Elon Musk remains the world’s richest person by a wide margin since May 2024. As of early 2026, his net worth totaled $627 billion, with an annual increase of $194 billion.
The ten richest people on the planet enter 2026 amid an “arms race” in artificial intelligence. Following Google’s mid-November launch of the Gemini 3 model, its parent company Alphabet has likely moved into the lead. This made Google cofounder Larry Page the world’s second-richest person for the first time. His wealth at the start of 2026 is estimated at $270 billion. Page overtook Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who dropped to lower positions accordingly.
Google cofounder Sergey Brin became the second-biggest winner among the top ten: his wealth increased by $92.3 billion to $251 billion.
Elon Musk remains the world’s richest person by a wide margin, although he was also the third-biggest loser over the month. His net worth is estimated at $483 billion, even after Tesla shares fell 6% and his fortune declined by $15 billion.
In total, there are more than 3,000 billionaires worldwide as of early 2026.
Below is the Forbes Top 100 list of the world’s richest people as of January 1, 2026. The combined wealth of this group totals nearly $7 trillion.
Forbes 2026 Ranking: Top 100 Richest People in the World
| № | Rank Name | Total net worth, $ | YTD change, $ | Country / Region | Industry |
| 1 | Elon Musk | $627B | +$194B | United States | Technology |
| 2 | Larry Page | $270B | +$101B | United States | Technology |
| 3 | Jeff Bezos | $255B | +$15.8B | United States | Technology |
| 4 | Sergey Brin | $251В | +$92.3B | United States | Technology |
| 5 | Larry Ellison | $248B | +$56.2B | United States | Technology |
| 6 | Mark Zuckerberg | $233B | +$25.5B | United States | Technology |
| 7 | Bernard Arnault | $205B | +$28.8B | France | Consumer |
| 8 | Steve Ballmer | $170B | +$23.0B | United States | Technology |
| 9 | Jensen Huang | $156B | +$41.5B | United States | Technology |
| 10 | Warren Buffett | $151B | +$8.71 В | United States | Diversified |
| 11 | Michael Dell | $141B | +$17.4B | United States | Technology |
| 12 | Jim Walton | $137B | +$25.ЗВ | United States | Retail |
| 13 | Amancio Ortega | $136B | +$34.5B | Spain | Retail |
| 14 | Rob Walton | $135B | +$25.0B | United States | Retail |
| 15 | Alice Walton | $134B | +$25.0B | United States | Retail |
| 16 | Bill Gates | $118B | -$40.8B | United States | Technology |
| 17 | Carlos Slim | $112B | +$32.4B | Mexico | Diversified |
| 18 | Mukesh Ambani | $106B | +$15.4B | India | Energy |
| 19 | Françoise Bettencourt Meyers | $92.5B | +$18.1B | France | Consumer |
| 20 | Gautam Adani | $83.0B | +$4.25B | India | Industrial |
| 21 | Thomas Peterffy | $78.3B | +$25.1 В | United States | Finance |
| 22 | Julia Flesher Koch & family | $77.7B | +$4.69B | United States | Industrial |
| 23 | Zhong Shanshan | $69.8B | +$14.9B | China | Diversified |
| 24 | Charles Koch | $69.7B | +$3.98B | United States | Industrial |
| 25 | Ma Huateng | $66.0B | +$17.7B | China | Technology |
| 26 | Zhang Yiming | $65.2B | +$21.3B | China | Technology |
| 27 | Jeff Yass | $63.3B | +$17.4B | United States | Finance |
| 28 | German Larrea | $60.0B | +$27.3B | Mexico | Commodities |
| 29 | Zeng Yuqun | $56.5B | +$17.8B | Hong Kong | Industrial |
| ЗО | Giovanni Ferrero & family | $55.8B | +$20.0B | Italy | Food & Beverage |
| 31 | Tadashi Yanai | $54.9B | +$3.98B | Japan | Retail |
| 32 | Stephen Schwarzman | $53.4B | -$33.8M | United States | Finance |
| 33 | Eric Schmidt | $53.1B | +$16.9B | United States | Technology |
| 34 | Changpeng Zhao | $51.0B | -$2.35B | Canada | Finance |
| 35 | Iris Fontbona & family | $49.4B | +$20.8B | Chile | Commodities |
| 36 | Ken Griffin | $48.3B | +$6.91 В | United States | Finance |
| 37 | Jacqueline Badger Mars | $48.1B | +$4.96B | United States | Food & Beverage |
| 38 | John Mars | $48.1B | +$4.96B | United States | Food & Beverage |
| 39 | Lukas Walton | $47.4B | +$8.72B | United States | Retail |
| 40 | Abigail Johnson | $47.2B | +$5.40B | United States | Finance |
