The top 5 richest people in the world
1. Bernard Arnault
- Age: 75 years old
- Place of residence: France
- CEO and Chairman: LVMH (LVMUY)
- Net worth: $215 billion
- LVMH stake: 48% ($199 billion)
- Other assets: $16.5 billion in cash
Bernard Arnault, a French national, is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company. LVMH’s brands include Louis Vuitton, Hennessy, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora.
Most of Mr. Arnault’s wealth comes from his large stake in LVMH. LVMH shares are held through companies associated with Financière Agache. An investment company that manages his assets.
An engineer by training, Arnault first demonstrated his business acumen when he worked for his father’s construction company, Ferre Sabinel, and took over the management of the company in 1971. In 1979, he converted Ferret Sabinel into a real estate company called Ferrenel Corporation.
Arnault remained chairman of Féliner for another six years, until he acquired and restructured luxury goods manufacturer Financière Agache in 1984, eventually controlling all of his holdings except Christian Dior and Le Bon Marché. Sold. In 1987 he was invited to invest in his LVMH, and two years later became the company’s major shareholder, chairman and CEO.
2. Jeff Bezos
- Age: 60 years old
- Place of residence: United States
- Founder and CEO: Amazon (AMZN)
- Net worth: $201 billion
- Amazon ownership: 9% ($168 billion)
- Other assets: Blue Origin ($15 billion in personal wealth),The Washington Post ($250 million in personal wealth), Coll ($500 million in personal wealth), and $17.7 billion in cash.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in a Seattle garage in 1994, shortly after being hired by hedge fund giant D.E. he had resigned. show. He originally proposed the idea of an online bookstore to his former boss David E. Shaw, but he showed no interest.
Amazon originally started selling books, but now it’s a one-stop shop for everything and is expected to overtake Walmart as the world’s largest retailer by 2024. Amazon’s pattern of constant diversification is evidenced by some of its unexpected expansions, including its acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017 and its entry into the pharmacy business the same year.
Bezos owned up to 16% of Amazon stock in 2019 before transferring 4% to his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott as part of divorce proceedings. Amazon’s stock price rose 76% in 2020 as demand for online shopping increased in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. On July 5, 2021, Bezos resigned as CEO of the e-commerce giant and became chairman.
Bezos originally took Amazon public in 1997, becoming the first person since Bill Gates in 1999 to have a net worth of over $100 billion. Bezos’ other projects include the aerospace company Blue Origin, the Washington Post (which he acquired in 2013), and the 10,000-year clock, also known as “The Long Now.”
“Jeff Bezos” On July 20, 2021, Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Damen completed Blue Origin’s first manned flight to an altitude of 66 miles. We reached this point and landed safely. In the same month, Bezos’ wealth reached $213 billion.
He paid $500 million for the superyacht Col in 2023.
3. Elon Musk
- Age: 52 years old
- Place of residence: United States
- Co-founder and CEO: Tesla
- Net worth: $191 billion
- Tesla stock: 13% ($74 billion)
- X Holding: 79% ($7.09 billion)
- Other assets: Space Exploration Technologies (personal wealth $71.2 billion), The Boring Company (personal wealth $3.33 billion), Neuralink (personal wealth $2.07 billion)
Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. He was born in South Africa and attended university in Canada before going on to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and economics. Two days after receiving a graduate degree in physics from Stanford University, Musk deferred enrollment in the course and launched one of his first online navigation services, Zip2. He reinvested some of the proceeds from that startup to create his X.com, an online payment system. X.com was sold to eBay (EBAY) and eventually became PayPal Holdings (PYPL).
In 2004, Musk became a major backer of Tesla Motors (now Tesla), leading to his current position as CEO of the electric car maker. In addition to a variety of electric vehicles, Tesla also makes energy storage devices, car accessories, and solar power systems through his 2016 acquisition of SolarCity. Musk is also the CEO and chief engineer of space rocket developer Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).
In December 2020, Tesla joined the S&P 500, making it the largest company added. In 2021, Musk became the world’s richest person, a title that has fluctuated in parallel with Tesla’s value.
In April 2022, Mr. Musk began a campaign to privatize Company X, ultimately resulting in a $44 billion acquisition. Mr. Musk planned to finance the deal with $21 billion of his own money. Prior to the deal announcement, Musk sold 9.6 million Tesla shares worth about $8.5 billion.
In July 2022, Musk decided to withdraw from the acquisition. The company filed a lawsuit against Musk to force the acquisition. Musk fired back at the company, but then reversed course and said he was willing to buy the company eventually. The transaction was officially completed in October 2022, giving him a 79% stake in the company.
4. Mark Zuckerberg
- Age: 39 years old
- Place of residence: United States
- CEO and Chairman: Meta Platforms (META)
- Net worth: $156 billion
- Metaplatform ownership: 13% ($152 billion total)
- Other assets: $4.7 billion in cash
Mark Zuckerberg first developed his Facebook (now his Meta) while attending Harvard University in 2004 with his fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskowitz, and Chris Hughes. When Facebook started being used by other universities, Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to focus on his growing business. Currently, Mr. Zuckerberg serves as his CEO and Chairman of Meta, which in the second quarter of 2023 had his monthly active users of 3 billion.
Facebook is the world’s largest social networking service. Since the site is free to use, most of the company’s revenue comes from advertising. Meta is also home to several other brands, including photo-sharing app Instagram, which it acquired in 2012. His cross-platform mobile messaging service WhatsApp and virtual reality headset maker Oculus were both acquired by him in 2014. Workplace, its enterprise connectivity platform. Portal is a line of video calling devices.
Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2015, and each served as co-CEO. Her philanthropic work focuses on social issues, including improving access and quality of education, reforming both the criminal justice system and the U.S. immigration system, improving housing affordability, and ultimately eradicating all disease. The aim is to use technology to deal with it.
5. Bill Gates
- Age: 68 years old
- Place of residence: United States
- Co-founder: Microsoft (MSFT)
- Net worth: $148 billion
- Microsoft ownership: 1.4% ($25.5 billion)
- Other assets: $70.9 billion in cash and billions of other dollars.
While attending Harvard University in 1975, Bill Gates and his childhood friend Paul Allen began developing new software for the original microcomputer. After the success of this project, Gates dropped out of Harvard during his first year of college and founded Microsoft with Allen.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, also manufactures a variety of personal computers, provides e-mail services through its Exchange servers, and sells video game systems and related gaming devices. The company has recently invested heavily in cloud services.
Gates rose from CEO to chairman of the company’s board in 2008. He joined Berkshire Hathaway’s board of directors in 2004. On March 13, 2020, he resigned as both director Musk.
Bill Gates has invested most of his net worth in Cascade Investment LLC. Cascade is a private investment company that owns various stocks, including Canadian National Railway (CNR), Deere (DE), and Republic Services (RSG), as well as private investments in real estate and energy.
