Is Elon Musk the richest person in human history?
While measurements of net worth are inexact, there are individuals widely believed to have possessed more wealth than Elon Musk, whose net worth, derived from the value of companies he helped build, peaked at $340 billion in November 2021, according to Bloomberg.
Ancient rulers form the bulk of those wealthier than Musk. Roman emperor Augustus Caesar, whose control of powerful states allowed him to amass personal riches, may have had a net worth as high as $4.6 trillion. Mansa Musa, who ruled the gold-rich Mali Empire in the early 1300s, possessed an estimated $415 billion. Visual Capitalist notes these are rough figures given the difficulty of valuing historical wealth in current U.S. dollars.
In the modern world, oil magnate John D. Rockefeller amassed as much as $400 billion, according to Investopedia. This estimate is a measure of net worth as a percentage of GDP.