Surging billionaire wealth a political threat, Oxfam warns as Davos forum opens

DAVOS, Switzerland - The collective wealth of the planet’s billionaires soared to a record level in 2025, charity Oxfam reported on Jan 19, warning of “highly dangerous” political consequences as the global elite gather for the World Economic Forum (WEF).

US President Donald Trump’s policies in particular spurred the fortunes of the ultra-rich, which jumped 16.2 per cent in the first year of his second term to US$18.3 trillion (S$23.52 trillion), the non-governmental organisation said in a report released each year ahead of the Davos forum.

“Actions of the Trump presidency including the championing of deregulation and undermining agreements to increase corporate taxation have benefited the richest around the world,” Oxfam said.

The world now has more than 3,000 billionaires for the first time, it added, with the top 12 – led by Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk – having “more wealth than the poorest half of humanity, or more than four billion people”.

Increasingly, this money is buying political power, Oxfam said, pointing in particular to tycoons’ buying of newspapers and other media, such as

Mr Musk’s takeover of X

or the purchase of The Washington Post by Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos.

“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is also creating a highly dangerous and unsustainable political deficit,” Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar said.

Mr Trump will arrive with one of the biggest US delegations ever for the Davos conference, where he is expected to dominate an agenda officially billed as A Spirit of Dialogue.

Mr Trump’s participation galvanised around 300 protesters who arrived in Davos on Jan 18, many wearing masks of Mr Musk or US Vice-President J.D. Vance and holding fistfuls of euros.

Ms Nathalie Ruoss of the Swiss Young Socialists told AFP the most powerful people in the world make decisions at Davos that impact everyone.

“And they do it with no democratic legitimacy,” she said, calling it “unacceptable” that the WEF welcomed “fascists like Donald Trump”.

For Oxfam, Washington’s decision to exempt US multinationals from an internationally-agreed minimum tax rate of 15 per cent was a stark example of ignoring growing inequality.

“In country after country, the super-rich have not only accumulated more wealth than could ever be spent, but also have used this wealth to secure the political power to shape the rules that define our economies and govern nations,” it said.

“Such power gives billionaires a grasp over all our futures, undermining political freedom and eroding the rights of the many.” AFP