Who is the richest person in the world?

Billionaires play a significant role in influencing the global economy, politics, and the philanthropic activities of their peers. Forbes estimates that there are approximately 2,640 billionaires worldwide as of 2023. The richest among them is Bernard Arnault, who serves as the chairman of LVMH.

The individuals on this list belong to an exclusive group and possess even greater influence. Many of them are the founders of tech giants, and a substantial portion of their wealth is still invested in their respective businesses.

However, billionaires have the option to borrow against their wealth, which allows them to avoid selling stocks and defer or completely eliminate capital gains taxes, especially for their heirs. Moreover, multi-billionaires benefit from various tax deductions, enabling them to reduce their income tax liabilities. Consequently, certain individuals on this list have paid no income tax in recent years.

Since a significant portion of their wealth is tied to publicly traded stocks, the net worth of the wealthiest individuals is subject to market fluctuations. For example, in 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk witnessed a substantial increase in his wealth due to the surge in Tesla’s share price. The value of Tesla shares rose from $264.51 on January 1st, 2021, to $352.26 on December 1st, 2021.

His net worth fell in 2022 like a pendulum due to the declining share price of Tesla, in which Musk owns a 13 percent stake. Additionally, Musk was forced to sell a significant number of his Tesla shares to finance his purchase of Twitter. Consequently, he lost the title of the world’s richest person to Bernard Arnault.

In January and February 2023, Tesla’s share price experienced a climb, allowing Musk to reclaim the number one spot as the wealthiest person in the world. However, as the markets continue to fluctuate, he is currently the second richest individual globally.

Similarly, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta Platforms (META), dropped out of the top 10 list in February 2022 after META’s shares plummeted following an unsatisfactory earnings report. As of April 20, 2023, Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth was estimated at $77.8 billion.

Here are the top 10 wealthiest people in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The data is up to date as of May 1st, 2023, unless otherwise specified.

Key TAKEAWAYS

• Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH, holds the title of the wealthiest person on Earth with a net worth exceeding $200 billion. Following Arnault is Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
• Among the billionaires with the highest net worths are Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, Bill Gates from Microsoft, and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers from La Roche-Posay. Notably, Meyers is the only female listed among them.
• Seven of these highly successful billionaires have amassed their fortunes through technology, with the exceptions being Bernard Arnault, Warren Buffett from Berkshire Hathaway, and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers from L’Oreal.

1. Bernard Arnault

• Age: 74
• Residency: Paris
• Chair and CEO: LVMH (LVMUY)
• Net worth: $206 billion
• Christian Dior Ownership Stake: 97.5% ($161 billion in total)
• Other assets: Moelis & Company equity ($32.5 billion of public assets) along with $12.5 milliards in cash

Bernard Arnault, a French national, is the CEO and chairman of LVMH, the world’s leading luxury goods firm. The LVMH brand includes Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora.

A significant portion of Arnault’s wealth comes from his substantial shareholding in Christian Dior SE, the holding company that controls 41.4 percent of LVMH. In addition, an entity owned by his own family, Groupe Familial Arnault, owns 6.2 percent of LVMH.

Arnault, who is an engineer by profession, first demonstrated his business acumen while working for his father’s construction company, Ferret-Savinel. He assumed control of the company in 1971 and subsequently transformed it into a real estate firm named Ferinel Inc. in 1979.

For the next six years, Arnault served as the chairman of Ferinel until he acquired and restructured the luxury goods manufacturer Financiere Agache in 1984. He eventually sold off all of its holdings except for Christian Dior and Le Bon Marche. In 1987, he was invited to join LVMH, and two years later, he became the majority shareholder, chairman of the board, and CEO of the company.

An engineer by trade, Arnault initially demonstrated his business acumen while working at his father’s construction firm, Ferret-Savinel, assuming control of the company in 1971. In 1979, he transformed Ferret-Savinel into a real estate firm called Ferinel Inc.

