The world’s richest billionaire list has witnessed several changes in the last three years thanks to the pandemic, economic slowdown, recession, and geopolitics. Here is the latest list of the world’s richest persons in November 2023.
Elon Musk – $229.7 billion
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, co-founded companies like SpaceX (rocket producer), Tesla (electric car maker) and Boring Company (tunneling startup). A significant portion of his income comes from Tesla. He purchased X (Twitter) in October 2022 for $44 billion.
Bernard Arnault and family – $ 183.1 billion
The CEO of the world’s largest luxury goods company Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) which has approximately 70 fashion and cosmetics brands under it has an estimated net worth of $ 183.1 billion. LVMH completed the acquisition of Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion in January 2021.
Bernard Arnault has five children – They contribute to various sectors within the expansive LVMH. His daughter Delphine was appointed as Dior’s lead in January 2023.
Jeff Bezos – $ 160.8 billion
Jeff Bezos, the founder of e-commerce giant Amazon, stepped down as CEO to become executive chairman in 2021. In 2019, he divorced his wife MacKenzie after 25 years of marriage and he gave a quarter of his then-16% Amazon stake to her. For the unversed, Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing rockets. In July 2021, he briefly flew to space in one.
Larry Ellison – $ 135.3 billion
On number four, we have Larry Ellison. He has 35 per cent stake in Oracle and is its chief technology officer, chairman, and co-founder. However, in 2014, he left the CEO position at Oracle. He moved to Hawaiian Island Lanai and purchased it for $300 million. That’s not all, Larry Ellison also bought 3 million Tesla shares and joined its board in December 2018.
Bill Gates – $112.2 billion
Bill Gates’ wealth comes from Microsoft and his investment in zero-carbon energy. In 1975, he co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen and owns only 1 per cent of the software company’s shares as of March 2020.
For the unversed, he is the largest owner of farmland in the United States. He has invested in companies like Canadian National Railway and AutoNation.
Warren Buffett – 116.5 billion
Warren Buffett, also known as the Oracle of Omaha, is one of the most successful investors of all time. He runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns several companies, like insurer Geico, Duracell, and Dairy Queen.
Mark Zuckerberg – $ 109.6 Billion
In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook at Harvard for students to match names with photos of classmates. You read that right! In May 2012, he took Facebook public and now he owns about 13 per cent of the company’s stock. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to give away 99 per cent of their Meta stake over their lifetimes in December 2015.
