Forbes estimates 2,755 billionaires. These wealthy folks are mostly tech founders, and their money is primarily invested in publicly traded equities of these companies. Accordingly, the most affluent people’s net worth fluctuates with market values. Below is Forbes’ June 2022 list of the world’s ten wealthiest people. Billionaires shape the economy, politics, and philanthropy; Forbes predicts 2,668 billionaires. Many of these billionaires are founders and co-organizers of technology firms who belong to a more exclusive club and have more power but still spend heavily on their companies. Below are the Top 10 Richest Businessman in the World.
1. Elon Musk
Co-founder and CEO: Tesla
Tesla Ownership Stake: 16% ($130 billion)
Other Assets: The Boring Company ($3.33 billion personal asset), Twitter ($3.0 billion public asset), $11.2 billion in cash, Space Exploration Technologies ($46.9 billion private asset). Elon Musk studied physics and economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Two days after enrolling in a doctoral physics program at Stanford, Musk launched Zip2. He used some of this startup’s revenues to build X.com, an online payment system sold to eBay Inc. (EBAY) and became PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL). Musk founded Tesla Motors (now Tesla) in 2004, leading to his current CEO role. Tesla also makes energy storage devices, auto accessories, and solar power systems after acquiring SolarCity in 2016. Musk is CEO and chief engineer of space launch rocket company SpaceX. Tesla shares gained 740% in 2020, boosting Musk’s riches, and entered S&P 500 in December 2020, becoming the most significant addition. Musk became the world’s richest person in January 2021. Musk asked Twitter on November 6, 2021, if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock to avoid taxes on unrealized capital gains. He sold $16.4 billion in shares through 2021. Musk’s lead in the global wealth rankings has grown thanks to Tesla’s 2021 climb and private transactions raising SpaceX’s worth. In November 2021, he was valued at $340 billion. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in April 2022 and planned to invest $21 billion and sell $8.5 billion worth of Tesla shares before the takeover announcement. Musk dropped the Twitter buyout in July 2022, and Twitter sued Musk to force the buyout; Musk countersued.
2. Jeff Bezos
Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon (AMZN)
Amazon Ownership Stake: 10% ($140 billion)
Other Assets: Blue Origin ($9.15 billion private asset), The Washington Post ($250 million personal investment), and $14.9 billion in cash. In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in a garage in Seattle, shortly after he resigned from the hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw. His old boss David E. Shaw wasn’t interested in an online bookstore. Amazon.com started selling books but has now become the world’s largest retailer. Amazon’s diversification is reflected in its 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods and its 2017 entry into the pharmacy market. Jeff took Amazon public in 1997 and became the first businessman since Bill Gates to reach $100 billion in 1999. Bezos’ other ventures include Blue Origin, The Washington Post (which he bought in 2013), and the 10,000-year clock. Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen accomplished Blue Origin’s first crewed flight on July 20, 2021. In the same month, Bezos’ wealth hit $211 billion.
3. Bernard Arnault
CEO and Chair: LVMH (LVMUY)
Christian Dior Ownership Stake: 97.5% ($119 billion total)
Other Assets: Moelis & Company equity ($21.8 billion public asset), Hermès equity (undisclosed stake), and $10.3 billion in cash. Bernard Arnault leads LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods corporation. Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora are LVMH brands. Arnault’s wealth originates from Christian Dior SE, which controls 41.3% of LVMH. Groupe Familial Arnault holds his Christian Dior SE and LVMH interests. Arnault first displayed his commercial ability while working for his father’s construction firm, Ferret-Savinel, in 1971. 1979: He renamed Ferret-Savinel Férinel Inc. Arnault remained Férinel’s chair for six years before acquiring and reorganizing Financière Agache in 1984, selling all its businesses except Christian Dior and Le Bon Marché. He became LVMH’s main shareholder, board chair, and CEO in 1989.
4. Gautam Adani
Founder and Chair: Adani Group
Adani Enterprises, Power. And Transmissions Ownership Stakes: 75% each ($68.5 billion)
Other Assets: 65% of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone ($12.4 billion public asset), 61% of Adani Green Energy ($24.9 billion public asset), 37% of Adani Total Gas ($17.4 billion public asset). Adani Group founder Gautam Adani beat Mukesh Ambani in March 2022. Adani Group owns significant shares in six key Indian enterprises, including 75% of Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, and Adani Transmissions, 65% of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, and 61% of Adani Green Energy, and 37% of Adani Total Gas. Adani Group firms are worth $218.2 billion (August 5, 2022). Adani Power was launched in 2009. Adani Enterprises was founded in 1988 to import and export. His company was approved to develop Mundra Port, India’s largest private port, in 1994. Adani is India’s largest port operator, coal producer, and coal trader. He bought 74% of Mumbai International Airport in 2020. 1997: Billionaire kidnapped for ransom and was in the Taj hotel during the 2008 attack.