Arnault remained at the helm of Ferinel for the following six years until he acquired and restructured the luxury goods manufacturer Financiere Agache in 1984. Eventually, he divested the company of its entire portfolio, except for Christian Dior and Le Bon Marche. In 1987, Arnault was approached by LVMH and invited to join the company, becoming its majority shareholder, board chair, and CEO two years later.

2. Elon Musk

• Age: 51
• Residency: Texas
• CEO and Co-founder: Tesla
• Net worth: $165 billion3
• Tesla Ownership Share: 13% ($67.5 billion)
• Tweet Ownership Stake: 79% ($9.65 billion) 13
• Other assets: Space Exploration Technologies ($48.9 billion in private assets), The Boring Company ($3.33 billion of private assets)

Elon Musk is the world’s second-richest man. Musk, who was raised in South Africa, initially attended a university in Canada before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics. Following the completion of his graduate program in physics at Stanford University, Musk deferred the program to embark on Zip2, one of the earliest internet-based navigation services. Musk reinvested a portion of the company’s profits to establish X.com, an online payment system that was eventually sold as eBay (EBAY) and later renamed PayPal Holdings (PYPL).

In 2004, Musk became a significant investor in Tesla Motors (now known as Tesla), which ultimately paved the way for his current position as the CEO of the electric car company. In addition to its line of electric vehicles, Tesla manufactures energy storage devices and automobile accessories. Furthermore, through its acquisition of SolarCity in 2016, Tesla also offers solar power solutions. Musk holds the roles of CEO and chief engineer at Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the company responsible for satellite launchers.

In 2020, Tesla shares experienced a remarkable 740 percent surge, contributing to Musk’s ascent to the pinnacle of the wealth rankings. In December 2020, Tesla’s inclusion in the S&P 500 marked it as the most valuable company to be added to the index. By January 2021, Musk had become the wealthiest individual globally, a title he held until December 2022 when a decrease in Tesla’s share price impacted his net worth over the course of the year. However, Musk reclaimed the top position in March 2023.

On November 6, 2021, Musk took to Twitter and asked his followers whether it would be appropriate to sell 10 percent of his Tesla shares. He posed this question in response to criticism regarding capital gains, asserting that it served as a means to evade taxes. Subsequently, Musk proceeded to sell shares valued at $16.4 billion for the remainder of the year 2021.

In response to a report in the media, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, referenced the claim that Musk did not pay income tax in 2018 as a basis for advocating the implementation of a wealth tax. Musk took to Twitter to counter Warren’s statement, saying, “And if you could open your eyes for just two seconds, you’d realize that I’m going to pay more tax than any American ever before in the history of our country.”

As a result of the surge in Tesla’s share prices in 2021 and private transactions that increased the reported value of SpaceX, Musk’s position in the global wealth ranking continued to grow. In November 2021, Musk’s net worth reached a record high of $340 billion.

On April 20, 2022, Musk initiated a plan to privatize Twitter, leading to a $44 billion acquisition. He intended to finance the deal using $21 billion from his personal capital. Prior to the buyout announcement, Musk sold 9.6 million shares in Tesla, totaling approximately $8.5 billion.

However, in July 2022, Musk was able to withdraw from the Twitter buyout. Twitter took legal action to prevent the acquisition from proceeding. Musk contested the company’s decision but eventually expressed his willingness to proceed with the purchase. The deal was officially finalized in October 2022, with Musk obtaining 79% ownership of the company.

3. Jeff Bezos

• Age: 59
• Home: Washington
• Executive Chair and Founder: Amazon (AMZN)
• Net worth: $129 billion
• Amazon Ownership Stake: 10 percent ($105 billion)
• Other assets: Blue Origin ($11.2 billion in private assets), The Washington Post ($250 million in private asset) and $13.4 billion of money in cash

In 1994, Jeff Bezos established Amazon.com in an unfinished garage in Seattle, shortly after resigning from the large hedge fund D.E. Shaw. He initially presented the idea of an online bookshop to his former manager, David E. Shaw, who wasn’t interested.

