid-June, then fell 6% to $12.6 trillion amid a broader market slowdown and concerns about some major AI companies. The technology sector’s net gain through September came despite that pullback; it does not mean technology wealth rose steadily month after month.
How this compares with earlier billionaire data
Technology wealth had also grown strongly in UBS’s separate 2025 report, but its figures use a different database and research period. UBS reported that technology billionaire assets rose 23.8%, or $583.5 billion, to $3.0 trillion. It also found industrial billionaire wealth rose 27.1% to $1.7 trillion. That context points to strong technology gains without implying that technology was the only sector to grow in UBS’s measurement.
The UBS figures should not be compared directly with Bloomberg’s 2026 totals as if they covered the same people, dates, or methodology. See the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2025 for its own findings and scope.
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What to take from the numbers
- For the period and ranking measured: Bloomberg reported a $845 billion combined gain for roughly 100 technology fortunes in its top 500 through September 30, 2026.
- For other sectors in that ranking: fortunes made outside technology lost $62 billion collectively; that does not establish a loss for every individual.
- For individuals: index wealth changes are estimates of net worth, not proof of realized income.
- For the headline’s reach: these figures describe one ranking at a specific cutoff, not every billionaire worldwide or subsequent daily changes.
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