The list of the richest people in the world can change from year to year based on their most recent net worth and financial performance. Here is the most current list of the top 10 richest people in the world, based on the real-time Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of May 2023, along with some interesting facts about each of them.
Richest People in the World: Overview
- Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, is the world’s richest person and richest man, with a net worth of $202 billion.
- Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX after Arnault.
- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and L’Oréal’s Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the only woman on the list, are among the other billionaires with some of the highest net worths.
- Seven of the top ten billionaires made their fortunes in technology, with the exceptions being Arnault, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, and L’Oreal’s Francoise Bettencourt Meyers.
Richest People in the World: Analytics
Billionaires disproportionately impact the global economy, politics, and philanthropy. According to Forbes, the world’s billionaires will number 2,640 in 2023. The richest of them all is Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH.
Individuals on this list are members of an even more exclusive club and wield even more power. Many are the founders of technology behemoths, with a large portion of their fortune still invested in the companies they founded.
However, these billionaires can still borrow against their wealth to avoid selling stock and deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains. Multi-billionaires can also use a variety of tax breaks to offset reported income, resulting in some on this list paying no income tax in recent years.
With so much of their wealth invested in publicly traded stocks, the richest people’s net worth can fluctuate with market valuations. For example, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s net worth increased in 2021 as the share price of the electric car maker increased. Tesla stock rose from $264.51 on January 1, 2021, to $352.26 on December 1, 2021.
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And, like a pendulum, his net worth fell in 2022 as the share price of Tesla, of which he owns 13%, fell. Musk also had to sell a large portion of his Tesla stock to fund his Twitter acquisition. As a result, he lost his position as the world’s richest person to Bernard Arnault.
Tesla’s share price increased in January and February 2023, allowing Musk to reclaim the title of world’s richest person, but as markets fluctuate, he is now the world’s second-richest person.
Similarly, Meta Platforms (META) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of the top 10 in February 2022 after the company’s share price plummeted following a disappointing earnings report. In April 2023, Zuckerberg’s net worth was estimated to be $77.8 billion.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the ten wealthiest people on the planet are listed below. Unless otherwise specified, all figures are current as of May 2023.
Top 10 Richest People in the World
Now let’s analyze the 10 richest people in world in descending order.
#1. Bernard Arnault
Age: 74 Lives in: Paris CEO and Chairperson: LVMH (LVMUY) Net worth: $202 billion. Christian Dior owns 97.5% of the Company ($161 billion). Other Assets: Moelis & Company equity ($32.5 billion public asset) and $12.5 billion in cash.
Bernard Arnault, a French national, is the chair and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company. Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora are among the LVMH brands.
Most of Arnault’s fortune stems from his massive stake in Christian Dior SE, the holding company that owns 41.4% of LVMH. His stake in Christian Dior SE, as well as a 6.2% stake in LVMH, is held by his family-owned holding Company, Groupe Familial Arnault.
Arnault, a trained engineer, first demonstrated his business acumen while working for his father’s construction firm, Ferret-Savinel, which he took over in 1971. In 1979, he changed the name of Ferret-Savinel to Férinel Inc., a real estate company.
Arnault remained in charge of Férinel for another six years until he bought and reorganized the luxury goods company Financière Agache in 1984, eventually selling all of its holdings except Christian Dior and Le Bon Marché. He was invited to invest in LVMH in 1987, and two years later, he became the Company’s majority shareholder, board chair, and CEO.
#2. Elon Musk
Age: 51 Lives in: Texas Co-founder and CEO: Tesla Net worth: $172 billion Owns 13% of the Tesla($67.5 billion). Owns 79% of the Twitter ($9.65 billion). Other Assets: Space Exploration Technologies ($48.9 billion in private equity) and The Boring Company ($3.33 billion in private equity).
Elon Musk is the world’s second richest person. He was born in South Africa and attended a Canadian university before enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics. Musk dropped out of Stanford University’s graduate physics program two days later to launch Zip2, one of the first online navigation services. He used a portion of the proceeds from this startup to launch X.com, an online payment system later acquired by eBay (EBAY) and renamed PayPal Holdings (PYPL).
