Who? & Where? Part II
Who? & Where?
March 25, 2023
Who? & Where? Part III
March 26, 2023The Richest People in the World
These billionaires can, however, still borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stock, deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains in the process.
Multi-billionaires can also take advantage of a panoply of tax deductions to offset reported income, leaving some on this list paying no income tax in recent years
1. Bernard Arnault
- Age: 73
- Residence: Paris
- CEO and Chair: LVMH (LVMUY)
- Net Worth: $186 billion
- Christian Dior Ownership Stake: 97.5% ($148 billion total)
- Other Assets: Moelis & Company equity ($27.9 billion public asset) and $10.7 billion in cash
3. Jeff Bezos
- Age: 59
- Residence: Washington
- Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon
- Net Worth: $116 billion
- Amazon Ownership Stake: 10% ($91.5 billion)
- Other Assets: Blue Origin ($11.2 billion private asset), The Washington Post ($250 million private asset), and $12.8 billion in cash
5. Warren Buffett
- Age: 92
- Residence: Nebraska
- CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
- Net Worth: $106 billion
- Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 14% ($105 billion)
- Other Assets: $1.15 billion in cash
7. Steve Ballmer
- Age: 66
- Residence: Washington
- Owner: Los Angeles Clippers
- Net Worth: $88.1 billion
- Microsoft Ownership Stake: 4% ($78.6 billion total)
- Other Assets: Los Angeles Clippers ($3.73 billion private asset), $5.8 billion in cash
9. Larry Page
- Age: 49
- Residence: California
- Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet
- Net Worth: $85.1 billion
- Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($70.5 billion total)
- Other Assets: $14.6 billion in cash
2. Elon Musk
- Age: 51
- Residence: Texas
- Co-founder and CEO: Tesla
- Net Worth: $184 billion
- Tesla Ownership Stake: 13% ($70 billion)
- Other Assets: Space Exploration Technologies ($48.9 billion private asset), The Boring Company ($3.33 billion private asset), Twitter ($10.5 billion private asset) Elon Musk is the second-richest man in the world. He was born in South Africa and attended a university in Canada before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics. Two days after enrolling in a graduate physics program at Stanford University, Musk deferred attendance to launch Zip2
4. Bill Gates
- Age: 67
- Residence: Washington
- Co-founder: Microsoft (MSFT)
- Net Worth: $113 billion
- Microsoft Ownership Stake: 1.4% ($25.4 billion)
- Other Assets: $57.4 billion in cash and billions over multiple other companies
6. Larry Ellison
- Age: 78
- Residence: Hawaii
- Co-founder, Chair, and CTO: Oracle (ORCL)
- Net Worth: $100 billion
- Oracle Ownership Stake: 40%+ ($72.4 billion)
- Other Assets: Tesla equity ($9.13 billion public asset), $18.2 billion in cash
8. Carlos Slim
- Age: 83
- Residence: Mexico
- Owner: America Movil
- Net Worth: $86.5 billion
- America Movil Ownership Stake: Majority ($44.4 billion total)
- Other Assets: Cash ($8.28 billion), Inmuebles Carso ($6.68 billion), Grupo Carso ($8.76 billion), Grupo Financiero ($8.02 billion)
10. Sergey Brin
- Age: 49
- Residence: California
- Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet
- Net Worth: $81.4 billion
- Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($66.7 billion total)
- Other Assets: $14.7 billion in cash
Billionaires play an outsized role in shaping the global economy, politics, and philanthropy. Forbes puts the number of billionaires in the world at 2,668 in 2022. The wealthiest among them is Bernard Arnault; the chairman of LVMH.12
The individuals on this list belong to an even more exclusive club and wield still more power. Many are founders of technology giants, with much of their wealth still invested in the companies they started.3
These billionaires can, however, still borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stock, deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains in the process.
Multi-billionaires can also take advantage of a panoply of tax deductions to offset reported income, leaving some on this list paying no income tax in recent years.
With so much of their wealth in publicly traded stocks, the net worth of the richest can fluctuate with market valuations. For example, Tesla CEO Elon Musk saw his net worth surge in 2021 thanks to the increase in the electric car maker’s share price. Tesla shares rose nearly 50% in 2021.6
And like a pendulum, his net worth dropped in 2022 due to the falling share price of Tesla, of which he owns 13%. Musk also had to sell many of his shares in Tesla to fund his acquisition of Twitter. This resulted in him losing the top spot of the richest person in the world to Bernard Arnault.617
Tesla’s share price moved upwards in January and February 2023, allowing Musk to take the top spot of the richest person in the world once again, but as markets fluctuate, he is currently the second-richest person in the world.
Similarly, Meta Platforms (META) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg fell out of the top 10 in February 2022, when the company’s share price plunged after a disappointing earnings report. Zuckerberg’s net worth was reported to be $64.4 billion in March 2023.83
Below are the 10 wealthiest people on the planet, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. All figures are current as of March 2, 2023, unless otherwise stated.
G.I.T.C
