Richest people in the world
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Richest people in the world
Elon Musk attends Met Gala.
Elon Musk, the co-founder of car and sustainable energy company Tesla; Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance; Donald Bren, the majority stakeholder of real estate giant The Irvine Company—these are all among the top 100 richest people in the world. They come from different places, have different stories, and their wealth is a result of different factors, just like so many others who are in this group of the world’s wealthiest.
To learn about the wealthiest people in the world, Stacker compiled net worth data from Forbes’ Billionaires List as of Nov. 9, 2022.
Many of the people on this list used their smarts and creativity to build giant technology empires, invent sophisticated online tools, transform tiny businesses into global conglomerates, expand a single shop into a global retail chain, or turn a small investment into a fortune. Others were handed their wealth by birth, given massive unearned holdings in manufacturing, luxury goods, shipping lines, tobacco, chocolates, and cheese production.
Among the top 100 richest, a noticeable number made their fortunes in China, via commercial real estate, cutting-edge pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, vats of soy sauce, or pig breeding. Others played their cards right in high finance with prescient investments and lucrative hedge funds, while still others pulled their wealth from the earth, extracting oil, gas, gold, and nickel.
It’s common for the richest people in the world to be reclusive, shuttling from one luxurious home to another by private jet, protected by walls of security and windows of dark tinted glass. But others bask in the spotlight, looking for their next high-profile conquest or sharing lessons from their experiences with avid audiences.
Keep reading to learn more about the richest people in the world and how they made their fortunes.
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Jason Miller // Getty Images
#100. Daniel Gilbert
Daniel Gilbert speaks at event.
– Net worth: $15.6 billion
– Source of wealth: Quicken Loans
– Age: 60
– Country/territory: United States
At age 22, Dan Gilbert was a co-founder of Quicken Loans, which became a leader in the online mortgage lending business. Gilbert has also invested heavily in rehabilitating downtown Detroit with buildings and jobs, and he owns professional basketball’s Cleveland Cavaliers. He suffered a serious stroke in 2019.
South China Morning Post // Getty Images
#99. Peter Woo
Peter Woo speaks at event.
– Net worth: $15.7 billion
– Source of wealth: real estate
– Age: 76
– Country/territory: Hong Kong
Peter Woo chaired the property developer Wheelock and Co. and its subsidiary Wharf Holdings until he stepped down in 2015. Wheelock and Wharf have holdings in telecoms, ports, and retail. Woo attended the University of Cincinnati and Columbia University then started his career in banking in New York in 1972. He married Bessie Pao, the daughter of Hong Kong shipping magnate Y.K. Pao, and joined her family business in 1975.
Sean Gallup // Getty Images
#98. Eric Schmidt
Eric Schmidt speaks at event.
– Net worth: $15.8 billion
– Source of wealth: Google
– Age: 67
– Country/territory: United States
Eric Schmidt was chief executive officer and chairman of Google from 2001 to 2011, overseeing its rise to becoming a tech powerhouse. In 2017 he co-founded Schmidt Futures to support scientific and technological innovation. In August 2020, Schmidt started a podcast series, “Reimagine with Eric Schmidt,” to look at challenges for business, government, science, and technology in the wake of the global pandemic.
J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images
#97. Jerry Jones
Jerry Jones at sporting event.
– Net worth: $15.9 billion
– Source of wealth: Dallas Cowboys
– Age: 80
– Country/territory: United States
After building up his wealth through the oil and gas industry in Texas, Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL’s most valuable franchise, in 1989 for $150 million. Jones, who played football in college, restructured the team after buying it—after which the team won three Super Bowl games, most recently in 1996. In addition to having bought this team, Jones owns the majority—78%—of Comstock Resources as of 2022, according to the proxy statement from the company, which drills for natural gas. He also has invested in Papa John’s franchises, hospitality management, and real estate.
FMonkey Photo // Shutterstock
#96. Robert Pera
Microphones on podium.
– Net worth: $16.1 billion
– Source of wealth: wireless networking gear
– Age: 44
– Country/territory: United States
Robert Pera, the son of a Levi Strauss denim executive, launched his startup Ubiquiti Networks at age 27 in San Jose, California. The wireless data communications products company was a hit and went public in 2011. Pera is now a controlling owner of the Memphis Grizzlies professional basketball team and has bought up luxury properties in New York, Seattle, Miami Beach, and elsewhere.
JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER // Getty Images
#95. Emmanuel Besnier
Emmanuel Besnier seated at desk.
– Net worth: $16.2 billion
– Source of wealth: cheese
– Age: 52
– Country/territory: France
Emmanuel Besnier and his family own Groupe Lactalis, a French dairy manufacturer that is the largest maker of cheese in the world and also sells milk, yogurt, butter, cream, chocolate, and desserts. The company was founded by his grandfather in 1933 as a producer of Camembert and expanded under his father. Besnier took over after his father’s death in 2000 and undertook several acquisitions to make Lactalis the third-largest dairy group in the world. He is frequently involved in pricing disputes with French dairy farmers.
Soumik Kar/The The India Today Group via Getty Images
#94. Dilip Shanghvi
Portrait of Dilip Shanghvi.
– Net worth: $16.2 billion
– Source of wealth: pharmaceuticals
– Age: 67
– Country/territory: India
Born in 1955 in Amreli, India, and raised in the city of Kolkata, Dilip Shanghvi founded Sun Pharmaceutical Industries after studying commerce at the University of Calcutta. As managing director of the company, Shanghvi helped in making Sun Pharma successful. In 1994, he took the company public, which led to a rapid expansion, acquiring more than 12 brands and companies between 1999 and 2012. He also has been a personal investor—including in renewable energy.
Jason Reed // Getty Images
#93. Rupert Murdoch and family
Rupert Murdoch.
– Net worth: $16.3 billion
– Source of wealth: newspapers, TV network
– Age: 91
– Country/territory: United States
Australian-born Rupert Murdoch founded the global media company News Corp in 1980. He bought and sold an array of media outlets in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and today News Corp owns the New York Post, The Times of London, Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, and Fox News. He is married to his fourth wife, former supermodel Jerry Hall, the ex-wife of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.
Khris Hale / Icon Sportswire // Getty Images
#92. John Menard Jr.
John Menard Jr at Grand Prix of Indianapolis
– Net worth: $16.7 billion
– Source of wealth: home improvement stores
– Age: 82
– Country/territory: United States
Born in 1940 in Wisconsin, John Menard Jr. founded the home improvement chain Menards in 1972. Since then, this chain has continued to expand, so it now has more than 262 stores and is the third-largest home improvement retailer in the U.S., with an estimated $13 billion in annual sales.
Ralph Orlowski // Getty Images
#91. Theo Albrecht Jr. and family
Aldi sign in front of a store.
– Net worth: $17.1 billion
– Source of wealth: Aldi, Trader Joe’s
– Age: 71
– Country/territory: Germany
Theo Albrecht Jr. owes the beginnings of his fortune to his father, Theo Albrecht Sr., and his uncle, Karl Albrecht, who built a discount grocery store empire in Germany after World War II. His father also bought U.S. grocery chain Trader Joe’s in 1971. Albrecht Jr. shares his inheritance with the heirs of his brother, Berthold, who died in 2012. One of those heirs, Berthold’s son Nicolay Albrecht, has accused his mother and three sisters of embezzling money from the family trust, and the case is being argued in the German courts.
