Definition: oligarch

A wealthy man who uses his power to influence politics and/or uses politics to increase his wealth. Pronounced "o-li-gark," in Russia, oligarchs emerged in the 1990s as the country became market driven and state property was doled out to former Soviet members.

U.S. Tech Broligarchs
Many pundits think America has become a tech oligarchy with the most valuable companies and richest men in the country coming from the tech sector. With a combined net worth or more than $1 trillion, "tech bros" Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Tim Cook (Apple) and Sundar Pichai (Google) contributed to as well as attended Trump's 2025 inauguration.

Mostly Men
Oligarchs are predominently men; however, women are sometimes called oligarchs due to their wealth, not necessarily because they influence politics. The following five women have a combined net worth of more than $250 billion: Francoise Bettencourt Meyers in France and in the United States, Julia Koch, Alice Walton, Jacqueline Mars and Miriam Adelson.