Musk became a significant investor in Tesla Motors (now Tesla) in 2004, which led to his current position as CEO of the electric vehicle company. In addition to electric vehicles, Tesla manufactures energy storage devices, automobile accessories, and solar power systems by acquiring SolarCity in 2016. Musk is also the CEO and chief engineer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a space launch rocket developer.
Tesla shares increased by 740% in 2020, propelling Musk to the top of the wealth rankings. Tesla will become the largest Company to join the S&P 500 in December 2020. Musk became the world’s richest person in January 2021, a title he held until December 2022, when his net worth fell due to a drop in Tesla’s share price over the year. He reclaimed first place in March 2023.
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On November 6, 2021, Musk asked his Twitter followers whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock, framing the question as a response to criticism of unrealized capital gains as a tax-avoidance strategy. He then sold $16.4 billion in shares over the rest of 2021.
Musk’s lead in the global wealth rankings widened thanks to a surge in Tesla shares in 2021 and private transactions that increased SpaceX’s reported valuation. His net worth peaked at $340 billion in November 2021.
Musk launched a campaign to take Twitter private in April 2022, which resulted in a $44 billion buyout. He intended to fund the transaction with $21 billion of his own money. Musk sold 9.6 million Tesla shares worth approximately $8.5 billion in the run-up to the buyout announcement.
Musk decided to withdraw from the Twitter acquisition in July 2022. Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk to force the buyout to proceed. Musk sued the Company but then changed his mind and declared that he was willing to buy Twitter after all. The transaction was finalized in October 2022, giving him a 79% stake in the Company.
#3. Jeff Bezos
Age: 59 Lives in: Washington Founder and CEO: Amazon (AMZN) Net Worth: $139 billion Amazon: 10% of the Company ($105 billion). Other Assets: Blue Origin ($11.2 billion private asset), The Washington Post ($250 million personal asset), and $13.4 billion in cash.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in a Seattle garage in 1994, shortly after leaving the hedge fund titan D.E. Shaw. Shaw. He first pitched the idea of an online bookstore to his former boss, David E. Shaw, who needed to be more interested.
Though Amazon began by selling books, it has since evolved into a one-stop shop for everything and is expected to surpass Walmart as the world’s largest retailer by 2024. Amazon’s pattern of constant diversification is evident in some of its unexpected expansions, such as its 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods and entry into the pharmacy business.
In 2019, Bezos owned up to 16% of Amazon before transferring 4% to his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, as part of their divorce proceedings. Amazon’s stock price increased 76% in 2020 due to increased demand for online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bezos will step down as CEO of Amazon on July 5, 2021, to become executive chair.
Bezos took Amazon public in 1997 and became the first man with a net worth of more than $100 billion since Bill Gates in 1999. Blue Origin, The Washington Post (which he purchased in 2013), and the 10,000-year clock, also known as the Long Now, are among Bezos’ other projects.
Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen completed Blue Origin’s first successful crewed flight on July 20, 2021, reaching an altitude of more than 66 miles before safely landing. In the same month, Bezos’ fortune peaked at $211 billion.
#4. Bill Gates
Age: 67 Lives in: Washington Co-founder: Microsoft (MSFT) Net Worth: $125 billion Microsoft: Owns 1.4% of the Company ($31.6 billion). Other assets: $60 billion in cash and billions in other companies.
Bill Gates went to work alongside his childhood friend Paul Allen to develop new software for the original microcomputers while attending Harvard University in 1975. Following the success of this project, Gates dropped out of Harvard during his junior year to co-found Microsoft with Allen.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, manufactures personal computers, offers email services via its exchange server, and sells video game systems and associated game devices. It has recently made significant investments in cloud services.
In 2008, Gates stepped down as CEO and became board chair. In 2004, he was appointed to the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway. On March 13, 2020, he stepped down from both boards.