Rajkumar/Mint via Getty Images
#90. Savitri Jindal and family
Savitri Jindal seated at desk.
– Net worth: $17.1 billion
– Source of wealth: steel
– Age: 72
– Country/territory: India
Born in 1950, Savitri Jindal married the founder of the power and steel conglomerate Jindal Group, O.P. Jindal, in 1965. After her husband died suddenly in a 2005 helicopter crash, Jindal took over the Jindal Group. Along with her sons—Naveen, Ratan, Sajjan, and Prithvi—Jindal inherited a stake in the conglomerate. She also inherited the political constituency of her late husband, so she is a legislator in the state of Haryana in northern India. As a legislator, she has continued to work on pursuing her late husband’s social welfare goals, including the promotion of the environment, health care, and education.
VCG via Getty Images
#89. Li Shufu
Li Shufu at press conference.
– Net worth: $17.3 billion
– Source of wealth: automobiles
– Age: 59
– Country/territory: China
After studying engineering, Li Shufu founded Geely in 1986, as a company selling refrigerator parts. Geely expanded over the years, beginning the production of motorcycles in 1996 and becoming a private carmaker a year later. In 2010, Geely bought Volvo, putting Shufu in headlines around the world.
Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Getty Images
#88. Changpeng Zhao
Changpeng Zhao speaks at conference.
– Net worth: $17.4 billion
– Source of wealth: cryptocurrency exchange
– Age: 45
– Country/territory: Canada
Changpeng Zhao, the richest person in the cryptocurrency industry, founded Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, in 2017. By 2021, Binance handled more than two-thirds of the total trading volume of all centralized cryptocurrency exchanges.
Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
#87. Donald Bren
Donald Bren photographed at company headquarters.
– Net worth: $17.4 billion
– Source of wealth: real estate
– Age: 90
– Country/territory: United States
Born in California in 1932, Donald Bren started his career by spending some time building homes and a planned community. After getting this industry experience, Bren was among a group, including other investors and one relative, who bought a stake of 34% of The Irvine Company, a landowner and real estate development firm. When, in the early part of the ’80s, the housing market in the U.S. slowed down, Bren began to buy out his partners. In 1983, he became The Irvine Company’s majority shareholder and chairman—and, in 1996, he became its sole owner. In addition to his business pursuits, Bren has been involved in philanthropy, improving education and preserving land in California.
Jim McIsaac // Getty Images
#86. Steve Cohen
Steven A. Cohen attends Mets event.
– Net worth: $17.5 billion
– Source of wealth: hedge funds
– Age: 66
– Country/territory: United States
Steve Cohen, an American hedge fund manager and investor, founded the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors in 1992. SAC was successful in large part because its strategy was to pursue a high volume of aggressive trades. However, in 2014, SAC Capital pled guilty to the charge of insider trading. Since then, Cohen has founded another hedge fund, Point72 Asset Management.
JHVEPhoto // Shutterstock
#85. Thomas Frist Jr. and family
HCA Healthcare building exterior.
– Net worth: $17.8 billion
– Source of wealth: hospitals
– Age: 84
– Country/territory: United States
Born in Nashville in 1938, Thomas Frist Jr. founded the Hospital Corporation of America in 1968 with his father, as well as Jack Massey, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. This corporation has expanded over the years and now has almost 200 hospitals, according to the HCA website. Frist isn’t an officer of the corporation, but his sons are board members.
Xiao Xiong/Southern Daily/Visual China Group via Getty Images
#84. Wang Wenyin
Wang Wenyin speaks at event.
– Net worth: $18.2 billion
– Source of wealth: mining, copper products
– Age: 54
– Country/territory: China
Wang Wenyin started a small business that sold power cords in rural China in 1994—and, since then, this business has grown into Amer International Group, a cable and copper company that employs almost 15,000 people.
Mikhail Svetlov // Getty Images
#83. Alexey Mordashov
Alexey Mordashov attends event.
– Net worth: $18.4 billion
– Source of wealth: steel, investments
– Age: 57
– Country/territory: Russia
Until 2022, when the EU and U.S. imposed sanctions on various Russian oligarchs as a reaction to the war in Ukraine, Alexey Mordashov was the wealthiest man in his home country of Russia. He began his life in Cherepovets, a city located 300 miles from Moscow, where his parents worked as mill workers. Since then, he has made his wealth as the chief executive of Severstal, the country’s largest mining and steel company.
Grant Halverson // Getty Images
#82. David Tepper
David Tepper at Carolina Panthers game.
– Net worth: $18.5 billion
– Source of wealth: hedge funds
– Age: 65
– Country/territory: United States
David Tepper, a hedge fund manager and investor, began his finance career by working at Goldman Sachs, Republic Steel, and Equibank. In 1993, he struck out on his own and, with Jack Walton, founded Appaloosa Management L.P. Between 1994 and 2022, the value of the fund expanded from $300 million to $3.82 billion. Tepper is also a philanthropist who has focused on improving education and helping people in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and New Jersey meet their basic needs—and he has also supported charities such as UNICEF and Feeding America.
Visual China Group via Getty Images
#81. Qin Yinglin
Qin Yinglin at event.
– Net worth: $18.5 billion
– Source of wealth: pig breeding
– Age: 57
– Country/territory: China
After studying animal husbandry at Henan Agricultural University, Qin Yinglin began his career at an enterprise owned by the government. He didn’t enjoy this job, so he quit and started his own business, Muyuan Foodstuff. This pig breeding business eventually grew into the business it is today, with revenues over $12 billion in 2021.
Neilson Barnard // Getty Images for New York Times
#80. Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn participates in a New York Times panel discussion.
– Net worth: $18.6 billion
– Source of wealth: investments
– Age: 86
– Country/territory: United States
Before starting his finance career, Carl Icahn studied philosophy and medicine, and, after dropping out of medical school, joined the U.S. Army. After he was discharged, he worked in the finance industry—and, in 1968, founded his own brokerage firm, Icahn and Company. Over time, he became one of the most influential people on Wall Street. Icahn was one of the inspirations for Gordon Gekko’s character in the movie “Wall Street.”
Dhananjay Bhagat // Shutterstock
#79. Radhakishan Damani
D Mart shopping mall exterior.
– Net worth: $18.6 billion
– Source of wealth: retail, investments
– Age: 67
– Country/territory: India
Radhakishan Damani grew up in circumstances far different than those he lives in now: He was raised in a one-room apartment in a tenement block in Mumbai. He went to commerce college, dropped out, became a trader and broker in the stock market in the 1980s, and then, in 2000, started his own business. This business was D-Mart, a retail business—which, since the first one opened in 2002, has expanded to more than 200 stores across nearly 50 cities in India.
Patrick McMullan // Getty Images
#78. Leonard Lauder
Leonard Lauder smiles at event.