Although Amazon initially started by selling books, it has since transformed into an online store that offers a wide range of products and is predicted to surpass Walmart as the largest retailer in 2024. Amazon’s continuous diversification is evident in some of its more unexpected expansions, including the acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017 and its entry into the pharmacy market the same year.

In the year 2019, Bezos owned 16 percent of Amazon before transferring 4% of the company to his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, as part of the divorce process. Thanks to increasing consumer demand for online shopping in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, the share price of Amazon rose by 76% in 2020. In July of 2021, Bezos stepped down as the chief executive officer of Amazon, the online retail giant, and was appointed the executive chairman.

In 1997, Bezos made the decision to take Amazon public. He became the second person, after Bill Gates in 1999, to attain an estimated net worth over $100 billion. Bezos has other ventures that include the aerospace firm Blue Origin, The Washington Post (which he acquired in 2013), as well as the 10,000-year clock, also known as The Long Now.

On July 20, 2021, Bezos, along with his twin brother Mark and aerospace pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen, successfully completed Blue Origin’s first-ever crewed flight, reaching an altitude greater than 66 miles before landing safely. Bezos’s wealth reached $211 billion in the same month.

4. Bill Gates

• Age: 67
• Residency: Washington
• Co-founder: Microsoft (MSFT)
• Net worth: $125 billion
• Microsoft Ownership Share: 1.4% ($31.6 billion)
• Other assets: 60 billion dollars in cash and billions in additional businesses

While at Harvard University in 1975, Bill Gates teamed up with his childhood friend Paul Allen to develop new software for the first microcomputers. After the project’s success, Gates was expelled from Harvard in the middle of his senior year and co-founded Microsoft with Allen.

Microsoft, the largest software firm worldwide, also manufactures personal computers that provide email services through exchange servers and offers video game systems and gaming devices. Recently, Microsoft has made significant investments in cloud-based services.

In 2008, Gates transitioned from the position of CEO to chairman of the board at the company. He joined the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway and later resigned from both boards on March 13, 2020.

Bill Gates has amassed much of his wealth through Cascade Investment LLC. Cascade is a privately owned investment vehicle that holds various stocks, including Canadian National Railway (CNR), Deere (DE), and Republic Services (RSG), as well as private investments in energy and real estate.

5. Warren Buffett

• Age: 92
• Residency: Nebraska
• CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
• Net worth: $115 billion
• Berkshire Hathaway Ownership stake: 14% ($114 billion)
• Other assets: $1.2 billion liquid cash

The ever-renowned value investor, Warren Buffett, completed his initial tax return on April 14, 1944, at the age of 14, claiming the earnings he made from his paper route. In 1962, Buffett first acquired shares of Berkshire Hathaway, a textile company, and by 1965, he had become its largest shareholder. In 1967, Buffett expanded the company’s holdings to include insurance and other investments.

Commonly known as the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett is an entrepreneur who follows a buy-and-hold strategy, accumulating wealth through the purchase of undervalued businesses. In recent years, Berkshire Hathaway has made investments in prominent, large-scale companies. Its portfolio consists of wholly-owned subsidiaries that span various industries, including energy distribution, insurance, railroads, and consumer products.

Buffett holds a skeptical view towards Bitcoin, expressing reservations about its merits.

Buffett has dedicated a significant portion of his wealth to charitable causes. From 2006 to 2020, he donated over $41 billion to various charities, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his own children’s charities. In 2010, Buffett collaborated with Bill Gates to establish The Giving Pledge.

At the age of 92, Buffett continues to hold the position of CEO. However, in 2021, he indicated that Gregory Abel, the current head of Berkshire’s non-insurance business, could potentially succeed him.