Cascade Investment LLC, a privately held investment vehicle that owns a variety of stocks, including Canadian National Railway (CNR), Deere (D.E.), and Republic Services (RSG), as well as private investments in real estate and energy, holds a large portion of Bill Gates’s net worth.
#5. Warren Buffett
Age: 92 Lives in: Nebraska CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) Net Worth: $115 billion Berkshire Hathaway: Owns 14% of the Company ($114 billion). Other Assets: $1.2 billion in cash.
Warren Buffett, the most famous living value investor, filed his first tax return in 1944 at 14, declaring earnings from his paper route. In 1962, he purchased his first shares in Berkshire Hathaway, a textile company; by 1965, he had become the majority shareholder. In 1967 Buffett expanded the Company’s holdings to include insurance and other investments.
Buffett, also known as the Oracle of Omaha, is a buy-and-hold investor who made his fortune by acquiring undervalued businesses. Berkshire Hathaway has recently made investments in well-known corporations. Its wholly-owned subsidiaries include interests in insurance, energy distribution, railroads, and consumer goods.
Buffett has given away a large portion of his fortune to charity. Between 2006 and 2020, he donated $41 billion, most of which went to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his children’s charities. In 2010, Buffett and Bill Gates co-launched the Giving Pledge.
Buffett is still CEO at 92, but he hinted in 2021 that his successor could be Gregory Abel, head of Berkshire’s non-insurance operations.
#6. Larry Ellison
Age: 78 Lives in: Hawaii Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Technology Officer: Oracle (ORCL) Net Worth: $112 billion Oracle: Owns 42% or more of the Company ($79.4 billion). Other Assets: Tesla stock ($7.4 billion public asset) and $19.2 billion in cash.
Larry Ellison was born to a 19-year-old single mother in New York City. Ellison moved to California and worked as a computer programmer after leaving the University of Chicago in 1966. He joined the electronics firm Ampex in 1973, where he met future partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner. Three years later, Ellison joined Precision Instruments as vice president of research and development.
Ellison co-founded Software Development Laboratories with Oates and Miner in 1977. Oracle, the first commercial relational database program to use Structured Query Language, was released two years later. The database program was so successful that SDL changed its name to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. After 37 years as CEO of Oracle, Ellison stepped down in 2014. He joined Tesla’s board in December 2018 and will leave in June 2022.
Oracle is the world’s second-largest software company, offering a wide range of cloud computing programs, Java and Linux code, and the Oracle Exadata computing platform.
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Oracle has acquired several large companies, including PeopleSoft, a provider of human resource management systems, in 2005; Siebel, a provider of customer relationship management applications, in 2006; BEA Systems, a provider of enterprise infrastructure software, in 2008; and Sun Microsystems, a developer of hardware and software, in 2009.
Ellison, who has long been known for his extravagant spending, has made significant investments in luxury real estate over the last decade. His most notable purchase was the $300 million purchase of nearly the entire Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012, where he has lived since 2020. Ellison has built a hydroponics farm and a luxury spa on the island.
Ellison’s charitable contributions have primarily benefited medical research. In 2016, he donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to establish a new cancer research centre. Ellison provided financial support to the Oracle Team USA sailing team, which won America’s Cup racing series in 2010 and 2013.
#7. Larry Page
Age: 50 Lives in: California Co-Founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG) Net Worth: $110 billion Alphabet: Owns 6% of the Company ($84 billion). Other Assets: $15.2 billion in cash.
Like many of the other tech billionaires on this list, Larry Page began his journey to fame and fortune in a college dorm room. Page and his friend Sergey Brin came up with the idea of improving Internet data extraction while attending Stanford University in 1995. The pair created Backrub, a new search engine technology named after its ability to evaluate links to a page.
Page and Brin co-founded Google in 1998, with Page serving as CEO until 2001 and again between 2011 and 2019.
