Forbes has released its annual list of the world’s billionaires and in 2024, there are more people on the list than ever — and they’re richer than ever. Despite the pandemic, it was a record-setting year for the world’s wealthiest—with a $5 trillion surge in wealth and an unprecedented number of new billionaires. There are 2,668 billionaires around the globe, according to Forbes’ annual World’s Billionaires list, down 87 from the previous year. His fortune fell by an estimated $5 billion during September 2023.
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Bernard Arnault and his family are at number one, with a net worth of $233 billion. Arnault is head of LVMH, a luxury fashion and cosmetics conglomerate in France. The family is usually in the top three of Forbes’ wealthiest people in the world lists.
- Together the world’s 10 richest people, according to Forbes, are worth $1.47 trillion as of the strike of midnight on January 1—up from $1.44 trillion a month ago.
- He eventually stepped off the board in 2020 but told Forbes in early 2023 that he still spends about 10% of his time consulting with teams at Microsoft.
- Musk has been the world’s richest person since late May, and he’s just widened the gap between him and the No. 2 richest to more than $100 billion.
- Shares of LVMH fell by about 6% during November and by 20% during the past six months amid weaker sales in China.
He now ranks ahead of Bill Gates, who for years was the world’s richest person. Warren Buffett is the world’s sixth richest person, worth $96 billion. It’s the first year since 1993 that the revered investor running Berkshire Hathaway has not appeared in the top five. Not that the 90-year-old Oracle of Omaha had a bad year—he’s still worth $28.5 billion more than he was on the 2020 list. Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group, Trump’s social media company, also cashed in with shares skyrocketing in value after CNN and other media outlets projected Trump won.
Alling stocks, wounded unicorns and rising interest rates translated into a down year for the world’s wealthiest people. Globally, we counted 2,640 ten-figure fortunes, down from 2,668 last year. Altogether, the planet’s billionaires are now worth $12.2 trillion, a drop of $500 billion from $12.7 trillion in March 2022. Nearly half the list is poorer than a year ago, including Elon Musk, who falls from No. 1 to No. 2 after his pricey acquisition of Twitter helped sink Tesla TSLA TSLA shares.
One effort is to develop tools to help others cure, manage or prevent all disease; Zuckerberg and Chan spoke to Forbes earlier this year about their philanthropic efforts. And Zuckerberg talked to Forbes in September about Meta’s two biggest bets and more ahead of the company turning 20. He and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged to direct 99% of their stock in the company toward measures that promote human potential. Arnault, the CEO and chairman of LVMH, has built the company into a behemoth with more than 70 brands, from Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior to Tiffany & Co. and Sephora. This article was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD. Unlike many big tech founders, Zuckerberg remains at the CEO helm.
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Besides Bezos, Musk and Arnault, there’s Bill Gates, who ranks No. 4 at $124 billion, buoyed by the strength of shares he owns in Microsoft, Canadian National Railway and tractor maker Deere & Company. Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder topped Forbes’ list for the first time ever with a net worth of $219 billion. More than half of the top 10 billionaires earned their fortunes in the technology sector. The Middle East billionaires’ collective wealth amounted to $100.9 billion. Billionaires from Saudi Arabia were excluded from Forbes’ global list for the seventh consecutive year.
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Tesla’s stock surged after Donald Trump clinched the U.S. presidential victory on November 6, with shareholders betting on Musk’s close ties to Trump. Known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time. His fortune fell by $11.2 billion during December 2023 as Oracle shares fell 10%. Bezos overtook Bill Gates to become the richest person in the world in July 2017. Here are the 10 richest people on Earth as of January 1, 2024 at 12 a.m. A record 1,975 billionaires are self-made, up from 1,457 last year.
SpaceX, meanwhile, keeps soaring, with the company valued at nearly $140 billion in a tender offer that closed in early 2023—up from the $127 billion at which investors valued it last May. Below you will find a dynamically updated, real time listing of the 100 richest people in the world today. In the early 1990s, the title was often held by Japanese real estate and investment moguls, emblematic of Japan’s economic bubble. However, as the decade progressed, American entrepreneurs, particularly from the technology sector, began to dominate the list. The ranks of billionaires dwindled over the past year, with their total worth dropping by $400 billion, says the latest list of the world’s richest people from Forbes magazine.
Jeff Bezos
Known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time. He runs investing conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, which owns dozens of companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen. The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age 13. Back in mid-June, Buffett gave away $4.6 billion worth of his Berkshire Hathaway top 100 richest person in world shares.
His fortune increased by an estimated $5.1 billion during December 2023 amid a nearly 6% jump in the price of Alphabet shares. Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, a position he held for much of 2022 as well. Many billionaires hold much of their net worth in the stock of the company they founded or cofounded.