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

U.S. President Donald Trump's policies in particular spurred the fortunes of the ultra-rich, which jumped 16.2% in the first year of his second term to US$18.3 trillion, the NGO said in a report released each year ahead of the Davos forum.

Protesters wearing a mask of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger and holding cardboard cut-out euro banknotes take part in a demonstration against the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the eve of the WEF annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 18, 2026. Photo by AFP

"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 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 newspapers and other media, such as Musk's takeover of X or the purchase of The Washington Post by Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

"The widening gap between the rich and the rest is at the same time creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable," Oxfam's executive director Amitabh Behar said.

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

Davos protests

Trump's participation galvanized around 300 protesters who arrived in Davos on Sunday, many wearing masks of Musk or U.S. Vice President JD Vance and holding fistfuls of euros.

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

For Oxfam, Washington's decision to exempt U.S. multinationals from an internationally agreed minimum tax rate of 15% 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 have also 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."