A record 52 billionaires with Israeli citizenship appeared this year on Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people, with their combined wealth reaching about $308 billion.
The figure represents a 24% increase compared with last year and about a 50% jump since 2024, according to the rankings.
The sharp rise in wealth among Israeli billionaires mirrors broader global market trends. International stock markets, particularly on Wall Street, have continued to post strong gains, driven largely by growing demand for artificial intelligence technologies, semiconductors, cloud infrastructure and industrial automation.
Technology companies and startups — especially those focused on AI — have surged in valuation, in some cases reaching tens of billions of dollars and boosting the holdings of major investors.
Israel’s own stock market has also performed better than expected. Despite the war, local markets showed resilience and reacted positively after the end of the 12-day war with Iran last year, contributing to rising asset values.
Israel’s high-tech sector, widely seen as the main engine producing new Israeli billionaires, has continued to attract large investments and record major startup exits even amid significant geopolitical uncertainty.
Miriam Adelson ranked as the richest Israeli on the list, with an estimated net worth of $37.5 billion, placing her 56th globally. Idan Ofer ranked second among Israelis with a fortune estimated at $34.6 billion, placing 61st worldwide.
His brother, Eyal Ofer, ranked third among Israelis with an estimated $33.6 billion.
British-Israeli entrepreneurs Dmitry and Igor Bukhman, both 41 and born in the former Soviet Union, ranked fourth and fifth among Israelis. The brothers founded the mobile gaming company Playrix, and each is estimated to be worth $13.6 billion.
Globally, Elon Musk again tops the Forbes list and is approaching a net worth of $1 trillion. Forbes currently estimates Musk’s wealth at $839 billion.
Google co-founder Larry Page ranks second with $257 billion, followed by fellow co-founder Sergey Brin with $237 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ranks fourth with $224 billion, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is fifth with an estimated $222 billion.
First published: 09:36, 03.11.26