The World's Ten Wealthiest Individuals
In a world dominated by business acumen and ambition, a handful of people have amassed colossal fortunes. Their net worths exceed the GDPs of numerous nations.
Some, like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, have been in the club for some time. Others, such as Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of luxury conglomerate LVMH, joined this year.
1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk is back on top of the world's wealthiest individuals list, having reclaimed the title from French luxury goods giant LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault. The two "centibillionaires" (people with fortunes of more than $100 billion) have been neck and neck for months.
Musk's rise on the Forbes list has been fueled by a surge in Tesla shares and a huge stock option grant that gives him ownership of 13% of the company. He also has stakes in space exploration firm SpaceX and tunnel-digging company The Boring Company.
The South African-born inventor and tech entrepreneur dropped out of graduate school in physics after just two days to start his first company, Zip2, which created online content publishing software. Later, he founded online financial services company X.com, which eventually merged with PayPal and is now the world's most popular way to transfer money online.
2. Jeff Bezos
The founder of e-commerce giant Amazon has built a retail, communications and media empire, and invested heavily in space technology with Blue Origin rockets. He also owns The Washington Post newspaper.
Bezos started the company in his garage in 1994. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 and now serves as executive chairman. He donated about $400 million worth of Amazon stock to charity in 2022, and transferred a 4% stake to his wife MacKenzie in 2019.
The 51-year-old serial entrepreneur’s net worth is estimated at $235 billion, thanks to his investments in electric carmaker Tesla, rocket manufacturer SpaceX and tunnelling project The Boring Company. He also founded neurotechnology firm Neuralink and is an active investor in artificial intelligence. His fortune includes a 23% stake in PayPal, which he split with his brother, Sergey Brin. He also owns the Los Angeles Clippers.
3. Bill Gates
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, built one of the world's largest software businesses through technological innovation and keen business strategy. He also became a leading philanthropist, donating billions to various causes through his foundation.
Gates has slipped a bit in the rankings, as many of the richest individuals have seen their wealth decline due to the tech market correction this year. The Microsoft founder remains committed to giving away nearly all of his fortune through the eponymous Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Sergey Brin, who along with Larry Page, co-founded Google, ranks ninth on the list. He is a controlling shareholder in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and remains active as a board member. Brin's fortune is largely tied to the growth of the internet and the rise of cloud computing. He is also a founder and chairman of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.
4. Bernard Arnault
The French luxury tycoon oversees his family's LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton empire, which includes brands such as Louis Vuitton and Sephora. His holding company Agache also has stakes in companies including TikTok parent ByteDance and Netflix.
His wealth took a hit during the early days of the pandemic, but his fortune recovered as demand for luxury goods rebounded. He is now one of the world's youngest centibillionaires (people who are worth more than $100 billion), according to Bloomberg's billionaires index.
Unlike other billionaires, he hasn't donated his riches to charity. But he has made significant charitable investments. His net worth is also bolstered by his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers. Like fellow tech entrepreneur Sergey Brin, who is ninth on the list, he co-founded Google and now sits on the board of Alphabet. His stake in the company is about $115 billion.
5. Larry Ellison
In the case of Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, hard work and determination paid off big time. The billionaire founded his first tech company in a college dorm room and built an empire that dominates the business software industry. He also holds stakes in Tesla, SpaceX, tunnel construction company The Boring Company, and brain-machine interface startup Neuralink.
Sergey Brin is a co-founder of Google and Alphabet, which owns the search engine giant, and is now worth $115 billion. He stepped down as Alphabet's CEO in December 2019 but remains a controlling shareholder and board member.
The 77-year-old software mogul is known for his lavish lifestyle, including yacht racing and buying Hawaiian islands. His accountant once asked him to "budget and plan," but Ellison continues to spend freely on things like America's Cup teams, tennis tournaments, and trophy properties.
6. Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, now has a net worth of $78 billion. He and Larry Page started the search engine company in 1998, which became Alphabet in 2015. Brin stepped down as president of Alphabet in December 2019, but remains a controller shareholder and board member.
Besides Google, Brin owns a stake in Tesla, electric car maker SpaceX, and 23andMe, the gene-mapping firm started by his ex-wife Anne Wojcicki. He also oversees Neuralink, a neurotechnology company focused on brain-machine interfaces, and The Boring Company, which plans to build tunnels.
As of March 2022, these ten individuals have a combined net worth of almost $500 billion. That's a testament to the incredible wealth and success that can be achieved through hard work, determination, innovation, and a little bit of luck. They are also proof that it's never too late to pursue your dreams.
7. Mark Zuckerberg
A self-made billionaire, Zuckerberg is the youngest member of the club. He founded social media site Facebook in 2004 while still at Harvard University. He's also a founder of its parent company Meta Platforms and owns stakes in Instagram Reels, WhatsApp and other companies.
He rose to prominence in part due to the 2010 movie "The Social Network," which dramatized the founding of Facebook. He was also a member of the group known as the PayPal Mafia, and is now the owner of electric car maker Tesla, rocket company SpaceX, tunnelling project The Boring Company and startup Neuralink.
Sergey Brin, who co-founded Google with Larry Page, took the eighth spot with a net worth of $115 billion. He's a board member of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. He's also an investor in various tech startups, including DeepMind and Blue Origin.
8. Steve Ballmer
As a founder of Microsoft, Ballmer helped to create the modern computer industry. His success with the company allowed it to expand into diversified projects such as the gaming consoles Xbox and Zune. He also owns the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA and has an extensive personal investment portfolio.
Larry Ellison owns a third of database software giant Oracle and has stakes in Tesla, the Indian Wells tennis tournament and real estate including Hawaii's Lanai island. He also leads a private lifestyle and is known for his philanthropy.
Bernard Arnault is the fourth richest individual in the world and heads LVMH, which owns 70 renowned fashion and cosmetic brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. His wealth plummeted during the initial days of the pandemic but has rebounded thanks to a revival in luxury sales. His net worth is $111 billion.
9. Larry Page
Larry Page co-founded Google in 1998 which went public in 2004 and became Alphabet in 2015. He now holds about 15% of the search giant's shares. He also founded the popular video-sharing website YouTube. The former Microsoft CEO is a prolific investor in technology and sports, owning the Los Angeles Clippers and the Indian Wells tennis tournament among other assets.
The serial tech entrepreneur owns electric car maker Tesla, rocket maker SpaceX and tunnelling firm The Boring Company. He has a net worth of $220 billion.
He is one of five centibillionaires (people whose wealth exceeds $100 billion) on the list along with Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Bernard Arnault. This is despite a global recession and a pandemic that has plunged the incomes of 99 percent of the world's population.
10. Warren Buffett
The 93-year-old heir to the Walmart empire helms Berkshire Hathaway and began investing at just 11 years old. He has made an art of looking beyond a company's earnings to focus on its long-term prospects. Buffett is a frequent visitor to the Davos forum where he's known for his unpretentious approach to business.
Elon Musk has moved into the top ten for the first time this year, thanks to a surge in the market value of Tesla and SpaceX. The billionaire founder of the electric car firm and rocket maker now has a net worth of $218 billion, according to Forbes.
The richest people on earth now control six times as much wealth as the bottom 40% of the world's population, Oxfam said last week. It would take the top 10 a combined 414 years to spend their fortunes at a rate of a million dollars per day, it added.