5. Bill Gates
Co-founder: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Microsoft Ownership Stake: 1.3% ($29.1 billion)
Other Assets: Cascade Investment LLC ($82.4 billion public assets), $55.6 billion in cash
Bill Gates and Paul Allen worked on microcomputer software at Harvard in 1975. After this project’s success, gates dropped out of Harvard and co-founded Microsoft with Allen. Microsoft develops personal computers, distributes books through Microsoft Press, provides email services through its Exchange server, and sells video gaming consoles and peripherals. In 2008, Gates became Microsoft’s board chair. His board membership began in 2004. He resigned on March 13, 2020. Cascade Investment LLC owns Canadian National Railway (CNR), Deere (D.E.), and Republic Services (RSG), as well as real estate and energy investments. In 2000, Gates’ two philanthropic organizations united to form the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, co-chaired by Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates. They’ve spent billions fighting polio and malaria through the foundation. The charity contributed $50 million towards Ebola in 2014. By 2021, the foundation had spent $1.9 billion fighting COVID-19. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett developed the Giving Pledge in 2010 to encourage the wealthy to donate to charity. The couple divorced on August 2, 2021.
6. Larry Page
Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG) Alphabet
Ownership Stake: 6% ($91.8 billion total) Other Assets: $14.6 billion in cash
Larry Page started his route to fame and money in a college hostel. Page and Sergey Brin improved internet data extraction while at Stanford in 1995. Page and Brin created “Backrub,” a search engine algorithm that analyses “backing connections.” They founded Google in 1998, with Page acting as CEO until 2001 and again between 2011 and 2019. Google handles 92% of global search requests. The business bought YouTube in 2006. Google released Android in 2008 after acquiring Android, Inc. Google became a part of Alphabet in 2015. Page was an early investor in asteroid-mining business Planetary Resources. In 2018, ConsenSys purchased the 2009 startup due to finance issues. He invested in Kitty Hawk and Opener, “flying automobile” firms. Google shares rose about 50% in 2021, making Page and Brin billionaires. Page’s net worth rose from $52 billion to $105 billion in March 2020.
7. Sergey Brin
Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG) Alphabet
Ownership Stake: 6% ($87.3 billion total) Other Assets: $14.7 billion in cash
Sergey Brin moved to the U.S. at age 6 from Moscow, Russia. When Eric Schmidt became CEO in 2001, Brin became Google’s president of technology.
Sundar Pichai replaced him as Alphabet’s CEO in 2019. Google Workspace contains Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. Google offers Pixel smartphones, desktops, tablets, Nest innovative home products, and a platform for gaming. Brin spent 2019 focused on X, Alphabet’s research department is responsible for Waymo and Google Glass. He’s donated millions to Parkinson’s research with The Michael J. Fox Foundation.
8. Warren Buffett
CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) Berkshire Hathaway
Ownership Stake: 16% ($113 billion) Other Assets: $1.1 billion in cash.
Warren Buffett submitted his first tax return at age 14 for his paper route profits. He bought Berkshire Hathaway shares in 1962 and became the majority shareholder by 1965. 1967: He added insurance and investments. As of August 5, 2022, a single Class A share of Berkshire Hathaway stock was worth more than $439,000. Buffett acquired his fortune by buying undervalued firms and holding onto them. Berkshire Hathaway recently invested in big companies. Its portfolio comprises insurance, energy distribution, railroads, and consumer products. Buffett doubts Bitcoin. Buffett donates much of his fortune. He gave $41 billion between 2006 and 2020, mainly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his children’s charities. Buffett and Gates started the Giving Pledge in 2010. Buffett, 91, is still CEO, but in 2021 he mentioned Gregory Abel as a possible successor. Abel runs Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses.
9. Steve Ballmer
Owner: Los Angeles Clippers Microsoft Ownership Stake: 4% ($90.3 billion total) Other Assets: Los Angeles Clippers ($3.2 billion private asset), $5.9 billion in cash.
Bill Gates pushed Steve Ballmer to leave Stanford’s MBA program in 1980. Microsoft’s 30th worker. Microsoft CEO Ballmer succeeded Gates in 2000. He left in 2014. Ballmer handled Microsoft’s $8.5 billion 2011 Skype purchase. Ballmer owns 4% of Microsoft, making him its biggest shareholder. Ballmer bought the Clippers for $2 billion after leaving Microsoft in 2014. Ballmer and Gates were roommates at Harvard. The “brotherly” connection between the two frayed when Ballmer pushed Microsoft into hardware with the Surface tablet and Windows mobile phone.
10. Larry Ellison
Co-founder, Chair, and CTO: Oracle (ORCL)
Oracle Ownership Stake: 40%+ ($65 billion) Other Assets: Tesla equity ($13 billion public asset), $17.4 billion in cash and real estate.
In 1973, Ellison joined Ampex and met Ed Oates and Bob Miner. Ellison then became Precision Instruments’ V.P. of R&D. Ellison and Oates created SDL in 1977. SDL changed its name to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982 after releasing Oracle, the first relational database product commercial that uses Structured Query Language. Ellison was Oracle’s CEO for 37 years. In December 2018, he joined Tesla’s board. Oracle is the world’s second-largest software firm, offering cloud computing, Java, Linux, and the Oracle Exadata platform. Oracle has bought PeopleSoft, Siebel, BEA Systems, and Sun Microsystems since 2005. Ellison has spent extensively in premium real estate over the last decade. His most notable purchase was the $300 million island of Lanai in Hawaii, where he’s lived since 2020. Ellison developed an island hydroponics farm and luxury spa. Ellison backed Oracle Team USA, which won the 2010 and 2013 America’s Cup.