– Net worth: $18.8 billion
– Source of wealth: Estee Lauder
– Age: 89
– Country/territory: United States
Leonard Lauder is chairman emeritus of Estée Lauder, the cosmetics company started by his mother in 1946. As chief executive, he oversaw the launch of brands such as Clinique and the acquisition of brands including Bobbi Brown and Aveda. He also is chairman emeritus of the Whitney Museum of American Art, which named its new downtown Manhattan building after him. His first wife Evelyn died in 2011, and in 2015 he married Judy Glickman, a widely recognized photographer. Lauder’s memoir, “The Company I Keep: My Life in Beauty,” was published in November 2020.
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#77. Iris Fontbona and family
Aerial shot of mine.
– Net worth: $18.9 billion
– Source of wealth: mining
– Age: 79
– Country/territory: Chile
The wealthiest woman in Latin America, Iris Fontbona took control of her husband Andrónico Luksic Abaroa’s businesses when he died in 2005. She and her three sons own the majority share of copper mining company Antofagasta, the world’s largest copper mining company. The family also owns Quiñenco, which controls Banco de Chile, copper products manufacturer Madeco, Chilean brewing giant CompañÃa de CervecerÃas Unidas, and the CSAV shipping company. Fontbona is extremely private and is known to refuse all interview requests. The family runs a charitable foundation, Fundación Familia Luksic, supporting various efforts throughout Chile.
J. Countess // Getty Images
#76. Ray Dalio
Ray Dalio attends event.
– Net worth: $19.1 billion
– Source of wealth: hedge funds
– Age: 73
– Country/territory: United States
Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates in 1975 in New York, and it has since become the largest hedge fund in the world. Dalio has written several books that lay out his principles on work, goals, and leadership. He also is a practitioner and advocate of Transcendental Meditation, and meditation courses are available to Bridgewater employees.
VCG // Getty Images
#75. Wang Wei
Wang Wei smiles at event.
– Net worth: $19.6 billion
– Source of wealth: package delivery, self made
– Age: 52
– Country/territory: China
Wang Wei’s wealth lies in his share of more than 60% of SF Express, a package delivery service in China. Wang started his delivery career in 1993, illegally transporting packages in a minivan between Hong Kong and the mainland at a time when the Chinese postal service controlled all deliveries. The company went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2017. In 2018, it got the first license in China to begin drone deliveries.
Chen Gang // VCG via Getty Images
#74. He Xiangjian and family
He Xiangjian attends a signing ceremony.
– Net worth: $19.6 billion
– Source of wealth: home appliances, self made
– Age: 80
– Country/territory: China
When he was 26 years old, He Xianjgijan took the equivalent of just over $700 and started a small workshop producing lids for bottles, employing 23 residents of the town he grew up in, Beijiao. Over the years, this company, Midea, has expanded into an international company selling various electrical home appliances. In 2019, Midea’s revenue was $39.5 billion.
VCG via Getty Images
#73. Wang Chuanfu
Wang Chuanfu delivers a speech.
– Net worth: $19.8 billion
– Source of wealth: batteries, automobiles, self made
– Age: 56
– Country/territory: China
Around two decades ago, Wang Chuanfu created and followed through with a plan of buying a government-owned car manufacturer that was failing so that he could start manufacturing electric vehicles. This company, BYD, is now so successful that its sales of battery-powered cars rivals Tesla. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Chuanfu was among the first people in the business world who pivoted their businesses to meet the demand for masks—at one point producing around 5 million of them every day.
VCG // Getty Images
#72. William Lei Ding
William Lei Ding speaks at event.
– Net worth: $20 billion
– Source of wealth: online games, self made
– Age: 51
– Country/territory: China
William Lei Ding, the chief executive of online and mobile games giant NetEase, became China’s first internet billionaire in 2003. Ding founded NetEase in 1997 with three employees, and the company moved into email domains, search engines, and games. NetEase also got involved in comics, forging a collaborative deal with Marvel Comics in 2017.
picture alliance // Getty Images
#71. Stefan Quandt
Stefan Quandt portrait with arms folded.
– Net worth: $20.3 billion
– Source of wealth: BMW
– Age: 56
– Country/territory: Germany
Stefan Quandt is the largest shareholder of German luxury carmaker BMW—a fortune he inherited from his father, Herbert Quandt, who rescued the company from bankruptcy and takeover in 1959. The younger Quandt is a deputy chairperson on BMW’s board and has separate business ventures in homeopathic medicine, logistics, and solar energy.
Chesnot // Getty Images
#70. Jack Ma
Jack Ma waves.
– Net worth: $20.7 billion
– Source of wealth: e-commerce, self made
– Age: 58
– Country/territory: China
Jack Ma made his fortune with Alibaba Group, China’s giant e-commerce business. Its record-setting initial public offering in 2014 raised $25 billion. Before starting his internet business, he was a college English teacher. He is a major supporter of efforts to protect the environment, and left Alibaba’s chairmanship in 2019 to concentrate on philanthropy.
Mikhail Svetlov // Getty Images
#69. Gennady Timchenko
Gennady Timchenko.
– Net worth: $20.8 billion
– Source of wealth: oil, gas, self made
– Age: 70
– Country/territory: Russia
The wealth of Gennady Timchenko and his investment company Volga Group lies in his holdings in Novatek, a giant gas company, and Sibur Holding, a petrochemical manufacturer. He also holds a large stake in a $27 billion oil production project in the Russian Arctic. In his free time, he heads KHL, Russia’s national hockey league, and is president of SKA Saint-Petersburg Hockey Club. Born in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, he lives in Geneva and counts himself a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Drew Angerer // Getty Images
#68. Abigail Johnson
Abigail Johnson speaks at an event.
– Net worth: $20.9 billion
– Source of wealth: Fidelity
– Age: 60
– Country/territory: United States
Abigail Johnson became chief executive officer of Fidelity Investments in 2014, making her the third generation of her family to run the mutual fund company. She has been chairman since 2016. The Boston-based company was founded by her grandfather, Edward Johnson II, in 1946.
Alexei Druzhinin // Getty Images
#67. Vagit Alekperov
Vagit Alekperov sits at a desk.
– Net worth: $21 billion
– Source of wealth: oil, self made
– Age: 72
– Country/territory: Russia
Vagit Alekperov started Lukoil, the largest independent oil company in Russia, in 1991, and today he owns almost a quarter of the company. Lukoil produces oil and gas, mostly in Western Siberia, transports its product through pipelines and ships, and operates refineries and fuel stations in Russia and the United States. Alekperov graduated from the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute, worked as an oil rig worker in Azerbaijan and Western Siberia, and was a Soviet deputy minister of the oil and gas industry. He and a partner own a Dutch shipyard, Heesen Yachts.
VCG // Getty Images
#66. Colin Zheng Huang
Colin Zheng Huang speaks at an event.
– Net worth: $21.1 billion
– Source of wealth: e-commerce, self made
– Age: 42
– Country/territory: China
Colin Zheng Huang launched the e-commerce company Pinduoduo, better known as PDD, in 2015. He previously helped set up Google China in 2006. PDD went public in the United States in 2018. In the summer of 2019, he stepped down as chief executive of the online shopping company and lowered his stake. However, he still owns nearly 30% of the company and holds shares that control more than 80% of its voting rights.
Sundry Photography // Shutterstock
#65. Lukas Walton
Walmart store exterior.
