The billionaires who will shape Trump’s second term – and what they want for America
Much of America's billionaire class shunned Donald Trump in the run-up to his first election victory in 2016. But since then, Trump has assembled a coalition of wealthy supporters who could now stand to wield significant influence during a second term.
Some of these figures may serve official roles in a Trump administration, while others may wield influence behind the scenes.
These are the most prominent billionaires who have the president-elect's ear – and how they could shape the future of the United States.
Billionaires' net worth counter: $
Elon Musk
Businessman and investor
Net worth:
$290bn
Musk, the world's wealthiest person, has been at the centre of Trump's re-election bid, showering the Republican campaign with funds and urging his 200m followers on X, formerly Twitter, to support him.
Musk and Trump have discussed a potential role for the billionaire in the administration running a "Department of Government Efficiency", or "Doge", which would be charged with slashing spending and federal bureaucracy.
The Tesla chief has frequently sounded the alarm about illegal immigration and "woke" ideology, while also advocating for slashing red tape.
He has said his longer-term vision includes sending humans to Mars, launching millions of driverless cars on to the road and installing chips in people's skulls to merge humans with artificial intelligence – all of which he has a financial stake in, and which he believes have been threatened by government meddling.
Already, Musk has reportedly suggested that SpaceX employees could fill roles at the Department of Defense.
John Paulson
Hedge fund manager
Net worth:
$3.8bn
The New York hedge fund manager became world famous for shorting the housing market in the run-up to the financial crisis, a bet that made him a reported $4bn and has been referred to as the "greatest trade ever".
He has donated heavily to each of Trump's presidential runs and has been touted as a potential treasury secretary in the next administration.
Paulson has suggested he will extend Trump's tax cuts, which are due to expire in 2025, and slash government spending on green subsidies, as well as working to boost home-grown energy production.
"All of these tax subsidies for solar, for wind, inefficient, uneconomic energy sources. Eliminate that," Paulson said recently.
Steve Wynn
Real estate developer
Net worth:
$3.7bn
The casino magnate's Las Vegas hotels sit a stone's throw from Trump's own hotel on the strip and Wynn, 82, has been a long-time ally, as well as a heavy donor to the Republican party before Trump entered politics.
He was the vice chairman of Trump's 2016 inauguration committee and ran a Republican finance committee before resigning in 2018 amid sexual misconduct allegations, which last year led to a settlement and no admission of wrongdoing.
In 2022, the Department of Justice accused Wynn of lobbying Trump on behalf of China during Trump's first term to protect his casino interests in Macau and sought to have him register as a foreign agent. The case was dismissed after a judge ruled that his relationship with Beijing had ended in 2017.
As a long-time Republican backer, he has advocated for lower taxes and deregulation.
Howard Lutnick
Chief Executive of Cantor Fitzgerald
Net worth:
$1.5bn
The long-time boss of the Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick became widely-known after the Sept 11 attacks, in which the majority of staff at his company died including Lutnick's brother.
Lutnick has been appointed the chair of Trump's transition team, which will see him appoint senior figures in the new administration.
Lutnick has been a vocal supporter of the trade tariffs favoured by Trump, saying they could be an alternative to taxing citizens.
"Don't tax our people. Make money instead. Put tariffs on China and make $400bn," he said in a recent interview. Lutnick is also a heavy investor in Bitcoin, which soared after Trump's election win.
Nelson Peltz
Businessman and investor
Net worth:
$1.7bn
The activist investor and long-time mega-donor (who happens to be Brooklyn Beckham's father-in-law) has long been seen as a chief organiser of America's Republican business elite.
He held lavish fundraisers for Trump in 2020 and, despite disavowing him after the Jan 6 riots, said this year he would vote for him again, saying the US was "degrading" under Joe Biden's leadership.
Despite his meek support, Peltz – who this year led an unsuccessful activist investor campaign against Disney's "woke" film strategy – is influential in Republican donor circles, helping to nudge Musk into political activism at a billionaire's dinner at his Florida mansion earlier this year.
Jeff Yass
Businessman and investor
Net worth:
$42.9bn
The boss of the trading giant Susquehanna and a major donor to the anti-tax Club For Growth, Yass was an early Bitcoin backer, and so may stand to gain from a more crypto-friendly Trump administration.
