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The net worth of the world’s 500 richest people skyrocketed by a combined $1.5 trillion this year — a stunning reversal from the $1.4 trillion lost by those on last year’s list, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Leading the way was social media and tech tycoon Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, whose fortune grew $95.4 billion to $232 billion — thanks largely to his 12.95% stake in Tesla, which experienced its own impressive gain so far this year.

The world’s most valuable carmaker finished the year trading at $248, a staggering 130% increase from last year.

Musk’s wealth grew despite woes at X, which saw blue-chip advertisers flee the platform — causing a projected $2.5 billion drop in ad sales — over claims that antisemitic content proliferates the site formerly known as Twitter.

The tech sector’s tremendous growth this year, fueled by the boom in artificial intelligence, helped lift several other already-minted billionaires.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s boss, and Musk’s aborted “cage match” foe, saw his net worth climb $84 billion to finish the year sixth on the list at $130 million.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos fattened his wallet with an additional $71.3 billion, rising to No. 3 in the world with a net worth of $178 billion.

Microsoft’s performance this year proved to be good news for its former CEO Steve Ballmer, who still owns about a 4% share in the tech behemoth, contributing to his $44.7 billion in earnings this year.

Ballmer, who left Microsoft in 2015 to start the philanthropic investment company Ballmer Group, is closing out 2023 as the world’s fifth-richest person, with $131 billion.

The co-founders of Google-parent Alphabet, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, earned $43.9 billion and $41 billion, respectively, this year.

Page is primed to end the year as the seventh richest person thanks to his $127 billion fortune, while Brin ranks No. 9, with $120 billion.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates earned a more modest $31.3 billion in 2023, which Bloomberg attributed to his 1.4% ownership of the world’s largest software maker, as well as his controlling role in Cascade Investment — which holds shares in dozens of publicly traded companies, including Canada’s biggest railroad operator, Canadian National Railway.

Bernard Arnault of luxury goods empire LVMH, added a mere $16.9 billion to his fortune to fall behind Musk after topping the list last year.

The gap between Musk and 74-year-old Arnault has widened by $53 billion as tech stocks have outperformed the luxury sector, which is experiencing the worst market conditions since 2008,” according to MyTheresa, a designer goods resale merchant.

However, heir to the French beauty brand LOreal Francoise Bettencourt Meyers bucked the trend, shooting up to No. 12 by tacking on $28.6 billion to her wealth — and becoming the first woman to crack the $100 billion barrier.

The 70-year-old’s wealth is from her stake in the worlds largest cosmetics company — founded by her grandfather in 1909 and now worth more than $240 billion — which she inherited following the 2017 death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt.

The biggest losers this year were Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who lost $37.3 billion — including $21 billion on Jan. 27 alone after investment research firm Hindenburg Research published a scathing report alleging Adani Group has engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades,” thus crippling the conglomerate’s stock.

At the time, the New York-based investigative group also raised concerns about Adani Groups high debt, claiming it wiped more than $11 billion in investor wealth.

Adani was swiftly stripped of his crown as the worlds No. 3 richest man and is set to end 2023 in the No. 15 spot on Bloomberg’s index with a net worth of $83.2 billion.

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Business

MPs seek COVID-19-style financial support cyberattack hit Jaguar Land Rover

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MPs seek COVID-19-style financial support cyberattack hit Jaguar Land Rover

An influential committee of MPs is seeking COVID-19-style financial support for Jaguar Land Rover as it tries to recover from a cyberattack.

After a week of plant closures, the Committee for Business and Trade has written to the chancellor, asking her what is being offered to the carmaker “to mitigate the risk of significant, long-term commercial damage to affected firms”.

The 34,000 UK workers of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are to remain at home until at least next week after a cyberattack discovered last week halted operations.

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Staff are still being paid from JLR sites in Halewood, Merseyside, and Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, but the entire economy around the West Midlands is affected.

JLR suppliers Evtec, WHS Plastics, SurTec and OPmobility have had to temporarily lay off roughly 6,000 staff.

Operations could be disrupted for “most of September” or worse, according to a report from The Sunday Times.

More on Cyberattacks

On Thursday, Business and Trade Committee chair Liam Byrne wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, saying: “Firms across the supply chain are now warning the committee of disruption to both upstream and downstream businesses.

“This disruption, we are told, may imminently pose very significant risks to cashflow.”