– Net worth: $21.4 billion
– Source of wealth: Walmart
– Age: 36
– Country/territory: United States
Lukas Walton—a grandson of Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton—is a business investor who inherited a large amount of money from his father, who died in a plane crash in 2005. Walton invests in businesses that fight against social ills and environmental problems. He also works as the director of the Walton Family Foundation, which protects the environment and supports education.
IgorGolovniov // Shutterstock
#64. Takemitsu Takizaki
The Keyence logo on the screen of a smartphone.
– Net worth: $21.4 billion
– Source of wealth: sensors, self made
– Age: 77
– Country/territory: Japan
Japanese businessman Takemitsu Takizaki founded Keyence, which designs and develops electronic sensors, bar-code readers, and other components for automated factory systems. The products are used by Toyota and Toshiba. Takizaki stepped down from his position as chairman in 2015 but still serves as an honorary chairman. Before Keyence, he reportedly launched two businesses that went bankrupt, making him intent on keeping the sensor company debt-free.
ANTHONY WALLACE // Getty Images
#63. Michael Hartono
Michael Hartono speaks into a microphone.
– Net worth: $22.1 billion
– Source of wealth: banking, tobacco
– Age: 83
– Country/territory: Indonesia
Michael Hartono’s wealth is in the Djarum Group, a conglomerate he controls with his brother Robert Budi Hartono. The brothers inherited Djarum from their father. It is a major tobacco and clove cigarette manufacturer in Indonesia and holds stakes in banking, telecommunications, electronics, real estate, and investment companies. Hartono plays professional bridge, a game he learned as a child during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II.
Madhu Kapparath/Mint via Getty Images
#62. Cyrus Poonawalla
Cyrus Poonawalla at event.
– Net worth: $22.4 billion
– Source of wealth: vaccines
– Age: 81
– Country/territory: India
In 1966, Cyrus Poonawalla started the Serum Institute of India, which makes more doses of vaccines than any other company in the world—1.5 billion a year, including those for the flu, polio, and measles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Serum has entered into various partnerships to make COVID-19 vaccines, including Covidshield, a vaccine Oxford University and AstraZeneca developed.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage for TIME // Getty Images
#61. Harold Hamm and family
Harold Hamm attends event.
– Net worth: $22.4 billion
– Source of wealth: oil and gas, self made
– Age: 76
– Country/territory: United States
Harold Hamm was born in 1945 in Oklahoma, the youngest of his sharecropper parents’ 13 children. Though he grew up in difficult circumstances, Hamm eventually became successful in the oil industry. In 1967, he established the oil company Continental Resources, where he was chief executive until the end of 2019. Additionally, Hamm co-founded the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, of which he is chairman. He was a key donor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign efforts in 2016 and 2020.
John van Hasselt/Corbis via Getty Images
#60. R. Budi Hartono
Workers in a Djarum cigarette factory.
– Net worth: $23 billion
– Source of wealth: banking, tobacco
– Age: 81
– Country/territory: Indonesia
R. Budi Hartono, along with his brother Michael Hartono, is the co-owner of the cigarette maker Djarum Group. Their father, Oei Wei Gwan, started the business—and the sons who took over and modernized the company after its cigarette factory was nearly destroyed by fire and their father died in 1963. Now, Djarum Group produces almost one-fifth of cigarettes made in Indonesia. Additionally, the Hartono brothers are the largest shareholders in the nation’s largest bank, Bank Central Asia.
Horacio Villalobos#Corbis // Getty Images
#59. Guillaume Pousaz
Guillaume Pousaz speaks at summit.
– Net worth: $23 billion
– Source of wealth: fintech, self made
– Age: 41
– Country/territory: Switzerland
After starting to program at the young age of 8 and studying at HEC Lausanne and Ecole Polytechnique, Guillaume Pousaz founded the payments company Checkout.com in 2012. Since then, Checkout.com has grown to have over 1,500 staffers in almost 20 countries. In addition, Pousaz invests in startups and also mentors them. He is also a philanthropist who aims to improve education, by improving educational outcomes and access to education.
picture alliance // Getty Images
#58. Susanne Klatten
Susanne Klatten.
– Net worth: $23 billion
– Source of wealth: BMW, pharmaceuticals
– Age: 60
– Country/territory: Germany
Susanne Klatten, who holds about one-fifth of automaker BMW’s shares, inherited her wealth from her father, German industrialist Herbert Quandt. She also owns Altana AG, a pharmaceutical and specialty chemicals company. In 2007, she had an extramarital affair with a Swiss businessman who defrauded her of $10 million and tried to blackmail her. The businessman was convicted of extortion and sentenced to prison for blackmail in 2009.
Gary Whitton // Shutterstock
#57. Germán Larrea Mota Velasco and family
Aerial view of dirt field with rows and a truck driving on the road beside it.
– Net worth: $23.7 billion
– Source of wealth: mining
– Age: 69
– Country/territory: Mexico
Mexico’s Germán Larrea Mota Velasco owns the controlling share of the country’s biggest copper mining company, Grupo México. He is president and chief executive of the company, which also operates in Peru and the United States and has diversified into infrastructure and rail transportation. In 2014, the company came under criticism after a copper mine spill in Sonora contaminated the local water supply in what is considered the largest environmental spill in Mexico’s history.
Nail Fattakhov // Getty Images
#56. Leonid Mikhelson
Leonid Mikhelson.
– Net worth: $24.4 billion
– Source of wealth: gas, chemicals, self made
– Age: 67
– Country/territory: Russia
Leonid Mikhelson started out as a construction foreman on a gas pipeline project in Siberia and today heads Novatek, which produces about 10% of Russia’s natural gas. He is Novatek’s largest shareholder, with a 25% stake. He also owns a sizable stake in Silbur, a petrochemical company. His business partner in both companies is Gennady Timchenko, a businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The India Today Group // Getty Images
#55. Shiv Nadar
Shiv Nadar in an office.
– Net worth: $24.4 billion
– Source of wealth: software services, self made
– Age: 77
– Country/territory: India
Shiv Nadar is a co-founder of HCL Technologies, which started in 1976 and is now a global technology giant that offers software products, platforms, and services to business and industry. The company is known for hiring high school graduates and giving them on-the-job training. In July 2020, Nadar turned over the position of HCL chairman to his daughter. The Shiv Nadar Foundation, which he started in 1994, is focused on improving access to education.
Tomohiro Ohsumi // Getty Images
#54. Masayoshi Son
Masayoshi Son speaks at an event.
– Net worth: $24.5 billion
– Source of wealth: internet, telecom, self made
– Age: 65
– Country/territory: Japan
Masayoshi Son runs SoftBank Group, a mobile telecom and investment giant, which he founded in 1981. SoftBank invested in lucrative startups like Yahoo, and today has major holdings in Uber and DoorDash. Son is its biggest shareholder, with a 26% stake. In June 2020, SoftBank announced it was launching a $100 million fund to invest in entrepreneurs of color.
James Leynse // Getty Images
#53. Thomas Peterffy
Thomas Peterffy.
