Michael Dell has overtaken Jeff Bezos in Forbes’ billionaire rankings, becoming the world’s third-wealthiest person for the first time after shares of Dell Technologies hit an all-time high, extending a six-month rally.
Dell’s estimated net worth rose by $4.6 billion to $267.7 billion at Tuesday’s market close, putting him ahead of Amazon co-founder Bezos, whose fortune fell by $1.4 billion to $265.2 billion after Amazon shares declined 0.6 percent.
Dell now trails only Alphabet co-founder Larry Page, whose estimated fortune stands at $277.9 billion, and Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, with $942 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaire ranking.
Shares of Dell Technologies rose 1.9 percent on Tuesday to close at a record $533.88, after reaching as high as $538.47 during trading.
Dell’s fortune has more than doubled over the past year as his company has benefited from surging demand for artificial intelligence hardware.
The company’s shares have risen 327 percent since the beginning of the year, when they traded at about $128. Dell owns roughly 40 percent of Dell Technologies, while a significant portion of his fortune is held through his private investment firm, DFO Management.
His rising wealth has followed Dell Technologies’ strong financial performance, enabling him to overtake other technology billionaires, including Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, in recent months.
AI boom
Dell Technologies is benefiting from growing investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The company reported record second-quarter revenue of $47 billion, up 58 percent from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share rose to $7.04, an increase of 203 percent year-on-year.
Its AI-optimised server business recorded a record $60.9 billion in orders and generated $16.4 billion in revenue during the quarter. Dell also exited the period with a record $95 billion backlog.
The strong performance prompted the company to raise its full-year revenue guidance by $25 billion to $192 billion, representing growth of about 69 percent from the previous year.
Dell’s infrastructure business has been a major driver of the growth, with revenue from its Infrastructure Solutions Group reaching $31.8 billion, up 89 percent year-on-year. AI-optimised server revenue doubled to $16.4 billion, while traditional servers and networking revenue rose 122 percent to $10.5 billion.
The latest move up the billionaire rankings highlights how the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is creating fortunes not only for technology platform owners, but also for companies supplying the hardware and infrastructure needed to power the technology.
