Billionaires are the drivers of the world’s economy. Their wealth, decisions, and power elevate the world to another level. It is common for the richest people’s net worth to fluctuate with changes in market valuations because so much of their wealth is invested in publicly traded stocks.
There are so many billionaires, but few rule the world. Musk, for instance, benefited significantly from the rise of 50% in Tesla’s stock price in 2021, which resulted in a surge in his net worth. In 2022, his net worth dropped due to the falling share price of Tesla, which he owns 13.3% of, due to the global economic crisis. To finance his acquisition of Twitter, Musk also had to sell a large portion of his Tesla shares. The result of this was that, in December 2022, he became the second-richest person in the world, behind Bernard Arnault, as a result of his success. According to Forbes, the top 10 billionaires are:
Top 10 Richest People on Earth – Updated List of 2023
1. Bernard Arnault
As the chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company, Bernard Arnault is a French citizen. Several brands under the LVMH umbrella include Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora. LVMH is his main source of income. For $15.8 billion in 2021, LVMH acquired Tiffany & Co., the world’s largest luxury brand, making it the largest brand acquisition in history.
As a trained engineer, Arnault demonstrated his business acumen while working for his father’s construction company, Ferret-Savinel, and eventually became the company’s CEO in 1971. As soon as he acquired Ferret-Savinel in 1979, he converted it into a real estate company called Férinel Inc.
At the age of 73, his net worth is $208.7 billion.
2. Elon Musk
The second richest man in the world is Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla Motors. Originally from South Africa, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics. Musk launched Zip2, one of the earliest online navigation services, two days after enrolling in Stanford University’s graduate physics program. This startup resulted in X.com, the online payment system sold to eBay (EBAY) and eventually became PayPal Holdings (PYPL).
A major funder of Tesla Motors (now Tesla), Musk became CEO of the electric vehicle company in 2004. Tesla has had a full line of electric cars, energy storage devices, automobile accessories, and solar power systems since it acquired SolarCity in 2016. Besides SpaceX, Musk is the CEO and chief engineer of Space Exploration Technologies. Musk backed out of the Twitter acquisition in July 2022. Twitter sued Musk to force the buyout. Musk declared that he was still willing to purchase the company despite countersuing Twitter. With the deal closing in October 2022, he now owns almost 80% of the company.
His net worth is $153 billion at the age of 51.
3. Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani, the founder of the Adani Group, gained the title of the richest person in Asia in March 2022 when he surpassed Mukesh Ambani. In addition to his ownership of the Adani Group, Adani has stakes in six of the most important Indian companies in the country, including a 75% stake in Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, and Adani Transmissions, as well as a 66% stake in Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, a 61% stake in Adani Green Energy, and a 37% stake in Adani Total Gas.
He owns Gujarat’s biggest port, Mundra, and is renowned as an infrastructure entrepreneur, spending $13 billion of his income on commodities, real estate, transmission, and power generation. Adani acquired a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport, the second-busiest airport in India, in September 2020. The largest airport operator in India is Adani. His long-term goal is to dominate the global green energy market, and he plans to donate up to $70 billion to energy-related projects. In May 2022, he won the competition to purchase the Indian cement division of Swiss multinational Holcim for $10.5 billion.
His net worth is $127.8 billion, at the age of 60.
4. Jeff Bezos
Jeff, best known as the CEO of the e-commerce website Amazon, ranks third on the real-time billionaire’s list. The company was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, shortly after he resigned from D.E. Shaw. Initially, he had pitched the idea to his former boss David E. Shaw, but he wasn’t interested. Originally selling books, Amazon is now a one-stop shop for everything under the sun and is expected to overtake Walmart by 2024 as the world’s largest retailer. The pattern of constant diversification by Amazon has been evident in some of its dramatic expansions, such as the acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017 and the entry into the pharmacy business at the same time.
In 2021, Bezos sold $8.8 billion worth of stock; he now controls even fewer than 10% of Amazon’s stock. Bezos owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, two aerospace businesses that design rockets and fled to space in July 2021. His e-commerce company, Amazon, received criticism for how it treated its warehouse employees during the coronavirus pandemic.
His net worth is $120.4 billion, at the of 59.
5. Larry Ellison
In New York City, Ellison was born to a single mother aged 19. Ellison graduated from the University of Chicago in 1966 and worked as a computer programmer in California. When he joined Ampex in 1973, he met future partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner. Ellison moved to Precision Instruments and became research and development vice president three years later.
Larry Ellison is the chairman, co-founder, and owner of 35% of the well-known software company Oracle. The company is the world’s second-largest software company, providing a wide range of cloud computing programs, Java and Linux codes, and the Exadata computing platform, which is based on Oracle technology. Oracle is recognized for software firms’ acquisitions; the famous one was $9.3 billion for NetSuite in 2016. In December 2018, Larry bought 3 million Tesla shares and joined the company’s board.