– Net worth: $24.8 billion
– Source of wealth: discount brokerage, self made
– Age: 78
– Country/territory: United States
Thomas Peterffy owns an estimated 75% of Interactive Brokers, a company he founded in 1993. He is also chairman of the global automated brokerage. And he helped found the Boston Options Exchange, an options-trading company. Peterffy owns several horses and a lavish waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, along with other luxury properties. He emigrated from Hungary at age 21, unable to speak English, and got a job doing computer programming. He designed automated stock trading formulas and bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange before launching Interactive Brokers.
Sasha Mordovets // Getty Images
#52. Vladimir Lisin
Vladimir Lisin.
– Net worth: $25.4 billion
– Source of wealth: steel, transport, self made
– Age: 66
– Country/territory: Russia
As a young man, Vladimir Lisin was an electrical fitter in a Siberian coal mine and a steelworker. He is now chairman of NLMK Group, Russia’s biggest manufacturer of steel products. He also owns the country’s biggest freight rail operator, as well as port facilities and shipping companies. He built a giant shooting range complex north of Moscow and heads up several firearms-related organizations.
Jerod Harris // Getty Images
#51. MacKenzie Scott
MacKenzie Scott with now ex-husband Jeff Bezos.
– Net worth: $25.8 billion
– Source of wealth: Amazon
– Age: 52
– Country/territory: United States
MacKenzie Scott is the ex-wife of Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos. When they divorced in 2019, she became one of the world’s wealthiest women. She won a quarter of Bezos’ Amazon shares in their settlement, a 4% stake worth upward of $35 billion. The stake has since grown to be valued at approximately $68 billion.
Sergei Karpukhin // Getty Images
#50. Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Potanin speaks at event.
– Net worth: $26.4 billion
– Source of wealth: metals, self made
– Age: 61
– Country/territory: Russia
Vladimir Potanin originally bought shares in Norilsk Nickel and now owns more than one-third of the metals giant. He is credited with devising Russia’s so-called loans-for-shares program, under which banks and businesses loaned money to the government, secured by state-owned natural resource companies. But the government could not repay the loans, so the lenders got large stakes in those firms. Potanin has holdings in pharmaceutical company Petrovax Pharm and is the developer of a Russian ski resort, Rosa Khutor. He was a deputy prime minister to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and has ties to current Russian President Vladimir Putin.
picture alliance // Getty Images
#49. Klaus-Michael Kuehne
Klaus-Michael Kuehne portrait seated.
– Net worth: $26.5 billion
– Source of wealth: shipping
– Age: 85
– Country/territory: Germany
Klaus-Michael Kuehne serves as honorary chairman of Kuehne + Nagel International AG, a Swiss shipping and sea freight giant company co-founded by his grandfather in 1958. Kuehne also owns a sizable stake in Hapag-Lloyd, a German container shipping business, and a minority stake in the second-tier soccer team Hamburger SV.
VCG // Getty Images
#48. Ma Huateng
Ma Huateng speaks at event.
– Net worth: $26.8 billion
– Source of wealth: internet media, self made
– Age: 51
– Country/territory: China
Ma Huateng, better known as Pony Ma, is chairman of Tencent Holdings, a Chinese internet giant. Along with its popular WeChat and QQ messaging systems, Tencent has shares of the music-streaming service Spotify and Tesla electric cars. Pony worked in research and development of internet paging for a Chinese telecommunications provider in China before co-founding Tencent with four partners in 1998.
Sasha Mordovets // Getty Images
#47. Andrey Melnichenko
Andrey Melnichenko at business forum.
– Net worth: $27 billion
– Source of wealth: coal, fertilizers, self made
– Age: 50
– Country/territory: Russia
Until the middle of 2022, Andrey Melnichenko owned fertilizer company EuroChem and coal producer SUEK. But a day before the EU imposed sanctions on hom, Melnichenko ceded his ownership to his wife. Melnichenko started his first business, a currency exchange, in the 1990s. After the Soviet Union’s fall in 1993, he and two partners created MDM Bank, which by 2022 would become one of the biggest non-government banks in Russia. At that time, Melnichenko partnered with businessman Sergei Popov to start three companies: steel pipe manufacturer TMK, EuroChem, and SUEK.
Matt King // Getty Images
#46. Gina Rinehart
Gina Rinehart attends event.
– Net worth: $27 billion
– Source of wealth: mining
– Age: 68
– Country/territory: Australia
The richest person in Australia, Gina Rinehart is the daughter of iron ore magnate and explorer Lang Hancock. She built up her late father’s company Hancock Prospecting after she became executive chairman in 1992. She also is the country’s second largest producer of cattle, with a portfolio of ranches and cattle stations across the country.
Cristina Arias // Getty Images
#45. Dieter Schwarz
Exterior of Lidl store.
– Net worth: $27.7 billion
– Source of wealth: retail
– Age: 83
– Country/territory: Germany
Dieter Schwarz inherited the Schwarz Group, the largest food retailer in Europe, from his father, who got his start in the wholesale fruit business in 1930. Schwarz Group consists of the supermarket chain Lidl and the discount chain Kaufland. Schwarz, an extremely private person with few details of his life known publicly, stepped down from the group’s management in 1999.
Denise Truscello // Getty Images for Keep Memory Alive
#44. Miriam Adelson and family
Miriam Adelson speaks onstage at event.
– Net worth: $28 billion
– Source of wealth: casinos
– Age: 77
– Country/territory: Israel, United States
After earning her bachelor of science and a medical degree, Israeli-born Miriam Adelson (née Farbstein) became a physician and married another physician, and they had two children together. They eventually divorced, and when Miriam was in the U.S. for an exchange program in 1986, she and businessman Sheldon Adelson met. They married five years later, by which time, he had purchased the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and built The Venetian, a the casino and resort hotel. He died in 2021, leaving her with a stake of 56.7% in the Las Vegas Sands casino group. The Adelsons were Republican Party megadonors, supported medical research and Israel, and fought against anti-Semitism.
TIM SLOAN // Getty Images
#43. Jim Simons
Jim Simons seated portrait.
– Net worth: $28.1 billion
– Source of wealth: hedge funds, self made
– Age: 84
– Country/territory: United States
Jim Simons was a university mathematics professor who started trading stocks in 1978. Four years later he launched his quantitative hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies, or RenTech. Using math and data, Simons designed analytical models to detect market fluctuations and trends and algorithms to make trading decisions. He retired in 2010. During the Vietnam War, Simons served as a codebreaker for U.S. forces.
South China Morning Post // Getty Images
#42. Lee Shau Kee
Lee Shau Kee speaks at event.
– Net worth: $28.1 billion
– Source of wealth: real estate, self made
– Age: 94
– Country/territory: Hong Kong
Lee Shau Kee made his fortune in real estate, starting Henderson Land Development in 1976. The company has holdings in hotels, natural gas, retail, and agricultural land, as well as commercial and residential property in Hong Kong and mainland China. Lee was born in China but left for Hong Kong as a young man in 1948 on the eve of the Communist Revolution. In Hong Kong, he worked as a gold and currency trader before getting into real estate. He retired in 2019 and turned control of the company over to his two sons.
Koji Watanabe // Getty Images
#41. Tadashi Yanai and family
Tadashi Yanai speaks at event.
