Oxfam: "The five richest people in the world doubled their wealth from 2020 to last year"

The world's five richest people saw their wealth more than double from 2020 to the latter part of last year, according to a report by Oxfam, an organization that calls for reducing "corporate power," according to CNBC.

According to the report, the total wealth of the world's richest people - Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; LVMH boss Bernard Arnault and his family; Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon; Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle; and investor Warren Buffett - grew from $405 billion in March 2020 to $869 billion in November 2023. Oxfam used data from Forbes and Wealth X, the American publication also writes.

The Oxfam report was published yesterday, just as the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum began, where the so-called global elite of political leaders and businessmen meet in Switzerland in Davos, but none of the five billionaires are present.

According to the Oxfam report, seven of the world's ten largest companies have a billionaire as CEO or major shareholder. The world's richest 1% own 43% of global financial assets, such as listed stocks and bonds, along with stakes in private businesses.

"If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade, but poverty will not be eradicated for another 229 years," according to Oxfam.

The organization also pointed out that the net profit of the world's 148 largest companies increased by 52% in the twelve months to June 2023, compared to their average profits between 2018 and 2021.

"Extreme poverty in the poorest countries is higher than it was before the pandemic. However, a few super-rich individuals are competing to become the world's first trillionaire in the next ten years," said Aleema Shivji, Oxfam's interim executive director.

The organization calls on governments to close the gap between the super-rich and the rest of society by "curbing corporate power," including breaking up monopolies, capping CEO pay and adding new taxes on wealth and excess profits, according to CNBC.