Yass donated heavily to Trump's Republican primary opponents but subsequently came out in support of him, endorsing his position on education, a pet interest.
However, his priorities could be seen as lying elsewhere. Yass's biggest single financial interest is a 15pc interest in TikTok owner ByteDance, estimated to be worth around $13bn. Despite once trying to ban TikTok himself, Trump has since come out against Biden's effort to outlaw the app.
After attending an event organised by Club for Growth earlier this year, Trump said banning TikTok would only help Mark Zuckerberg and children would "go crazy without it". Yass and Trump say they have not discussed the video app.
Peter Thiel
Entrepreneur and venture capitalist
Net worth:
$14bn
Thiel, the first outside investor in Facebook, was a rare early backer of Trump, speaking at the 2016 Republican convention and arranging an awkward Trump Tower meeting between the election winner and Silicon Valley's top executives.
Thiel later distanced himself from Trump but stands to wield influence through a close relationship with JD Vance, who worked at Thiel's investment fund in San Francisco.
Thiel has described himself as a libertarian and has backed socially conservative causes and championed cryptocurrency, as well as attacking diversity initiatives and occasionally expressing doubts about democracy itself.
He has criticised a lack of progress in areas such as space and extending lifespans. Thiel also has significant investments in companies such as data analytics giant Palantir and high-tech defence firm Anduril, which may benefit from a Trump administration.
Miriam Adelson
Physician and businesswoman
Net worth:
$36.8bn
Adelson is the widow of the Vegas magnate Sheldon Adelson, who was Trump's biggest financial backer in the 2016 and 2020 elections before his death in 2021.
Israeli-born Adelson has since continued to heavily back Trump as well as Jewish and pro-Israeli organisations.
Trump awarded Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018, and the Adelsons were seen as influencing Trump's policy on Israel, including pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.
Adelson has strongly opposed drug decriminalisation and is likely to continue to push for a hawkish Middle East policy.
Timothy Mellon
Heir to the Mellon banking fortune
Net worth:
$14.1bn
An heir to one of America's wealthiest families, which made a fortune in finance and industry in the 19th century, the secretive Tim Mellon further expanded the family fortune through railroad investments.
Mellon has been the largest direct donor to the Trump campaign, as well as backing Robert F Kennedy Jr's independent bid before he dropped out of the race.
Mellon's relationship with Trump, as well as what he hopes to gain for his support, are much less clear than many of the president-elect's other billionaire backers.
He once supported the Democrats but has donated heavily to a project to build a border wall in Texas and has criticised social safety nets, once referring to welfare as "slavery redux" in which black voters are rewarded with "freebies".
However, he has also donated to the Left-wing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Honourable mentions
Dana White
Chief Executive of the UFC
Net worth:
$500m
The chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), White has been a close friend of Trump since long before the president-elect's entry into politics.
Trump has regularly appeared at bouts and UFC has become the unofficial sport of the MAGA movement, helping him appeal to a new breed of young, male Republicans.
While not a billionaire (his net worth is estimated in the hundreds of millions), White has Trump's ear, using the connection to help smooth over a lucrative Bud Light sponsorship that had faced a Right-wing backlash.
White, Musk and Trump were pictured deep in conversation during Trump's victory party this week, while White also took a turn on the microphone during Trump's victory speech.
He said: "This is what happens when the machine comes after you, what you've seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like."
White has said he is not "very political" but introduced Trump at this year's Republican National Convention by attacking red tape and crime.
Scott Bessent
Hedge fund manager
Net worth:
Unknown but believed to be in the hundreds of millions
The hedge fund manager worked for George Soros when the financier famously made a fortune betting against the pound during 1992's Black Wednesday crisis, and was called "the man who broke the Bank of Japan" when shorting the yen for Soros in 2013.
He has also been touted as a possible figure in the next administration, potentially vying with Paulson to be treasury secretary.
Bessent has advocated Trump exercising more influence over the Federal Reserve, an idea that the incoming president has toyed with. He has suggested that Trump does not plan to follow through with massive trade tariffs and criticised electric vehicle subsidies.
