--- title: Warren Buffett Made $12 Billion in 2016, Is the Second-Richest Person in the World Again description: The richest people in the world added $237 billion to their fortunes this year, in part due to the surprise election of Donald Trump. authors: - name: Kerry Close url: https://money.com/author/kerry-close/ at_money_since: 2016 articles: 182 covers: - Business - Banking - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/kerryclose former_staff: true published: '2016-12-28T15:24:50.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T12:07:07.000Z' section: Business tags: - Jeff Bezos - onetime - Warren Buffett - Wealth - world's richest people word_count: 203 canonical: https://money.com/worlds-richest-people-earnings/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit - Day 2](https://img.money.com/2016/12/gettyimages-492444164.jpg) *Warren Buffett added $11.8 billion to his fortune this year.* 2016 was a good year for the ultra-rich. The world's wealthiest people added a total of $237 billion to their fortunes this year, [Bloomberg reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-28/as-populists-won-2016-ballots-world-s-richest-made-237-billion). Warren Buffett, who earned $11.8 billion this year, saw the biggest gains in 2016. He can thank President-elect Donald Trump in part for his gains; his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway saw its airline and banking holdings soar after Trump's unexpected election. The year-end rally of Berkshire Hathaway stock allowed Buffett to reclaim his position as the second-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $74.1 billion. Americans dominated individual gains, with four of the five biggest increases on Bloomberg's index. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the world's richest person with a fortune of $91.5 billion, added nearly $10 billion to his net worth. Oilman Harold Hamm saw the third-highest gains, with his fortune more than doubling to $15.3 billion due to growing oil prices and expectations of a Trump administration loosening fossil fuel regulations. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos led the world's technology billionaires, adding $7.5 billion to his now-$67.2 billion fortune on large sales growth from the online retailer he controls. He was followed by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who netted $5.4 billion and grew his net worth to $50 billion. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/worlds-richest-people-earnings/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Business", "item": "https://money.com/business/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Entrepreneurship", "item": "https://money.com/entrepreneurship/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Warren Buffett Made $12 Billion in 2016, Is the Second-Richest Person in the World Again" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/worlds-richest-people-earnings/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/worlds-richest-people-earnings/", "name": "Warren Buffett Made $12 Billion in 2016, Is the Second-Richest Person in the World Again", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-12-28T15:24:50.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/worlds-richest-people-earnings/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/worlds-richest-people-earnings/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T12:07:07.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Warren Buffett Made $12 Billion in 2016, Is the Second-Richest Person in the World Again", "articleSection": "Business", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/12/gettyimages-492444164.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2000, "caption": "Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit - Day 2" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kerry Close", "url": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/kerryclose" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-12-28T15:24:50.000Z", "description": "The richest people in the world added $237 billion to their fortunes this year, in part due to the surprise election of Donald Trump.", "abstract": "The richest people in the world added $237 billion to their fortunes this year, in part due to the surprise election of Donald Trump.", "@id": "https://money.com/worlds-richest-people-earnings/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-16T12:07:07.000Z", "wordCount": 203, "keywords": [ "Jeff Bezos", "onetime", "Warren Buffett", "Wealth", "world's richest people" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Business", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Entrepreneurship", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurship" ] } ] } ] } ```