– Net worth: $28.4 billion
– Source of wealth: fashion retail, self made
– Age: 73
– Country/territory: Japan
Japan’s Tadashi Yanai is chief executive, chairman, and the biggest shareholder of Fast Retailing, parent of the popular clothing company Uniqlo. Fast Retailing is Asia’s largest clothing retailer. The first Uniqlo store opened in 1984, and now there are more than 2,000 stores in some 20 countries. Yanai lives in a $50 million house outside Tokyo and owns two golf courses in Hawaii. He was born in southern Japan, where his father owned a clothing store and the family lived upstairs.
Alex Wong // Getty Images
#40. Stephen Schwarzman
Stephen Schwarzman speaks on panel.
– Net worth: $28.5 billion
– Source of wealth: investments, self made
– Age: 75
– Country/territory: United States
Stephen Schwarzman is chairman and chief executive of Blackstone, a private equity firm he co-founded in 1985. One of the world’s biggest investment firms, Blackstone has $564 billion in assets under management. Schwarzman donated $350 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to set up the Schwarzman College of Computing and $150 million to Yale University for the Schwarzman Center, a space for student programs and the arts. He also launched a program called Schwarzman Scholars for international students to study in China.
Jirapong Manustrong // Shutterstock
#39. Jeff Yass
Stock market chart.
– Net worth: $30 billion
– Source of wealth: trading, investments, self made
– Age: 64
– Country/territory: United States
After studying math and economics at SUNY Binghamton, Jeff Yass started options trading while studying at the business school at NYU. By the time he turned 30, he had made $1 million. Yass also founded, along with five other people, the Susquehanna International Group, a financial trading firm with offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, San Francisco, Dublin, Chicago, and New York.
David M. Benett // Getty Images
#38. Len Blavatnik
Len Blavatnik poses for photo on yacht.
– Net worth: $30 billion
– Source of wealth: music, chemicals, self made
– Age: 65
– Country/territory: United States
Business entrepreneur Len Blavatnik built his fortune in the Russian aluminum and oil industries, then shifted his sights westward and bought the Warner Music Group for $3.3 billion in 2011. His investment company, Access Industries, also has holdings in the chemicals company LyondellBasell. Blavatnik was born in Ukraine, emigrated to the United States, and got an MBA from Harvard University before making his investments in the Soviet Union’s natural resource industries. After getting British citizenship, Blavatnik was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his philanthropy.
Foc Kan // Getty Images
#36. Alain Wertheimer (tie)
Alain Wertheimer attends event.
– Net worth: $30.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Chanel
– Age: 74
– Country/territory: France
French luxury brand Chanel is owned by Alain Wertheimer, who serves as its chairman, and his younger brother Gerard. Their grandfather Pierre Wertheimer founded Les Parfums Chanel in 1924 with fragrance maker Coco Chanel. During World War II, she tried to take control of the company by using a law that prohibited Jews from owning businesses. But the family, who had fled Paris, had arranged for a friend to handle their stake during the occupation to prevent such a takeover. Wertheimer owns an art collection with works by Matisse, Rousseau, and Picasso that he does not permit to be photographed or loaned out.
Julien Hekimian // Getty Images
#36. Gerard Wertheimer (tie)
Gerard Wertheimer attends event.
– Net worth: $30.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Chanel
– Age: 71
– Country/territory: France
Gerard Wertheimer owns the iconic fashion powerhouse Chanel with his older brother Alain. The younger Wertheimer runs the luxury company’s watch division from his home in Geneva. The brothers assumed control of the company in 1996 after the death of their father, Jacques Wertheimer. They also own vineyards in France and California and raise thoroughbred racehorses.
picture alliance // Getty Images
#35. Robin Zeng
Robin Zeng poses for portrait.
– Net worth: $31.4 billion
– Source of wealth: batteries, self made
– Age: 53
– Country/territory: Hong Kong
Robin Zeng is the founder of Contemporary Amperex Technology, a giant global manufacturer of electric batteries. Its clients include Bosch, Jaguar, Honda, Volvo, Toyota, and Volkswagen. The company is headquartered in Zeng’s hometown of Ningde, a coastal city in China’s Fujian Province.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
#34. Ken Griffin
Ken Griffin speaks at event.
– Net worth: $31.5 billion
– Source of wealth: hedge funds, self made
– Age: 54
– Country/territory: United States
After starting to trade stocks when he was in college, Ken Griffin founded Citadel, an investment firm, in 1990. This firm is now considered among the most successful firms in the world that specialize in investments beyond stocks and bonds, such as precious metals and specialized financial instruments. Griffin is also a philanthropist and has donated to support cultural institutions, improve public spaces, reduce violent crime, expand education access, and more. As of 2022, he has donated more than $1.5 billion.
VCG // Getty Images
#33. Li Ka-shing
Li Ka-shing smiles at podium.
– Net worth: $32.5 billion
– Source of wealth: diversified, self made
– Age: 94
– Country/territory: Hong Kong
Li Ka-Shing left mainland China with his family as a child and got his start in business in 1950, opening a plastics company when he was just 21 years old. He went on to build conglomerates CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. and CK Asset Holdings Ltd. About a third of his wealth consists of his holdings in Zoom Video Communications, which he began to accumulate in 2013. The video conferencing app’s value soared as employees around the world began working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among private philanthropies run by wealthy people, his Li Ka-Shing Foundation is second in size only to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
GIUSEPPE CACACE // Getty Images
#32. Giovanni Ferrero
Giovanni Ferrero seated.
– Net worth: $33.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Nutella, chocolates
– Age: 58
– Country/territory: Italy
Giovanni Ferrero inherited his family’s confectionery business, launched by his grandfather in 1946. His grandfather had concocted a sweet with molasses, hazelnut oil, and cocoa that was less expensive than chocolate for customers in war-torn Italy. With some tweaks, the sweet came to be what we know today as Nutella. The company expanded into post-war Germany, where it made candy in former Nazi munitions factories. Giovanni Ferrero and his brother Pietro ran the company as co-chief executives for 14 years, but Pietro died in 2011 of a heart attack at age 47. The company owns the brands Tic Tac, Kinder Joy, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and its classic Ferrero Rocher chocolates, for which it purchases roughly a third of the world’s hazelnut crop.
AlanMorris // Shutterstock
#31. Beate Heister and Karl Albrecht Jr. and family
Exterior of Aldi store.
– Net worth: $33.6 billion
– Source of wealth: supermarkets
– Age:
– Country/territory: Germany
In 1920, the oldest version of what became the Aldi discount grocery chain was started by Karl Albrecht Sr. and Anna Albrecht in Germany. Eventually, their two sons, Theo and Karl, became owners of Albrecht’s grocery store, and by 1953, they had expanded to around 30 supermarkets. The brothers changed the company’s name to Aldi in the 1960s, and then split Aldi into Aldi Nord, managed by Theo, and Aldi Sud, managed by Karl. Aldi Sud eventually expanded internationally, and when Karl died in 2014, his son, Karl Albrecht Jr., and daughter, Beate Heister, each received half his fortune.
Chesnot // Getty Images
#30. François Pinault and family
Portrait of François Pinault seated.
– Net worth: $33.8 billion
– Source of wealth: luxury goods, self made
– Age: 86
– Country/territory: France
In 1963, France’s François Pinault founded Kering, a luxury holding company that owns brands like Gucci. In 1998, Pinault obtained a majority stake in Christie’s auction house. A high-school drop-out, Pinault is an avid collector of contemporary art. Following the 2019 fire at Notre Dame, he and his son François-Henri, who is married to actress Salma Hayek, pledged 100 million euros to help rebuild the damaged Paris cathedral.
