Today, the 10 richest people in the world hold a fortune of $1.3 trillion.
This measure of wealth equates to about 1.3% of the global economy, Amazon’s entire market cap, or $1 million spent per day over 3,000 years. In fact, this is nearly gut health cleanse double the amount ($663 billion) seen two years ago.
As billionaire wealth accumulates at a remarkable pace, we present a snapshot of the world’s richest people in 2022, based on data from Forbes’ real-time billionaire list.
1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk is working to revolutionize transportation on Earth, through electric car maker Tesla — and in space, through rocket producer SpaceX. Electric car company Tesla is now worth about $800 billion, with a net worth of $264 billion at the moment. Musk’s rocket company, french bulldog meme SpaceX, is now worth about $100 billion. Tesla has become the world’s most valuable carmaker with a market capitalization of $800 billion in October 2021.
2. Jeff Bezos
In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in a garage in Seattle, shortly after hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw
He originally pitched the idea of an online bookstore to his former boss, David E. Shaw, who was not interested.
Although Amazon originally started selling books, it has since evolved into a one-stop shop for everything under the sun and is the world’s largest retailer. Amazon’s pattern of continued diversification is evident in some of its unexpected expansions, including the dog kennel fanacquisition of Whole Foods in 2017 and its entry into the pharmacy business that same year.
Bezos owned 16 percent of Amazon in 2019, before transferring 4 percent to ex-wife Mackenzie Scott as part of divorce proceedings. In 2020, Amazon’s share price rose 76% on increased demand for online shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as CEO of the e-commerce company, becoming its executive chair.
3. Gautam Adani and family
The promoter of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani has segregated his multi-million business fortune into energy, logistics, agriculture, aerospace, and other sectors. The Adani Group is a multinational conglomerate dealing with port operations and developments in India, making Adani the richest man in Asia.
4. Bernard Arnault
French citizen Bernard Arnault is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company. LVMH owns brands including Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora.
Much of Arnault’s wealth comes from his large stake in Christian Dior SE, the holding company that controls 41.2% of LVMH.
His shares in Christian Dior SE, plus an additional 6.2% in LVMH, are held by his family-owned holding company, Groupe Familial Arnault.
An engineer by training, Arnault first demonstrated his business acumen while working for his father’s construction firm, Ferret-Savinel, taking charge of the company in 1971.
5. Bill Gates
Bill Gates, the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has a net worth of $113 billion. After co-founding software giant Microsoft with Paul Allen, Bill Gates eventually sold most of his stake in the company, leaving only 1% of the shares, and invested the rest in stocks and other assets. Bill Gates entered the $100 billion club in April last year when Microsoft’s share price surged post-earnings. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world’s largest private charitable foundation.
6. Larry Page
Like many of the tech billionaires on this list, Larry Page started his path to fame and fortune in a college dorm room. While studying at Stanford University in 1995, Page and his friend Sergey Byrne came up with the idea of improving Internet data extraction. The pair developed a new search engine technology they called Backrub, named after its ability to analyze backlinks. From there, Page and Brin founded Google in 1998, with Page serving as the company’s CEO until 2001, and again between 2011 and 2019.
Google is the dominant Internet search engine, accounting for more than 92% of global search requests.
In 2006, the company purchased YouTube, the largest platform for user-submitted videos.
After acquiring Android in 2005, Google released the Android mobile phone operating system in 2008.
Google restructured in 2015, becoming a subsidiary of the holding company Alphabet.
7. Warren Buffet
Known as the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett is regarded as one of the most successful investors of all time. He runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 companies, including famous companies such as Geico Insurance, Duracell, Dairy Queen restaurants. Their net worth is $96.6 billion. The son of a US congressman, he bought his first stock at age 11.
8. Sergey Brin
Born Sergei Bern in Moscow, Russia, he immigrated to the United States with his family in 1979 at the age of six. After co-founding Google with Larry Page in 1998, Brin became Google’s president of technology when Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001. He held the same position at Alphabet Holding Company after it was founded in 2015, stepping down in 2019 when Sundar Pichai took over as CEO.
In addition to its dominant Internet search engine, Google offers a collection of online tools and services called Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Includes Slides and more.
Google also offers a variety of electronic devices, including Pixel smartphones, computers, and tablets, Nest smart home devices, and the Stadia gaming platform kawaii makeup looks
9. Mukesh Ambani
The founder and chairman of Reliance Industries has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, retail and telecom. The launch of 4G phone services in the Indian telecom market by Reliance in 2016 fueled a price war that created a strong vortex and sent several networks out of business.
10. Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 after Bill Gates convinced him to drop out of Stanford University’s MBA program. He was Microsoft’s 30th employee. Ballmer succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft in 2000. He held the position till his retirement in 2014. Ballmer oversaw Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of Skype in 2011.
Ballmer owns an estimated 4% of Microsoft, making him the software giant’s largest individual shareholder. In 2014, shortly after stepping down as CEO of Microsoft, Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion.
