{"id":73674,"date":"2026-05-22T12:17:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2026\/05\/22\/posthaste-is-the-world-ready-for-its-first-trillionaire-its-coming-sooner-than-we-think\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:17:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:17:48","slug":"posthaste-is-the-world-ready-for-its-first-trillionaire-its-coming-sooner-than-we-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2026\/05\/22\/posthaste-is-the-world-ready-for-its-first-trillionaire-its-coming-sooner-than-we-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Posthaste: Is the world ready for its first trillionaire? It's coming sooner than we think"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are 3,428 billionaires in the world, according to the wealth trackers at Forbes: 400 more than last year, so basically the world gained a billionaire a day. <\/p>\n

At that pace can a trillionaire be far off? <\/p>\n

Owen A. Lamont, senior vice president of Acadian Asset Management, figures the world\u2019s first U.S. dollar trillionaire will walk among us by the end of the decade if not earlier. <\/p>\n

Elon Musk is the most likely candidate. The CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX was worth US$808.1 billion at last counting, miles ahead of the fortunes of the next two richest men, Google\u2019s Larry Page at $314.9 billion and Sergey Brin at $290.4 billion. <\/p>\n

Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com Inc. fame at $275.3 billion is a distant fourth. <\/p>\n

A compensation package awarded to Musk last year by Tesla\u2019s board could pay him $1 trillion over the next decade, but the highly anticipated IPO of SpaceX or a rise in Tesla\u2019s share price could easily push him over the trillionaire line this year, said Lamont. <\/p>\n

So what does that mean? <\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, the word \u2018trillionaire\u2019 reflects arbitrary numbering conventions. However, words have power, and it\u2019s worth pausing to reflect on this new addition to the U.S. vocabulary,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In this spirit, Lamont takes an fascinating wander back in history to look at the first millionaire and first billionaire. <\/p>\n

The word \u201cmillionaire\u201d was first coined in the 1700s to describe the newly rich investors in the monetary innovations of John Law, who Lamont describes as \u201ca swashbuckling Scottish financier.\u201d <\/p>\n

Law created a new scheme for French public finances that ended in the devastating boom and bust \u201cMississippi Bubble\u201d of 1720. Law fled France after the scheme collapsed and died in poverty in Venice. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe rapidly went from being one of the most admired men in Europe to one of the most despised. Something for Musk to think about,\u201d said Lamont. <\/p>\n

The first billionaire was a very different character. A teetotalling Baptist, John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil Company in 1870 and went on to control almost all of the oil refining in the United States. <\/p>\n

He too was not immune to the \u201cwinds of politics.\u201d President Teddy Roosevelt and Rockefeller squared off in what has been described as \u201cone of America\u2019s most famous political and economic clashes\u201d which culminated in the White House filing an anti-trust suit against Standard Oil in 1906. Five years later, the Supreme Court ordered the breakup of the company. <\/p>\n

Today as fears grow about bubbles arising from the roaring stock market and AI\u2019s dizzying ascent, should we be concerned about a newly minted trillionaire? <\/p>\n

Not according to Lamont. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are eight billion people on planet Earth, and as the planet gets richer and average wealth rises, we\u2019d expect the maximum wealth also to rise. That\u2019s the good way to generate trillionaires: increase real total wealth,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n

The next milestone \u2014 quadrillionaire, arriving by 2130. <\/p>\n

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Sign up here to get Posthaste delivered straight to your inbox.<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s going on with the bond market? <\/p>\n

Despite a tame core inflation reading earlier this week, the yield on 30-year Government of Canada bonds crested 4 per cent, the highest since June 2007. BMO Capital Markets chief economist Douglas Porter says this is a \u201cseismic shift\u201d in long-term yields, which from 2015 to early 2022 averaged under 2 per cent. <\/p>\n

Nor is it just Canada, he said: 30-year Treasury yields shot to nearly 5.2 per cent, also the highest in almost 20 years. <\/p>\n

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  • Today\u2019s Data:<\/strong> Canada retail sales, industrial product and raw materials price indices<\/li>\n
  • Earnings:<\/strong> Williams-Sonoma Inc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    • Welcome to the most important oil town in Canada \u2014 population 623<\/li>\n
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    • What to do if you made a mistake on your tax return or are filing late to the CRA<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      \"\" <\/p>\n

      Salary\u2019s important to consider when job hunting, but top of mind should be total compensation, not just base pay. Financial Post columnist Garry Marr fills us in on why job seekers should consider the value of benefits in their calculations. Read more <\/p>\n

      \n

      <\/span>\"\" Interested in energy? The subscriber-only FP West: Energy Insider newsletter brings you exclusive reporting and in-depth analysis on one of the country\u2019s most important sectors. Sign up here. <\/p>\n

      \n
      Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at <\/span>wealth@postmedia.com<\/span> with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we\u2019ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we\u2019ll keep your name out of it, of course).<\/span><\/div>\n
      \n

      McLister on mortgages<\/h2>\n

      Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister\u2019s Financial Post column can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won\u2019t want to miss. Plus check his mortgage rate page for Canada\u2019s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily. <\/p>\n

      \n

      Financial Post on YouTube<\/h2>\n

      Visit the Financial Post\u2019s YouTube channel for interviews with Canada\u2019s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more. <\/p>\n

      \n

      Today\u2019s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven with additional reporting from Financial Post staff and Bloomberg.<\/em> <\/p>\n

      Have a story idea, pitch, embargoed report, or a suggestion for this newsletter? Email us at posthaste@postmedia.com . <\/p>\n

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      • Trump’s loss is Canada’s gain as Canadian tourists stay home<\/li>\n
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        Bookmark our website and support our journalism:<\/strong> Don\u2019t miss the business news you need to know \u2014 add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here<\/em> <\/p>\n

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        Posthaste: Is the world ready for its first trillionaire? It's coming sooner than we think<\/a>
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        2026-05-22 12:17:48<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        There are 3,428 billionaires in the world, according to the wealth trackers at Forbes: 400 more than last year, so basically the world gained a billionaire a day. At that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/elon-musk-0522-ph.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/73675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}