Forbes 2024 ranking: who is the richest person in the world

As of the beginning of 2024, the fortune of the ten richest people in the world together amounted to almost $115 billion. The last months of 2023 gave a significant increase in the wealth of the richest people in the world, in particular due to the growth in the value of shares of Tesla and Alphabet.

Many of the Forbes billionaires hold most of their wealth in shares of foreign companies that they founded or co-founded. As the price of shares changes in the stock markets, their fortunes change accordingly.

According to the Forbes 2024 ranking, the combined wealth of the world's 10 richest people at the beginning of the year was estimated at $1.44 trillion.

In recent months, Elon Musk's capital has increased significantly; the price increase for Tesla shares in November 2023 was 17% and another 5% in December 2023. Electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk also owns stakes in private rocket company SpaceX and social networking site X, formerly known as Twitter.

According to Forbes, for most of the first half of 2023, French tycoon and luxury goods manufacturer Bernard Arnault was the richest person in the world, but that changed on June 8, 2023, when Elon Musk overtook Bernard Arnault to become world No. 1 again.

As of early 2024, Bernard Arnault is still the second richest person with a fortune estimated at $191 billion. Bernard Arnault, CEO and chairman of LVMH, has built the company into a giant with more than 70 brands, from Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior to Tiffany & Co. and Sephora.

Software tycoon Larry Ellison of Oracle took second place in the top 10 as Oracle shares rose 10% in the final months of 2023. Larry Ellison ranks fourth among the richest people with a net worth of $146 billion, which is about $22 billion less than Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who was third in the Forbes 2024 ranking.

The surge in Microsoft stock at the end of 2023 also helped boost the fortunes of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (No. 6) and his former CEO Steve Ballmer (No. 8). It should be noted here that Bill Gates has diversified most of his Microsoft holdings and donated tens of billions of Microsoft shares to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Forbes ranking of the TOP 10 richest people in the world as of early 2024

1. Elon Musk

• Net worth: $250.4 billion.
• Source: Tesla, SpaceX, X (Twitter)
• Age: 52 years
• Residence: Austin, Texas
• Citizenship: USA

Elon Musk is the CEO of electric vehicle company Tesla, rocket company SpaceX, and social networking site X, formerly known as Twitter. He owns 23% of Tesla shares, but he pledged some of his shares for loans. The car company accounts for about two-thirds of his wealth. In October 2022, he bought X, then known as Twitter, for $44 billion and is estimated to own 74% of the social media company, which is now worth less than half of what he paid for it.

Elon Musk, originally from South Africa, Musk moved to Canada before his 18th birthday, worked various jobs, attended Queen's University in Ontario, and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a bachelor's degree in economics.

In 2000, he merged online bank X.com, which he co-founded, with a similar organization founded by Peter Thiel to form PayPal, which eBay bought in 2002 for $1.4 billion. He founded SpaceX in 2002 in El Segundo, near Los Angeles. In 2004, he joined Tesla as an investor and chairman, a year after its founding; he was later given the title of co-founder. Musk, who became Tesla CEO in 2008, took the company public in 2010. Its market capitalization has grown sharply in 2020 and 2021. In September 2021, Musk became the richest person in the world. His net worth reached a whopping $320 billion in 2021. Elon Musk was also the richest person in the world for most of 2022—until December 2022, when Tesla's falling stock price reduced the value of his fortune.

According to Forbes, at the beginning of 2024, Elon Musk's fortune was estimated at $250.4 billion, which is $50 billion ahead of his competitor Bernard Arnault.

2. Bernard Arnault

• Net worth: $203.2 billion.
• Source: LVMH/luxury goods
• Age: 74
• Residence: Paris
• Nationality: France

Bernard Arnault is the CEO and chairman of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company with nearly 70 fashion and beauty brands. Among the most famous: Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Moet & Chandon and Sephora. In January 2021, LVMH acquired the jewelry company Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion.

Arno's father made millions in the construction business; to launch his career, Arnault used $15 million of this fortune to buy Christian Dior.

All five of Arnault's children work in different parts of the LVMH empire. In January 2023, Arnault put his daughter Delphine in charge of Dior, the second largest brand in the group.