Google is the world’s most popular Internet search engine, handling over 92% of all global search requests. The Company purchased YouTube, the leading platform for user-submitted videos, in 2006.
Google released the Android mobile phone operating system in 2008 after acquiring Android in 2005. In 2015, Google reorganized as a subsidiary of Alphabet, a holding company.
Page was an early investor in Planetary Resources; a company focused on space exploration and asteroid mining. The Company was founded in 2009 and was acquired by blockchain firm ConsenSys in 2018 due to funding issues. He is also interested in flying car companies, having invested in Kitty Hawk and Opener.
Google stock rose nearly 50% in 2021, propelling Page and Brin to the top of the billionaire list. Page’s net worth increased from just under $52 billion in March 2020 to $86.9 billion today.
#8. Steve Ballmer
Age: 67 Lives in: Washington Net Worth: $109 billion Microsoft: Owns 4% of the Company ($98.1 billion). Other assets: Los Angeles Clippers ($3.73 billion in private equity), the Intuit Dome ($2 billion), and $3.05 billion in cash.
Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 after Bill Gates persuaded him to leave Stanford’s MBA program. He was Microsoft’s thirty-first employee. In 2000, Ballmer succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft. He held the position until 2014 when he resigned. Steve Ballmer oversaw Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of Skype in 2011.
Ballmer owns roughly 4% of Microsoft, making him the Company’s largest individual shareholder. Ballmer paid $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team in 2014, shortly after stepping down as CEO of Microsoft.
While attending Harvard University, Ballmer shared a dorm room and a floor with Bill Gates. During his tenure as CEO, Ballmer began pushing the tech company into hardware, such as the Surface tablet and the Windows mobile phone, which strained their brotherly relationship.
#9. Sergey Brin
Age: 49
Lives in: California
Co-Founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
Net Worth: $104 billion
Alphabet: Owns 6% of the Company ($79.5 billion).
Other Assets: include $15.3 billion
Sergey Brin was born in Moscow, Russia, and moved to the United States with his family when he was six years old in 1979. Brin became Google’s president of technology when Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001, after co-founding Google with Larry Page in 1998. He held the same position at Alphabet since its inception in 2015, stepping down in 2019 when Sundar Pichai took over as CEO.
Google also provides a suite of online tools and services known as Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and more. Google also sells electronic devices such as Pixel smartphones, computers, tablets, Nest smart home devices, and the Stadia gaming platform.
In collaboration with The Michael J. Fox Foundation, Brin has donated millions of dollars to Parkinson’s disease research.
#10. Carlos Slim
Age: 83 Nationality: Mexican Networth: $93.7 billion
Carlos Slim owns a majority stake in America Movil, Latin America’s largest mobile phone operator. He also owns stock in several other companies and is worth $95.7 billion. Despite the fact that he has transferred some of his holdings to his six children, they remain among his assets as the family patriarch.
After graduating from the National Autonomous University of Mexico School of Engineering with a degree in civil engineering, he founded Inmobiliaria Carso, a construction company, and later began investing in various industries.
Who Are the Top Ten Richest People in the World?
The top ten richest people in the World are:
- Bernard Arnault
- Elon Musk
- Jeff Bezos
- Bill Gates
- Warren Buffett
- Larry Ellison
- Larry Page
- Steve Ballmer
- Sergey Brin
- Carlos Slim
Who Is the World’s Richest Man in 2023?
Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, is the world’s richest man as of May 1, 2023.
Who Is the World’s Richest Woman?
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is the world’s richest woman. Her net worth is $90 billion as of May 1, 2023. Her fortune stems from her stake in L’Oréal, the world’s largest cosmetics company.
Conclusion
You might need to become a technological innovator or a luxury retail mastermind if you want to get a little closer to making the list of the richest billionaires. You could also keep it simple and concentrate on value investing.
It also helps to be born into wealth; however, the greatest fortunes on this list began with good ideas that people with creativity, drive, and connections used to build some of the world’s largest corporations.
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Richest People in the World: References
