The world added more billionaires last year than in any of the past five. A Brickell-based tech investor is one of the reasons why.
Global billionaire wealth surged 12.8% to a record $15.1 trillion in 2025. That's according to a new report from wealth intelligence firm Altrata. The billionaire population hit a record 3,795 people.
The AI Premium Is Now Measurable
That 8.2% jump in billionaire headcount marks the largest annual increase in five years, Altrata found. The firm points to one clear driver behind it.
Companies that invested at least $30 million in AI over the past five years saw real payoff. They outperformed non-investors by 23% in market capitalization growth from 2024 through 2025.
"Market concentration doesn't necessarily mean it's a bubble," said Maya Imberg, Altrata's head of thought leadership and analytics. "But there's certainly risk when exposure is concentrated within one main sector."
Where Miami's Own Investors Fit
North America's billionaire population grew 11.6% in 2025, faster than any other region in the world, reaching 1,337 people total.
Orlando Bravo is one clear example of that regional growth. He runs Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm specializing in enterprise software, from Brickell. His estimated net worth sits between $9.8 billion and $11.9 billion.
Thoma Bravo's model is buying and building enterprise software companies. That sits squarely inside the category of firm Altrata says benefited most from the AI investment premium.
The 29 People Pulling Away From Everyone Else
Altrata identified 29 "superbillionaires," people worth more than $50 billion, with a combined net worth of $4.1 trillion. That's 27% of all billionaire wealth concentrated in 29 people.
In 2017, only 10 people qualified as superbillionaires, representing just 7.2% of total billionaire wealth. The gap at the very top has widened dramatically in under a decade.
The Volatility Hiding Inside the Growth
AI-linked fortunes don't move in a straight line. Elon Musk lost $18 billion in paper wealth in a single day in July. Larry Ellison lost $50 billion over one week in June.
Imberg said that volatility is a direct consequence of how concentrated the current boom is. "We expect the fortunes of many of the richest billionaires... to go up and down in response to the AI story," she said.
What This Means for Miami's Wealth Boom
Miami's growing billionaire and family office population isn't just a real estate story anymore. A meaningful share of that wealth is now directly tied to AI investment performance.
That makes Miami's own financial ecosystem more exposed to AI's swings than headlines about tax migration usually capture, in both directions.