| 41 | Miriam Adelson | $46.8B | +$9.55B | United States | Entertainment |
| 42 | Prajogo Pangestu | $45.8B | +$16.1B | Indonesia | Energy |
| 43 | Jack Ma | $45.4B | +$11.2B | China | Technology |
| 44 | William Ding | $44.6B | +$15.8B | China | Technology |
| 45 | Alain Wertheimer | $43.5B | -$922M | France | Consumer |
| 46 | Gerard Wertheimer | $43.5B | -$922M | France | Consumer |
| 47 | Klaus-Michael Kuehne | $41.8B | +$3.28B | Germany | Industrial |
| 48 | Zhang Bo | $41.7B | +$21.6B | China | Industrial |
| 49 | Dieter Schwarz | $41.2B | +$9.63B | Germany | Retail |
| 50 | Thomas Frist | $41.1B | +$13.4B | United States | Health Care |
| 51 | MacKenzie Scott | $40.5B | +$343M | United States | Technology |
| 52 | Colin Huang | $40.2B | +$6.05B | China | Technology |
| 53 | Rodolphe Saade & family | $38.5B | +$8.68B | France | Services |
| 54 | He Xiangjian | $38.3B | +$5.60B | China | Consumer |
| 55 | Li Ka-shing | $38.0B | +$8.12B | Hong Kong | Real Estate |
| 56 | Len Blavatnik | $37.8B | -$1.37B | United States | Diversified |
| 57 | Gianluigi Aponte | $37.8B | +$10.4B | Switzerland | Services |
| 58 | Shiv Nadar | $37.7B | -$5.43B | India | Technology |
| 59 | Gina Rinehart | $37.6B | +$12.6B | Australia | Commodities |
| 60 | Masayoshi Son | $36.8B | +$21.0B | Japan | Technology |
| 61 | Ernesto Bertarelli & family | $36.2B | +$9.53B | Switzerland | Diversified |
| 62 | Dan Gilbert | $36.2B | +$10.1B | United States | Real Estate |
| 63 | Eduardo Saverin | $35.8B | +$3.95B | Brazil | Technology |
| 64 | Shapoor Mistry | $35.3B | -$3.33B | India | Industrial |
| 65 | Robert Pera | $34.3B | +$13.9B | United States | Technology |
| 66 | Mark Mateschitz | $33.6B | +$12.8B | Austria | Food & Beverage |
| 67 | Lei Jun | $33.1B | +$3.50B | China | Technology |
| 68 | Susanne Klatten | $32.8B | +$8.51B | Germany | Industrial |
| 69 | Henry Samueli | $32.5B | +$8.89B | United States | Technology |
| 70 | Lakshmi Mittal | $31.3B | +$11.7B | India | Commodities |
| 71 | Savitri Jindal | $30.9B | -$1.41B | India | Commodities |
| 72 | Eyal Ofer | $30.8B | +$4.36B | Monaco | Diversified |
| 73 | Idan Ofer | $30.7B | +$2.25B | Israel | Energy |
| 74 | Andy Bechtolsheim | $30.3B | +$5.28B | Germany | Technology |
| 75 | Aliko Dangote | $29.9B | +$1.88B | Nigeria | Industrial |
| 76 | Phil Knight & family | $29.7B | -$4.70B | United States | Consumer |
| 77 | David Sun | $29.5B | +$15.7B | United States | Technology |
| 78 | John Tu | $29.5B | +$15.7B | United States | Technology |
| 79 | Sunil Mittal | $29.4B | +$5.51B | India | Media & Telecom |
| 80 | Zhang Xuexin | $29.0B | +$16.0B | China | Industrial |
| 81 | Hasso Plattner | $28.5B | +$2.75B | Germany | Technology |
| 82 | Stefan Quandt | $28.5B | +$7.62B | Germany | Industrial |
| 83 | Andrew Forrest | $28.3B | +$6.28B | Australia | Commodities |
| 84 | Pham Nhat Vuong | $28.1B | +$22.8B | Viet Nam | Real Estate |
| 85 | Liu Yongxing | $27.9B | +$14.2B | China | Industrial |
| 86 | Azim Premji | $27.5B | -$3.46B | India | Technology |
| 87 | Jorge Paulo Lemann | $27.3B | +$6.14B | Brazil | Food & Beverage |
| 88 | Henry Cheng | $27.2B | +$8.23B | Hong Kong | Retail |
| 89 | Stan Kroenke | $26.8B | +$6.10B | United States | Real Estate |
| 90 | Peter Thiel | $26.8B | +$10.7B | United States | Finance |
| 91 | Rick Cohen | $26.7B | +$12.3B | United States | Consumer |
| 92 | Ernie Garcia | $26.4B | +$11.5B | United States | Consumer |
| 93 | Vladimir Potanin | $26.3B | -$1.51B | Russian Federation | Commodities |
| 94 | Vicky Safra | $26.3B | +$5.96B | Greece | Finance |
| 95 | Huang Shilin | $26.3B | +$8.18B | China | Industrial |
| 96 | Alexey Mordashov | $26.2B | +$3.01B | Russian Federation | Industrial |
| 97 | Izzy Englander | $26.2B | +$12.8B | United States | Finance |
| 98 | Adam Foroughi | $26.0B | +$13.9B | United States | Technology |
| 99 | Elaine Marshall | $26.OB | +$1.20B | United States | Industrial |
| 100 | Jaime Gilinski | $25.8B | +$16.9B | Colombia | Finance |
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