6. Steve Ballmer

• Age: 67
• Home: Washington
• Owner: Los Angeles Clippers
• Net worth: $107 billion
• Microsoft Ownership Stake: 4% ($98.1 billion in total)
• Other assets: Los Angeles Clippers ($3.73 billion in private assets), Intuit Dome ($2 billion), $3.05 billion in cash

Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 after being convinced by Bill Gates to leave Stanford’s MBA program. Ballmer is the 30th employee of Microsoft. Later, in the year 2000, he was appointed as the successor to Gates in the role of Microsoft CEO. He served as CEO until his resignation in 2014. Ballmer played a key role in Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype for $8.5 billion.

Ballmer owns an estimated 4% of Microsoft, making him the largest individual shareholder of the software giant. In 2014, shortly after stepping down as Microsoft CEO, Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion.

Ballmer lived in the same dorm and on the same floor as Bill Gates while the two attended Harvard University. The brotherly relationship between the two became strained when Ballmer started pushing the tech company into hardware, such as the Surface tablet and the Windows mobile phone, during his tenure as CEO.

7. Larry Ellison

• Age: 78
• Residency: Hawaii
• Chairman, Co-founder as well as CTO: Oracle (ORCL)
• Net worth: $107 billion
• Oracle Ownership Share: 42%+ ($79.4 billion)
• Other assets: Tesla Equity ($7.4 billion in public assets), $19.2 billion in cash

Larry Ellison was born in New York City to a 19-year-old single mother. After leaving his studies at the University of Chicago in 1966, Ellison moved to California and began his career as a programmer for computers. In 1973, he joined the electronics firm Ampex, where he was introduced to his future co-workers Ed Oates and Bob Miner. A few years later, Ellison moved to Precision Instruments, where he served as the company’s vice-president for the research and development department.

In 1977, Ellison, along with Oates and Miner, created Software Development Laboratories. The following year, the company introduced Oracle, the first commercially available relational database program that utilized Structured Query Language. The program became so popular that SDL changed its name to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. Ellison was removed from the position of CEO within Oracle in 2014, after 37 years. In December 2018, Ellison joined the Tesla board of directors and resigned in June 2022.

Oracle is the second-largest software firm, offering a range of cloud computing applications, as well as Java and Linux software, and Oracle Exadata, the Oracle Exadata computing platform.

Oracle has acquired numerous large companies, including human resources management systems provider PeopleSoft in 2005, customer relationship management applications provider Siebel in 2006, enterprise infrastructure software provider BEA Systems in 2008, and hardware-and-software developer Sun Microsystems in 2009. In December 2021, Oracle signed a deal to acquire medical records software vendor Cerner (CERN) for $28.3 billion in cash.

Long known for his extravagant expenditures, Ellison has been a major investor in high-end real estate over the past decade. Perhaps his most notable purchase was the $330 million acquisition of the Hawaiian island Lanai in 2012, where Ellison has maintained a billionaire status since 2020. On the island, Ellison has built a hydroponics farm as well as a luxurious wellness spa.

Ellison has focused his charitable giving on medical research. In 2016, he made a donation of $200,000 to the University of Southern California for the establishment of a Cancer Research Center. Ellison also supported his team, Oracle Team USA, which achieved victory in the America’s Cup racing series in 2010 and 2013.

8. Larry Page

• Age: 50
• Residency: California
• Board member and Co-founder: Alphabet (GOOG)
• Net worth: $99.1 billion
• Alphabet Ownership Share: 6% ($84 billion in total)
• Other assets: $15.2 trillion in cash $63

Like many other tech billionaires featured on the list, Larry Page began his journey towards fame and wealth within the dorms of a college. While at Stanford University in 1995, Page and his fellow student Sergey Brin came up with the idea of enhancing Internet information extraction. They devised a brand new technology for search engines, which they called Backrub due to its ability to analyze the links on a web page.

After that, Page and Brin went on to create Google in 1998, with Page serving as the CEO of the company until 2001. He then resumed the role of CEO between 2011 and 2019.

