Billionaires' wealth soared in 2024, anti-poverty group says as the elites prepare for another Davos

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Billionaires' wealth grew three times faster in 2024 than the year before, a top anti-poverty group reported on Monday as some of the world's political and financial elite prepared for an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

Oxfam International, in its latest assessment of global inequality timed to the opening of the World Economic Forum meeting, also predicts at least five trillionaires will crop up over the next decade. A year ago, the group forecast that only one trillionaire would appear during that time.

OxFam's research adds weight to a warning by outgoing President Joe Biden last week of a “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few ultra-wealthy people.” The group's sharp-edged report, titled “Takers Not Makers,” also says the number of people in poverty has barely budged since 1990.

The World Economic Forum expects to host some 3,000 attendees, including business executives, academics, government officials, and civic group leaders at its annual meeting in the Alpine village of Davos. The first big day of meetings starts Tuesday, after a largely ceremonial start on Monday.

How will Davos-goers respond to Trump's inauguration?

Expect U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House to be a topic of formal conversations and off-the-cuff remarks. Policy experts are participating in a Tuesday morning panel titled, “47th US Presidency, Early Thoughts” and a town hall called “State of Play: U.S. Dollar.”

Ukrianian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to deliver speeches at Davos on Tuesday.

President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, an avowed supporter of Trump, took a wait-and-see attitude before Trump gave his inaugural address on Monday. Vucic said he and his team would spend the evening analyzing the speech.

“Everybody hopes that Trump will bring new ambition and new energy” into resolving the Russia-Ukraine war, the Serbian leader told The Associated Press. “I hope that Trump will do something in very concrete terms.”

Trump's first speech of his second presidency was heavy on domestic issues, but he said “my proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier” and alluded to a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that took effect on Sunday.

Trump, who visited Davos twice during his first term, was expected to take part in the forum's event by video on Thursday.

Anti-poverty activists fear ‘new aristocracy’ in U.S. and beyond

Trump has long championed wealth accumulation — including his own — and counts multibillionaire Elon Musk as a top adviser.

“What you’re seeing at the moment is a billionaire president taking oaths today, backed by the richest man. So this is pretty much the jewel in the crown of the global oligarchies,” Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International, said in an interview, referring to Trump and Musk.

“It’s not about one specific individual. It’s the economic system that we have created where the billionaires are now pretty much being able to shape economic policies, social policies, which eventually gives them more and more profit,” he added.

Like Biden’s call for making billionaires “begin to pay their fair share” through the U.S. tax code, Oxfam — a global advocacy group — called on governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality and extreme wealth, and to “dismantle the new aristocracy.”

The group called for steps like the break-up of monopolies, capping CEO pay, and regulation of corporations to ensure they pay “living wages” to workers.

How are the poorest faring?

Many investors racked up strong gains in 2024, with strong performances for top tech companies and stock-market indexes like the S&P 500, as well as the price of gold and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Oxfam said billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion last year, or roughly $5.7 billion a day, three-times faster than in 2023. The number of billionaires rose by 204 to 2,769, and the 10 richest men saw their wealth rise nearly $100 million a day on average, it said.

Citing World Bank data, the group pointed to lingering poverty, saying the number of people living on less than $6.85 per day has “barely changed” since 1990. Oxfam used Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire List” as of end-November for data on the ultra-rich.

By contrast, at least four new billionaires were “minted” every week in 2024, and three-fifths of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, monopoly power or “crony connections,” it said.

Will it be business as usual at Davos again this year?

Despite the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the annual Davos confab will likely focus again on money- and deal-making money, with strongman leaders on the rise in some Western countries and progressive causes like diversity and climate change waning in the business world.

The continued rise of artificial intelligence as a tool for business to reap greater efficiencies will also again be a central theme in Davos, despite worries in many sectors that AI could upend many white-collar jobs and displace workers in an array of industries.

As in past years, protesters calling for more economic equality, taxing the rich and pressing other demands took to the streets. Some blocked roads to Davos, snarling traffic in places and delaying trips for some attendees to the event, which runs through Friday.