His net worth is about $108.8 billion at the age of 78.
6. Warren Buffett
At 14, Warren Buffett, one of the most famous living value investors, filed his first tax return declaring earnings from his paper route as a boy. It was in 1962 that he first bought shares in a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway, and by 1965, he was the majority shareholder in the company. Buffett expanded the company’s holdings in 1967 to include insurance and other investments.
Warren, one of the wealthiest investors, is known as the “Oracle of Omaha.” Buffett is the head of Berkshire Hathaway, which controls at least 60 businesses, including Duracell, Geico, and the Dairy Queen food chain (battery maker). He has given his children and the Gates Foundation more than $45 billion. The Giving Pledge was started by Warren and Bill Gates, who asked the world`s billionaires to donate at least half of their wealth to nonprofits in 2010.
His net worth is $107.8 billion at the age of 92.
7. Bill Gates
In 1975, while Bill Gates was still a student at Harvard University, he worked with his childhood friend, Paul Allen, to develop new software for the original microcomputers that were available then. As a result of the success of this project, Gates dropped out of Harvard during his junior year to form Microsoft with Allen.
This company is among the largest software companies in the world. Microsoft makes a broad range of products, including personal computers, email services through its exchange server, video game systems, and other related products. Cloud services have been a major focus of the company’s recent investments.
In 2008, Gates shifted from being the CEO of the company to be the chair of the board. Berkshire Hathaway appointed him to its board of directors in 2004. On March 13, 2020, it was announced that he would be stepping down from both boards. As far as Bill Gates is concerned, a large portion of his net worth is held by Cascade Investment LLC. Besides owning the stocks such as Canadian National Railway, Deere (DE), and Republic Services (RSG), Cascade also has private investments in real estate and energy. Cascade is a privately held investment vehicle.
His net worth is $103.0 billion at the age of 67.
8. Carlos Slim Helu & Family
Carlos Slim Helu, Mexico’s richest man, controls Latin America’s biggest mobile telecommunications company, América Móvil, by way of his family. A stake in Telmex, Mexico’s only phone company, was purchased by Slim in 1990 with the help of foreign telecom partners. As a result, Telmex has now become a part of América Móvil. Besides owning stakes in Mexican construction, consumer goods, mining, and real estate companies, he also owns a 17% stake in the New York Times.
Fernando Romero, Slim’s son-in-law, designed the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, which is the museum that houses the extensive and eclectic collection of Slim’s art. He and his family own 79% of Grupo Carso, one of Latin America’s largest conglomerates, accounting for over 8% of the fortune Slim has accumulated over his lifetime.
His net worth is $90.8 billion at the age of 82.
9. Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and chief executive officer of Reliance Industries, the world’s largest oil refiner and one of the world’s most valuable companies. Ambani’s father, Dhirubhai Ambani, founded the conglomerate as a textile company in 1966, and it has since grown into one of the leading segments of the country’s economy. The company operates in many different areas, such as oil and gas, petrochemicals, refining, retail, and media.
The majority of Ambani’s wealth can be attributed to his stake in Reliance, which amounts to 42% of the publicly traded company. A real estate complex worth $410 million, Antilia, is owned by him and is situated in Mumbai. He also owns the Mumbai Indians, a professional cricket team that plays in the IPL.
Ambani launched the first 4G phone network in India in 2016, which netted over 420 million subscribers in just a few months, and plans to offer 5G services soon as well. After their father’s passing in 2022, Ambani and his brother Anil divided the family business. In the next 10 to 15 years, the corporation plans to invest $80 billion in renewable energy.
His net worth is $87.8 billion at the age of 65.
10. Larry Page
Like several billionaires on this list of the fastest-rising tech stars, Larry Page embarked upon his path to fame and fortune in his college dorm room. While studying at Stanford University in 1995, Page came up with the idea of improving Internet data extraction with the help of his friend Sergey Brin. During the project, the two devised a new search engine technology they called Backrub after its ability to evaluate links to a given web page.
The two then went on to found Google in 1998, where Page served as its CEO until 2001, between 2011 and 2019. Brin served as the chief executive officer between 2011 and 2019. Currently, Google accounts for over 92% of all global search requests on the Internet, which makes it one of the world’s most dominant search engine companies. In 2008, following the acquisition of Android by Google 2005, Android was released as a mobile operating system for mobile devices. In 2015, Google reorganized its business and became part of Alphabet, a holding company owned by Alphabet. YouTube, the best platform for users to upload their videos, was purchased by the company in 2006.
His net worth is $85.3 billion at the age of 49.