Google is the world’s most popular Internet web search engine, accounting for more than 92 percent of global searches. In 2006, Google acquired YouTube, which is the most popular platform for user-generated videos.

After acquiring Android in 2005, Google launched the Android mobile phone operating system in 2008. In 2015, Google underwent a structural change and became a part of Alphabet, a holding corporation.

Page was one of the early shareholders of Planetary Resources, a space exploration and mining company. It was founded in 2009 and was subsequently acquired by the blockchain company ConsenSys in 2018 due to funding issues. Additionally, Page has shown interest in aviation vehicle companies and has invested in two of them: Kitty Hawk and Opener.

The shares of Google rose by over 50 percent in 2021, propelling Page and Brin to the top of the billionaires list. Page’s net worth surged from just under $52 billion in March to $86.9 billion.

9. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers

• Age: 69
• Residency: France
• Chairperson: Tethys, which holds 33.3 percent of L’Oreal (LRLCY)
• Net worth: $95 billion
• The Ownership Share of L’Oreal: 33.3% ($88.5 billion in total)
• Other assets: $6.48 Billion in liquid cash

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is the granddaughter of Eugene Schueller, the founder of the cosmetics business L’Oreal. Her mother, Liliane, inherited her father’s stake in L’Oreal, and it was passed on to Bettencourt when Liliane passed away.

Bettencourt is the chairwoman of Tethys, a family-owned holding company that controls a 33.3 percent stake in L’Oreal. Additionally, Bettencourt has served as a board member for L’Oreal.

Bettencourt is the chairwoman of Tethys, a family holding company that manages a 33.3 percent stake in L’Oreal. Additionally, Bettencourt has served as a board member for L’Oreal.

10. Sergey Brin

• Age: 49
• Home: California
• Chairman and co-founder: Alphabet (GOOG)
• Net worth: $94.8 billion
• Alphabet Ownership: 6% ($79.5 billion in total)
• Other assets: $15.3 Billion in money in cash

Sergey Brin was born in Moscow, Russia, and moved to the U.S. with his family when he was just six years old, in 1979. After co-founding Google along with Larry Page in 1998, Brin served as Google’s President of Technology when Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001. Brin held the same position in Alphabet, the holding company for Google, when it was established in 2015. He later assumed the role of CEO before stepping down the following year when Sundar Pichai became the CEO.

In addition to its top web-based search engine, Google offers a variety of web-based tools and applications known as Google Workspace. This includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and more. Google also provides a wide range of electronic devices such as Google Pixel phones, laptops, and tablets. They also offer Nest intelligent home appliances and the Stadia game platform.

Brin has made significant contributions, amounting to thousands of dollars, for research into Parkinson’s disease in collaboration with the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Who are the 10 Most Important Wealthiest People around the World?

The richest 10 people globally are:

1. Bernard Arnault
2. Elon Musk
3. Jeff Bezos
4. Bill Gates
5. Warren Buffett
6. Steve Ballmer
7. Larry Ellison
8. Larry Page
9. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers
10. Sergey Brin

Who Will be the World’s Wealthiest Person in 2023?

As of May 1st, 2023, the richest individual identified is Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH.

Who is the Richest Woman on the planet?

The most successful woman on the planet is Francoise Bettencourt Meyers. As of May 1st, 2023, her net worth is $95 billion. Her wealth primarily comes from her stake in L’Oreal, the world’s largest cosmetics manufacturer.

The Bottom Line

If you’re looking to get one step closer to achieving the top ten list of billionaires with the most wealth and you’re interested in becoming one, you may need to be a tech-savvy designer or a mastermind in the luxury retail industry. Alternatively, you could adopt a minimalist approach and focus on investing in valuable assets.

While being born into wealth is advantageous, many of the richest fortunes on this list started as great ideas that driven individuals with creativity and connections used to establish some of the largest companies.