Drew Angerer // Getty Images
#29. Phil Knight and family
Portrait of Phil Knight.
– Net worth: $37.4 billion
– Source of wealth: Nike, self made
– Age: 84
– Country/territory: United States
Phil Knight, a former runner at the University of Oregon, started Blue Ribbon Sports, a running shoe company, with his former coach Bill Bowerman in 1962. The company became Nike in 1978. Knight paid $35 to a student at Portland State University to design Nike’s distinctive “Swoosh” logo. Knight retired as chairman in 2016.
BERTRAND GUAY // Getty Images
#28. Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook event.
– Net worth: $37.7 billion
– Source of wealth: Facebook, self made
– Age: 38
– Country/territory: United States
Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook when he was a student at Harvard. The company went public in 2012, and he has retained a stake of about 15%. Facebook has frequently come under fire for failing to block misinformation. In June 2020, more than 1,000 advertisers boycotted Facebook to protest the company’s lax policing of hate speech and misleading posts from politicians.
Pool // Getty Images
#26. Jacqueline Mars (tie)
Jacqueline Mars attends event.
– Net worth: $38 billion
– Source of wealth: candy, pet food
– Age: 83
– Country/territory: United States
Jacqueline Mars holds one-third of Mars Inc. alongside her brother John. The four children of their late brother hold the balance. Her son Stephen Badger is the company chairman. She also owns a horse farm in Virginia where Olympic equestrians train. Mars was involved in an automobile crash in Virginia in 2013 that killed a passenger in another vehicle. She reportedly admitted to falling asleep at the wheel and was fined $2,500.
Johnny Green – PA Images // Getty Images
#26. John Mars (tie)
Wrigley’s spearmint gum and a Mars bar lie side by side.
– Net worth: $38 billionÂ
– Source of wealth: candy, pet foodÂ
– Age: 87Â
– Country/territory: United States
The late Frank Mars founded Mars Inc. in 1911, and today his grandson John Mars holds one-third of the candy giant. The company makes such well-known sweets as Snickers, Twix, and M&Ms. It also owns the Wrigley Co. chewing gum company and Iams pet foods. John Mars lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
#25. Rodolphe Saadé and family
Rodolphe Saade in front of CMA CGM container ship.
– Net worth: $41.4 billion
– Source of wealth: shipping
– Age: 52
– Country/territory: France
After studying commerce and marketing and starting his own water cooler company, Rodolphe Saadé joined his father, Jacques Saadé, at the company he led, Compagnie Maritime d’Affretement. Eventually, this company became CMA CGM, the third-largest shipping-container company in the world. Saade, along with his family, owns nearly three-quarters of CMA CGM.
VCG // Getty Images
#24. Zhang Yiming
Portrait of Zhang Yiming.
– Net worth: $49.5 billion
– Source of wealth: TikTok, self made
– Age: 38
– Country/territory: China
Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance, the software company that developed TikTok and also owns a number of social networking apps within China. Zhang launched the TikTok app under the name Douyin in 2016. Zhang himself loves to make TikTok videos and requires his management team to not only make them as well but to also achieve a set number of “likes.”
Gary Hershorn // Getty Images
#23. David Thomson and family
David Thomson speaking at event.
– Net worth: $50.1 billion
– Source of wealth: media
– Age: 65
– Country/territory: Canada
David Thomson and his family own several high-profile media companies, including Thomson Reuters, where Thomson is chairman. Thomson, who holds the U.K. title Baron Thomson of Fleet, collects paintings by Pablo Picasso and John Constable, and also is part owner of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.
Clodagh Kilcoyne // Getty Images
#22. Michael Dell
Michael Dell speaking at event.
– Net worth: $50.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Dell Technologies, self made
– Age: 57
– Country/territory: United States
Michael Dell started building computers when he was a college student at the University of Texas, where he made $80,000 in sales his freshman year. He dropped out and went into business in 1984, selling $6 million worth of personal computers in his first year. Dell’s wealth also comes from investments he has made in hotels and restaurants through his private firm MSD Capital. He recounted his successes in a book he wrote in 1999, “Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized the Industry.”
Rick T. Wilking // Getty Images
#21. Alice Walton
Alice Walton attends event.
– Net worth: $58.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Walmart
– Age: 73
– Country/territory: United States
The daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, Alice Walton is heavily involved in the arts. One project, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, opened in 2011. She also breeds horses at her ranch in Texas.
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#19. Charles Koch (tie)
Charles Koch standing in doorway.
– Net worth: $58.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Koch Industries
– Age: 87
– Country/territory: United States
The fortune of Charles Koch lies in Koch Industries, a diversified private company with holdings in chemicals and pipelines. His father, Fred Koch, started the business in the oil and gasoline industry, and Charles Koch now owns a 42% stake in the business. His brother David, who died in 2019, held a similarly sized share now held by his widow Julia and their children.
Michael N. Todaro // Getty Images
#19. Julia Koch and family (tie)
Julia Koch attends event.
– Net worth: $58.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Koch Industries
– Age: 60
– Country/territory: United States
Julia Koch is the widow of David Koch, and she inherited his share of Koch Industries when he died in 2019. She sits on the Koch Industries board of directors, and she is head of the David H. Koch Foundation, which makes philanthropic and research-related grants.
Rick T. Wilking // Getty Images
#18. Rob Walton
Rob Walton speaks at event.
– Net worth: $59.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Walmart
– Age: 78
– Country/territory: United States
Rob Walton became chairman of Walmart when his father, founder Sam Walton, died in 1992. Rob and other family members own about half of the retail giant’s stock. Rob retired in June 2015 but is still involved in charitable concerns involving conservation and sustainability.
fotopress // Getty Images
#17. Amancio Ortega
Amancio Ortega at sporting event.
– Net worth: $59.6 billion
– Source of wealth: Zara, self made
– Age: 86
– Country/territory: Spain
Amancio Ortega’s fortune comes from the world of retail and fashion. He was a co-founder, with his late ex-wife, in 1975 of Inditex, owner of the Zara retail clothing stores. He has invested heavily in commercial real estate in New York, Madrid, Barcelona, and London and has a 5% stake in the Spanish energy company Enagas. He stepped down as Inditex chairman in 2011
Rick T. Wilking // Getty Images
#16. Jim Walton
Jim Walton attends event.
– Net worth: $60.4 billion
– Source of wealth: Walmart
– Age: 74
– Country/territory: United States
Jim Walton, the youngest son of Walmart’s founder, is chief executive and chairman of Arvest Bank Group, an Arkansas bank controlled by the Walton family. Jim Walton holds 44% of the bank, which has branches in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He gave away more than $1 billion of his Walmart stock to philanthropy in 2019.
VCG // Getty Images
#15. Zhong Shanshan
Zhong Shanshan raises glass at event.