Bernard Arnault was the world's richest man for most of the first half of 2023; On June 8, 2023, he dropped to second place. According to Forbes, at the beginning of 2024, Bernard Arnault's fortune was estimated at $203.2 billion.

3. Jeff Bezos

• Net worth: $174.4 billion.
• Source: Amazon
• Age: 59
• Residence: Medina, Washington
• Citizenship: USA

Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of e-commerce giant Amazon in July 2021 but remains chairman of the company; that same month, he launched into space on a rocket built by the private rocket company Blue Origin, which he founded and financed with billions of dollars. Arnault was the world's richest person for most of the first half of 2023; On June 8, 2023, he dropped to second place. According to Forbes, at the beginning of 2024, Jeff Bezos's fortune was estimated at $174.4 billion.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in his Seattle garage in 1994 after leaving his job in New York at hedge fund D.E. Show. Amazon started out as an online bookseller at a time when few people bought goods online. The company came to dominate the cloud storage space and moved into producing movies and TV series to support Amazon Prime Video.

In the Forbes ranking, Jeff Bezos overtook Bill Gates to become the richest person in the world in July 2017. He and Bill Gates have from time to time "traded" the first and second richest places in the ranking. Bezos was the world's richest person on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires from 2018 to 2021; he dropped to second place on the 2022 billionaires list. He dropped to fourth place on the list of richest people, but returned to third place on January 25, 2023, when the fortune of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani (previously ranked third on the list of richest people) fell.

Bezos and his wife MacKenzie divorced in 2019; As part of the settlement, she received 4% of Amazon's shares, and he kept 12%. He has since sold and given away most of his stake and now owns just under 10% of the company. Forbes estimates that he has sold more than $27 billion worth of shares since Amazon went public in 1997. He has used the proceeds to invest in a variety of companies, including Airbnb and software firm Workday.

4. Larry Ellison

• Net worth: $133.8 billion
• Source: OracleAge: 79
• Residence: Woodside, California
• Citizenship: USA

Larry Ellison co-founded software company Oracle in 1977 and led it as CEO until 2014; he is now the company's chairman and chief technology officer. Oracle has made a number of major acquisitions over the years, purchasing Sun Microsystems in 2010.

In 2012, Ellison bought the Hawaiian island of Lanai for $300 million. He moved from California to Lanai in 2020, but maintained his homes in California and Nevada. Larry Ellison invested in Tesla and served on the car company's board of directors from 2018 to August 2022.

In June 2023, Larry Ellison overtook Jeff Bezos to become the third richest person in the world following a surge in Oracle's share price. Then the stock fell, and Ellison returned to fourth place among the richest people on the planet. At the beginning of 2024, his fortune reached $133.8 billion.

5. Warren Buffett

• Net worth: $119.3 billion.
• Source: Berkshire Hathaway
• Age: 93
• Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
• Citizenship: USA

Known as the "Oracle of Omaha", Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time. He runs the investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, which owns dozens of companies, including insurance company Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen. The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stocks at age 11 and filed his first taxes at age 13.

In 2010, Warren Buffett, along with Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, created the Giving Pledge, asking billionaires to commit to giving at least half of their wealth to charitable groups. Warren Buffett said he would donate 99% of his wealth. So far, he has donated at least $51.5 billion in Berkshire Hathaway shares to the Bill Gates Foundation and his children's foundations. This makes him the most generous billionaire on the planet. Back in mid-June 2023, Warren Buffett gave his shares to Berkshire Hathaway worth $4.6 billion. According to Forbes, at the beginning of 2024, Warren Buffett's fortune was estimated at $119.3 billion.

6. Bill Gates

• Net worth: $118.8 billion.
• Source: Microsoft, investments
• Age: 68
• Residence: Medina, Washington
• Citizenship: USA

As a teenager, Bill Gates became interested in computer programming. In 1975, he dropped out of Harvard and founded the software firm Microsoft with his high school friend Paul Allen, creating one of the first programs available to the nascent personal computer industry. He was the company's CEO for 25 years and remained its chairman until 2014. He eventually left the board in 2020, but told Forbes in early 2023 that he still spends about 10% of his time consulting with Microsoft teams. Today he has investments in dozens of companies, including waste hauler Republic Services and farm equipment maker Deere & Co., and is one of the largest owners of farmland in the United States.

