A notable group of people have made incredible riches at a time and culture driven by ambition and the desire to start their own business. These outstanding leaders have reached the pinnacles of achievement and joined the exclusive group of the world's richest people. They are innovative and visionary. And that is no easy task. After all, the combined wealth of the world's ten richest individuals exceeds the GDP of several countries. These days, the retail, banking, and technology sectors account for the majority of their wealth. A major concern for people everywhere is the widening wealth gap between them and the less fortunate.
The top 10 richest persons in the world are revealed in this article, with information on their outstanding achievements, prowess as entrepreneurs, and significant impact on the world economy. Forbes is the source of this ranked list.
RANK | NAME | NET WORTH | AGE | SOURCE | COUNTRY/TERRITORY |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 | Mukesh Ambani | $117.4 B | 66 | Diversified | India |
9 | Larry Page | $120.6 B | 50 | United States | |
8 | Steve Ballmer | $122.1 B | 67 | Microsoft | United States |
7 | Bill Gates | $127.8 B | 68 | Microsoft | United States |
6 | Warren Buffett | $137.4 B | 93 | Berkshire Hathaway | United States |
5 | Larry Ellison | $139.7 B | 79 | Oracle | United States |
4 | Mark Zuckerberg | $170.4 B | 39 | United States | |
3 | Jeff Bezos | $196.0 B | 60 | Amazon | United States |
2 | Elon Musk | $204.5 B | 52 | Tesla, SpaceX | United States |
1 | Bernard Arnault & family | $231.0 B | 74 | LVMH | France |
Image Source: Twitter
Reliance Industries, with $110 billion in sales, is chaired and managed by Mukesh Ambani. The company is involved in petrochemicals, retail, financial services, communications, and oil and gas. His late father, yarn dealer Dhirubhai Ambani, started Reliance as a modest textile business in 1966. Ambani and his younger brother Anil divided up the family business following the death of their father in 2002. Jio, Reliance's broadband and telecom service, has around 450 million users. Reliance listed Jio Financial Services, its financial division, in August 2023.
Image Source: Twitter
In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, a fellow PhD candidate at Stanford, co-founded Google. Page was the CEO from 2011 until 2015. He had previously served in that capacity until 2001. As a big stakeholder, he currently holds enormous authority over Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in addition to his role as a member of the board. In addition, Page was a significant founding investor in the space exploration corporation Planetary Resources.
Image Source: Twitter
Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates's classmate at Harvard University, led Microsoft as CEO from 2000 to 2014. After leaving Stanford University's MBA program, he joined Microsoft as its thirty-first employee in 1980, marking the beginning of his career with the corporation. Ballmer made news the year he resigned from Microsoft when he spent an astounding $2 billion to acquire the Los Angeles Clippers basketball franchise, which at the time was a record-breaking amount for the most money ever paid for an NBA team.
Image Source: Twitter
Forbes was the first to identify Gates as a billionaire in 1987. With brief breaks in 2008 and 2010–2013, he held the title of richest person in the world from 1995 until 2017. Melinda French Gates received at least $6 billion in stocks as part of the settlement when she and Bill Gates divorced in 2021. Based on estimations from Forbes, between May 1 and June 1, 2023, Gates' wealth increased by almost $500 million, which moved him up one slot to take fifth place in the rankings.
Image Source: Twitter
Known to many as the 'Oracle of Omaha,' Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investors in history. He is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, an investing conglomerate that owns many businesses, including the food chain Dairy Queen, the insurance company Geico, and the battery producer Duracell. The Giving Pledge program was started in 2010 by Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Melinda French Gates. It encourages billionaires to give up at least half of their money to philanthropic causes. Buffett has said that he will contribute 99 per cent of his money, demonstrating his steadfast dedication to philanthropy.
Image Source: Twitter
In 1977, Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle, a software company, and served as its CEO until 2014. He now holds the positions of chairman and chief technology officer for the business. When Ellison paid $300 million for the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012, the news was publicized. Ellison has made financial ventures, such as a substantial investment in Tesla, where he was a director from 2018 to 2022.
Image Source: Twitter
After taking the business public in May 2012, Zuckerberg was listed as the 10th most powerful person in the world by Forbes in December 2016. At the moment, Zuckerberg holds around 13% of the business's equity. The 39-year-old IT enthusiast has three children from his marriage to Priscilla Chan. He and his spouse are investing $3 billion to try and eradicate, treat, or control all illnesses by the year 2100.
Image Source: Twitter
Jeff Bezos chose to resign as CEO of the industry leader in online retail, Amazon, in July 2021, but he will continue to serve as chairman. In that same month, Bezos launched a space expedition on a rocket built by Blue Origin, a privately held space exploration firm he founded and kindly contributed billions of money to.
Image Source: Twitter
As of right moment, Elon Musk is the world's second richest person. He serves as the CEO of several well-known businesses, including SpaceX, a space exploration corporation, and Tesla, an electric vehicle maker. As of now, he has a 23 per cent share in Tesla. Approximately two-thirds of his fortune is dependent on Tesla's performance. The news was publicised when Musk paid $44 billion to acquire Twitter in October 2022. 2010 saw Tesla's IPO under Musk's leadership. In September 2021, Musk became one of the richest persons in the world as the company's market capitalization increased significantly in 2020 and 2021. Musk's wealth peaked in November 2021 at an incredible $320 billion.
Image Source: Twitter
The richest person in the world, Bernard Arnault, serves as chairman and CEO of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), the largest luxury goods company in the world, which operates about 70 well-known fashion and cosmetics brands. Notable names in the company's portfolio include Sephora, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Moet & Chandon. In January 2021, LVMH successfully acquired jewellery retailer Tiffany & Co. for an astounding $15.8 billion. Arnault's five children are employed in various capacities within the vast LVMH empire. In January 2023, he named his daughter Delphine to be in charge of Dior, the second-largest brand in the group.
Also Read: Top 10 Most Handsome Men in the World in 2024