Intervention, akin to the emergency steps taken to secure British Steel production, is suggested by Mr Byrne to “protect sovereign areas of strength in the UK’s industrial, scientific and technological base”.

A group of English-speaking hackers claimed responsibility for the JLR attack via a Telegram platform called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, an amalgamation of the names of hacking groups Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters.

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Four arrested over M&S, Co-Op and Harrods cyber attacks

Scattered Spider, a loose group of relatively young hackers, were behind the Co-Op, Harrods and M&S attacks.

Four people were arrested for their suspected involvement in the April attacks and have been bailed.

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World

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazilian Supreme Court judges vote to convict ex-president of attempting a coup

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Jair Bolsonaro: Brazilian Supreme Court judges vote to convict ex-president of attempting a coup

The majority of a panel of Brazilian Supreme Court judges have voted to convict the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro of attempting a coup after his 2022 election defeat.

The far-right politician, who ruled Brazil between 2019 and 2022, was found guilty on five counts by three members of a five-justice panel.

Just one of the five judges has acquitted Bolsonaro and when the final one has voted, the panel will decide on the former president’s sentence – which could amount to decades in prison.

The five counts were trying to stage a coup, being part of an armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, being implicated in violence, and posing a serious threat to the state’s assets and listed heritage.

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

The 70-year-old, who has denied any wrongdoing, is currently under house arrest at his home in Brasilia.

His lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict.

The ruling will deepen political divisions in Brazil and is also likely to prompt a backlash from the United States government.

More on Brazil

Bolsonaro ally Donald Trump has already called the case a “witch hunt”, slapped Brazil with tariff hikes and revoked US visas for most members of Brazil’s high court.

Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup.

He has not attended the court proceedings, and on Thursday he was seen at his garage at his property, but did not talk to the media.

Read more from Sky News:
What we know about how Charlie Kirk was killed
Read Mandelson’s letter to US embassy staff after being sacked

Justice Carmen Lucia. Pic: AP
Image:
Justice Carmen Lucia. Pic: AP

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case, said on Tuesday that Bolsonaro was the leader of a coup plot and of a criminal organisation, and voted in favour of convicting him. Justices Flavio Dino, Carmen Lucia and Cristiano Zanin sided with Justice Moraes in the trial.

On Wednesday, another justice, Luiz Fux, disagreed and voted to acquit the ex-president of all charges.

Justice Lucia said she was convinced by the evidence the attorney general’s office put forward against Bolsonaro.

She said: “He is the instigator, the leader of an organisation that orchestrated every possible move to maintain or seize power.”

The far-right politician had been previously banned from running for office until 2030 in a different case.

He is expected to choose an heir who is likely to challenge President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva next year.

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What we know about how Charlie Kirk was killed

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What we know about how Charlie Kirk was killed

Chaos broke out at Utah Valley University when prominent right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk was shot dead in front of thousands of people.

Mr Kirk, 31, was speaking to students about mass shootings on Wednesday when he was shot in the neck, leading students to flee and a manhunt for the killer beginning.

Many questions remain, with differing accounts and multiple videos across social media.

The Sky News Data and Forensic team has tracked and mapped the events before, during and after the killing to find out as much as possible about what happened.

When and where did the shooting happen?

Mr Kirk was speaking to around 3,000 people from under a small white tent on the campus when he was shot.

The event was part of his “prove me wrong” series, which saw the right-wing influencer visit campuses across the country and debate contentious subjects like gun control, free speech, LGBTQ+ rights and abortion rights with left-wing students.

The event began at roughly 12pm local time.

Mr Kirk was taking questions about mass shootings and gun violence when, at roughly 12.20pm, he was shot.

It was a single shot that struck him in the neck, a university spokesman confirmed.

Charlie Kirk at a university event before he was fatally shot. Pic: Reuters/Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune
Image:
Charlie Kirk at a university event before he was fatally shot. Pic: Reuters/Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune

Madison Lattin, who was standing only a few dozen feet to the left of Mr Kirk when he was shot, said: “Blood is falling and dripping down, and you’re just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety.”

Footage from the scene showed Mr Kirk being carried away within seconds of the shooting.

Where did the shot come from?

In a statement on Thursday, the FBI said they had tracked the gunman’s movements onto the campus, “through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof, to a shooting location”.

They said they first tracked his movements from 11.52am, when they said he arrived on campus.