Forbes first included Bill Gates on its list of billionaires in 1987; he was the richest person in the world from 1995 to 2017 (except 2008 and 2010 to 2013). Thanks in large part to the $59 billion he has donated to the Gates Foundation, including a $20 billion gift in July 2022, he was overtaken by Jeff Bezos as the world's richest person in 2018. He and Melinda French Gates divorced in 2021; she received at least $6 billion in shares as part of the divorce settlement.

Bill Gates' fortune rose in the final months of 2023, helped by rising Microsoft share prices, to reach $118.8 billion.

7. Mark Zuckerberg

• Net worth: $115.9 billion.
• Source: Facebook/Meta
• Age: 39
• Residence: Palo Alto, California
• Citizenship: USA

Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook (now called Meta Platforms) while he was a student at Harvard University in 2004. This social network has grown into the world's largest social network with 3.88 billion monthly users. The company also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, which it acquired and expanded significantly. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, took the company public in 2012 and still owns about 13% of its shares. He and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged to devote 99% of their company shares to "activities that promote human development." One of the ambitious goals they fund is to develop tools that will help others treat, control or prevent all diseases by the end of this century.

Earlier in the summer of 2023, Mark Zuckerberg returned to the top 10 richest people in the world for the first time since January 2022 as a result of rising Meta share prices. According to Forbes, at the beginning of 2024 his fortune had grown to $115.9 billion.

8. Steve Ballmer

• Net worth: $112.8 billion.
• Source: Microsoft, investments
• Age: 67
• Residence: Hunts Point, Washington
• Citizenship: USA

Steve Ballmer, a Harvard classmate of Bill Gates, joined Microsoft as an employee in 1980 after dropping out of the MBA program at Stanford University. He led Microsoft as CEO from 2000 to 2014.

When Steve Ballmer left Microsoft, he bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion, a record amount for an NBA team at the time. Forbes now values the team at $4.65 billion.

Steve Ballmer's fortune also increased at the end of 2023 amid rising Microsoft stock prices and amounted to $112.8 billion.

9. Larry Page

• Net worth: $116.2 billion.
• Source: Google
• Age: 50
• Residence: Palo Alto, California
• Citizenship: USA

Larry Page co-founded the search engine Google with Stanford graduate student Sergey Brin in 1998 and served as CEO until 2001 and from 2011 to 2015. He is now a member of the board of directors of Google's parent company Alphabet and continues to be a majority shareholder.

Larry Page was one of the founders of the asteroid mining company Planetary Resources, which was acquired by blockchain company ConsenSys in 2018.

He became one of the world's 10 richest people following a remarkable 15% jump in Alphabet's share price in May 2023. According to Forbes, at the beginning of 2024, Larry Page's fortune was estimated at $116.2 billion.

10. Sergey Brin

• Net worth: $107.3 billion.
• Source: Google
• Age: 50
• Residence: Los Altos, California
• Citizenship: USA

Sergey Brin stepped down as president of Alphabet, Google's parent company, in December 2019, but remains a majority shareholder and board member. He founded Google with Larry Page in 1998 after they met at Stanford University while studying for degrees in computer science.

Sergei Brin, who came to the United States from Russia with his family when he was 6 years old to escape anti-Semitism, is America's richest immigrant. He is a member of the board of directors of Google's parent company Alphabet and continues to be the majority shareholder. His fortune increased in the final months of 2023 amid a surge in Alphabet's share price.

Sergey Brin, who more than a decade ago said he had a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease than the general population, has donated more than $1.1 billion to advance research into neurodegenerative diseases, with a particular focus on advancing basic science.

Who is the richest person in the world in 2024?

As of early 2024, the richest person in the world is Elon Musk, CEO of electric vehicle company Tesla; his fortune is estimated at $250.4 billion.

Who is the richest woman in the world in 2024?

The richest woman in the world is Francoise Bettencourt Meyers from France. As of early 2024, her net worth is estimated at $94.3 billion, making her the 14th richest person in the world. Her fortune comes from her stake in cosmetics giant L'Oreal, which she inherited from her late mother. Her grandfather was the founder of L'Oreal.

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