– Net worth: $64.2 billion
– Source of wealth: beverages, pharmaceuticals, self made
– Age: 67
– Country/territory: China
Zhong Shanshan is the founder of the bottled water company Nongfu Spring and owner of the vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise. Both companies went public in 2020, swelling Zhong’s wealth. Due to his low public profile, Zhong is called the “Lone Wolf” in China. As a child, he dropped out of elementary school during the Cultural Revolution, later working in construction and as a newspaper reporter.
MARTIN BUREAU // Getty Images
#14. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers and family
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers.
– Net worth: $66.7 billion
– Source of wealth: L’Oréal
– Age: 69
– Country/territory: France
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is an heir to the L’Oreal fortune, which she inherited from her mother. In a highly publicized case, Bettencourt Meyers took a close friend of her mother’s to court, accusing the friend of trying to manipulate the older woman out of her wealth. The granddaughter of L’Oreal’s founder Eugene Schueller, Bettencourt Meyers has also written several books on such topics as Jewish-Christian relations. Her family established the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation in the 1980s.
Kelly Sullivan // Getty Images
#13. Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin speaks at event.
– Net worth: $74.5 billion
– Source of wealth: Google, self made
– Age: 49
– Country/territory: United States
Sergey Brin and partner Larry Page founded Google in 1998. Brin remains one of the largest single shareholders in the search engine’s parent company Alphabet. He emigrated to the United States from Russia when he was 6 years old.
Sean Gallup // Getty Images
#12. Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer speaks at Microsoft event.
– Net worth: $75.2 billion
– Source of wealth: Microsoft, self made
– Age: 66
– Country/territory: United States
Steve Ballmer is the former chief executive of Microsoft, a company he joined in 1980. He left the tech giant in 2014 and bought the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion. He is a major philanthropist involved in anti-poverty solutions.
Brett Carlsen // Getty Images
#11. Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg speaks at podium.
– Net worth: $76.8 billion
– Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP, self made
– Age: 80
– Country/territory: United States
Michael Bloomberg first made his money on Wall Street, where he worked for Salomon Brothers. He launched Bloomberg L.P., a financial information and media company, in 1981 and owns nearly 90% of the business. He was mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. His extensive philanthropic interests include gun control and tackling climate change. He is also a major donor to Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater.
Kimberly White // Getty Images
#10. Larry Page
Larry Page speaks on panel.
– Net worth: $77.5 billion
– Source of wealth: Google, self made
– Age: 49
– Country/territory: United States
Larry Page started Google with Sergey Brin, whom he met as a graduate student in computer science at Stanford University. Page is no longer chief executive of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, but, like Brin, remains a significant shareholder. He has invested in space exploration and the development of flying electric taxis, and he is a supporter of clean energy, powering his home with fuel cells and geothermal energy.
Chris Hondros // Getty Images
#9. Carlos Slim Helú and family
Carlos Slim Helu attends event.
– Net worth: $86.9 billion
– Source of wealth: telecom, self made
– Age: 82
– Country/territory: Mexico
Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim Helú has extensive holdings in energy, mining, communications, retail, and finance through his Grupo Carso conglomerate. For many years, he owned the country’s former telephone monopoly, Telmex. He founded the art museum Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, helped revitalize the historic city center, and set up the Carlos Slim Foundation to promote education, health, and sports.
Hindustan Times // Getty Images
#8. Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani speaks at podium.
– Net worth: $92.5 billion
– Source of wealth: diversified
– Age: 65
– Country/territory: India
Mukesh Ambani heads Reliance Industries, India’s giant oil and gas company that was started as a small enterprise by his father. Ambani holds a 42% stake in Reliance, which also owns a 4G wireless network in India. Ambani and his brother divided the family business when their father died in 2002. Ambani also is the owner of a professional cricket team, the Mumbai Indians.
Kimberly White // Getty Images
#7. Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison speaks at event.
– Net worth: $98.8 billion
– Source of wealth: software, self made
– Age: 78
– Country/territory: United States
Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle Software in 1977 and today has extensive real estate holdings, including a Hawaiian island and dozens of properties in Malibu and Lake Tahoe. He remains chairman of Oracle’s board. Ellison also has invested in electric car maker Tesla.
Paul Morigi // Getty Images
#6. Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett speaks on panel.
– Net worth: $101.6 billion
– Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway, self made
– Age: 92
– Country/territory: United States
Investor Warren Buffett runs Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate that owns dozens of companies like Geico insurance and Duracell batteries. Berkshire Hathaway’s stock is the most expensive, trading on the New York Stock Exchange at more than $300,000 a share before the market plunged in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Buffett has launched a campaign urging billionaires to give away half their wealth and has vowed to give away nearly all of his fortune.
JEFF PACHOUD // Getty Images
#5. Bill Gates
Bill Gates poses for photo.
– Net worth: $101.6 billion
– Source of wealth: Microsoft, self made
– Age: 67
– Country/territory: United States
Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft, the biggest software business in the world. He stepped down as chairman in 2014 to concentrate on philanthropy. He and his wife are founders of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private charitable foundation in the world, which addresses a range of issues including the eradication of malaria, reducing child mortality, ending hunger, and promoting sustainable growth. He has donated more than $35 billion in Microsoft stock to the foundation.
MANDEL NGAN // Getty Images
#4. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos speaks at event.
– Net worth: $110.3 billion
– Source of wealth: Amazon, self made
– Age: 58
– Country/territory: United States
The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is chief executive of the e-commerce giant and holds a stake of more than 11%. He also owns The Washington Post. In his 2019 divorce settlement with ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, she got a 4% stake in Amazon—worth more than $38 billion at the time of the settlement.
Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images
#3. Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani speaks at podium.
– Net worth: $144.7 billion
– Source of wealth: infrastructure, commodities, self made
– Age: 60
– Country/territory: India
A college dropout, Gautami Adani has been compared to business magnates from the Gilded Age of the U.S. like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. After getting his start in diamond trading, in 1988 Adani set up a commodity trading business that would eventually become Adani Enterprises Limited, or AEL. In 1995, Adani began operating Gujarat’s Mundra Port—India’s highest-volume commercial port. Adani now owns the nation’s biggest private port operator, its largest private producer of thermal power, and its second-largest cement manufacturer. He is also a clean energy investor.
ERIC PIERMONT // Getty Images
#2. Bernard Arnault and family
Bernard Arnault stands at podium.
– Net worth: $160.5 billion
– Source of wealth: LVMH
– Age: 73
– Country/territory: France
France’s Bernard Arnault is chief executive and chairman of the luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. He began his professional life as a civil engineer but moved into the world of luxury goods in 1984 when he reorganized the Financière Agache holding company, organizing its portfolio around the design house Christian Dior. He became LVMH’s majority shareholder in 1989.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
#1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk attends Met Gala.
– Net worth: $192 billion
– Source of wealth: Tesla, SpaceX, self made
– Age: 51
– Country/territory: United States
Elon Musk, who in 2022 bought Twitter for $44 billion, aims to pioneer new, sustainable forms of travel with his electric car maker Tesla, and owns about a fifth of the company. His rocket company SpaceX has been valued at almost $36 billion. At SpaceX, Musk oversees the development of spacecraft, with plans for missions to orbit the earth and travel to other planets. He also launched The Boring Co. to design tunnel technology for use with an all-electric public transportation system. Musk was involved in creating PayPal and made $165 million when it was sold to eBay.
