Global wealth concentration reached fresh milestones in May, as the world’s 500 richest people added $220 billion to their collective fortunes, pushing their total net worth to $2.9 trillion. Elon Musk comfortably retained his position as the planet’s wealthiest individual, while familiar figures such as Bernard Arnault of LVMH and former Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer re-entered the top ten on the back of resurgent equity markets. The artificial-intelligence boom has been particularly kind to tech barons: Oracle’s Larry Ellison gained $71 billion, and Michael Dell’s fortune swelled by $67 billion as demand for AI-related hardware sent Dell Technologies’ stock soaring, according to tracking data reported by Iranian financial media.

Viewed from a longer historical perspective, Musk’s dominance is without precedent. European economic historians have crunched the numbers and concluded that the SpaceX and Tesla chief is the richest person of all time, measured by the number of ordinary workers his income could sustain. Guido Alfani, a professor at Bocconi University, calculates that Musk could afford to pay more than 550,000 labourers, comfortably outstripping both Marcus Licinius Crassus, the wealthiest Roman who could fund 32,000 workers, and John D. Rockefeller, history’s first dollar billionaire, who managed 116,000. The comparison starkly illustrates how modern capital accumulation has decoupled from the constraints that bound even the mightiest of past eras.

The nexus of wealth and celebrity is equally evident in the sporting arena, where the top ten earners collectively pulled in over $1.4 billion. For the fourth year running, Cristiano Ronaldo topped the athlete income list with $300 million, ahead of Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez ($170m) and Lionel Messi ($140m). LeBron James and Shohei Ohtani, both based in Los Angeles, rounded out the top five, each earning comfortably above $125 million. It marks the third consecutive year in which every member of the top ten has smashed the $100 million barrier — a threshold once thought unattainable for sports professionals.

These parallel trajectories — in boardrooms and on playing fields — accentuate a broader global dynamic in which wealth and income are accelerating into ever fewer hands. Analysts in Tehran, where duelling economic dailies carried the billionaire rankings, note the figures are fuelling public debate about inequality. With artificial intelligence, digital platforms and globalised media rights concentrating rewards among the top performers, there is little sign the trend will reverse. Central banks and policymakers may face mounting pressure to address the social fissures such disparities create, even as the very rich and the very famous continue to break all financial records.