Videos from the event show the gunman was on top of the Losee Centre building – just over 130m away from where Kirk was speaking, according to an online measuring tool.

Two videos show a figure on the roof before and immediately after a shot is fired.

The first video shows what appears to be someone lying down. The person filming says “he just ran from over there” – pointing in the direction of a stairwell coming up the roof.

The second video is filmed in the moments after the shot is fired. You see a silhouette that appears to stand and move away from the roof’s edge.

Using videos taken near the stage, Sky News was able to confirm that this position has a direct line of sight to where Kirk was sitting at the time of the attack.

Audio analyst Rob Maher has estimated the distance the shot travelled, reaching a similar conclusion to Sky News’ analysis.

“The time gap between the crack sound and the pop sound in the recordings close to the podium is about 240 milliseconds,” he told Sky News.

“Since the exact trajectory of the bullet and the bullet’s speed is not known, I have to make an assumption that the bullet speed was likely about 800 meters per second. With that assumption, the time gap indicates that the firearm was likely about 140m from the podium”.

Pic: Rob Maher
Image:
Pic: Rob Maher

What weapon was used?

The weapon suspected of being used in the shooting has been found, according to FBI agent Robert Bohls, who told a news briefing in Orem, Utah, that it was a “high-powered, bolt-action rifle”.

“That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled,” he said. “The FBI laboratory will be analysing this weapon.”

Mr Bohls added that they also found an “impression of a palm print and forearm imprints for analysis”; however the shooter remained at large.

Firearms consultant David Dyson told Sky News that, based on the range from where they are believed to have fired, the gunman would likely need to be a somewhat skilled target shooter.

But he suggested that while the shot may be difficult for anyone without experience, it’s “not a great range” for someone with practice.

“There’s target disciplines, for instance, [at] 800m. So you can shoot quite accurately at far greater distances than 150 yards,” he said.

“If we’re in that sort of ballpark, then you’re not looking at somebody with phenomenal skill,” he added.

What do we know about the shooter?

A manhunt is under way for the killer, which began on the university campus but has now extended beyond.

Police radio recordings show the first mention of the incident at 12.26pm, about six minutes after the shooting occurred.

Officers were on the scene within minutes, with one officer describing the suspect at 12.35pm as “wearing jeans, black shirt, black mask, long rifle”.

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Audio recording of police response after Charlie Kirk shot

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Police audio after the incident

By 12.58pm, 32 mins after the shooting, armed officers could be seen checking the perimeter of the Losee building.

In an update on Thursday, authorities offered a few more details about the shooter, who they referred to as a male.

Beau Mason, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, said he “appears to be of college age” and that he “blended in well with a college institution”.

The authorities added they were “doing everything we can to find him” but that “we’re not sure how far he has gone yet”.

The person of interest the FBI is looking for. Pics: FBI Salt Lake City/X
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The person of interest the FBI is looking for. Pics: FBI Salt Lake City/X

The FBI later released images of a “person of interest” in the shooting.

Two people were arrested after the shooting, but neither was determined to have any connection with the shooting and were later released.

What sort of security was on site?

Witnesses have spoken about a supposed lack of security checkpoints, with people being able to walk into the event with backpacks without being searched.

“Anybody in the world could park anywhere around the university and walk right in,” one witness told Sky News affiliate NBC news.

Read more:
Who was Charlie Kirk? The young MAGA influencer ‘admired’ by Trump
Killing of MAGA icon could be a moment of jeopardy for America

The UVU website states that “generally, anyone is allowed to enter areas that are open to the public” but non-public areas are restricted by “access cards, locked doors, or monitored entryways”.

A 2012 drone video shows the area around the shooter’s location on the 4th floor. A metal railing encloses an accessible balcony area which means that to reach the roof where the shot was taken, they could have climbed or jumped over the railing.

Pic: Eric Fowkes
Image:
Pic: Eric Fowkes

Extra security measures were put in place for the event. UVU Police Chief Jeff Long said six police officers were there as well as plainclothes police officers in the crowd.

Chief Long confirmed that Mr Kirk also had a security team, which travels with him, and said he coordinated with Mr Kirk’s lead security officer.

Analysis of the videos from the event show at least four men, who appear to be Kirk’s security team, surrounding the stage.

“We train for these things, and you think you have these things covered,” Chief Jeff Long said in his statement last night.

“You try to get your bases covered and unfortunately today we didn’t”.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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