In the just released annual World’s Richest Men by Forbes, Elon Musk, who co-founded six companies, including: electric car maker Tesla, rocket producer SpaceX, and tunneling startup, Boring Company, is the richest man in the world with a total net worth of $219 billion.
E-commerce giant, Amazon, founder, Jeff Bezos, is the second richest man with a total wealth of $171 billion.
Interestingly, eight out of the 10 richest men in the world are Americans. The other two are French, number three, and Indian, number 10.
Forbes attributed war, pandemic and sluggish markets, as setbacks for world’s billionaires this year.
It said, “There are 2,668 of them on Forbes’ 36th annual ranking of the planet’s richest people – 87 fewer than a year ago.
“They’re worth a collective $12.7 trillion – $400 billion less than in 2021. The most dramatic drops have occurred in Russia, where there are 34 fewer billionaires than last year, following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine; and China, where a government crackdown on tech companies has led to 87 fewer Chinese billionaires on the list.”
Forbes claimed to found more than 1,000 billionaires, who are richer than they were a year ago, while 236 newcomers have become billionaires over the past year – including the first ever from Barbados, Bulgaria, Estonia and Uruguay.
Forbes continued, “America still leads the world, with 735 billionaires worth a collective $4.7 trillion, including Musk, who tops the World’s Billionaires list for the first time. China, including Macau and Hong Kong, remains number two, with 607 billionaires, worth a collective $2.3 trillion.
“We used stock prices and exchange rates from March 11, 2022 to calculate net worths.”
Bernad Arnault and family, who oversees the LVMH empire of some 70 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora, are the third richest in the world, worth $158 billion.
Fourth on the list is Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, with a net worth of $129 billion. One-time world richest man, Warren Buffett, now worth $118 billion is world’s fifth richest.
Others in the top 10 include: Larry Page, co-founder of Google, $111 billion, in the sixth position; Sergei Brin, co-founder of Google, worth $107 billion, is the seventh richest man in the world.
The eighth world richest man is Larry Ellison, chairman, chief technology officer, CTO and co-founder of software giant Oracle, worth $106 billion; Steve Balmer, former CEO of Microsoft and owner of Los Angeles Clippers, occupying the 9th position with a net worth of $91.4 billion; and in number 10 is Mukesh Ambani, who chairs and runs $104 billion (revenue) Reliance Industries, with interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom and retail, worth $90.7.
