According to Forbes, the 10 richest people on the planet had a combined net worth of about $1.47 trillion as of January 1, up $30 billion in only one month.
Mark Zuckerberg, who was ranked as the seventh richest person in the world on December 1, had a huge increase in his rating, going from his prior position to the fifth spot.
He has overtaken Bill Gates, who was the richest person in the world for a considerable amount of time.
Elon Musk, whose net worth is $251 billion, is still the richest person in the entire world.
In addition, the CEO of Tesla has stock in the privately held rocket company SpaceX and the social media platform X, which was formerly known as Twitter.
Larry Ellison, the software tycoon who founded Oracle, had a sharp drop in his wealth in December.
Ellison’s fortune fell by $11.2 billion, making him the greatest loser among the top ten, as Oracle’s stock fell by 10%. Ellison, whose net worth is $135.3 billion, is still the fourth richest person in the world.
The complete list of the wealthiest people on the planet as of January 12 at 12:00 am is provided below. based on a Forbes article published on Thursday.
1. Elon Musk
Musk is the CEO of three companies: SpaceX, a rocket company, Tesla, an electric car manufacturer, and X, a social media startup that was once known as Twitter. Having amassed a sizeable position in Tesla, he has made prudent use of his options and stock, even putting some up as collateral for loans. The car industry is largely responsible for his wealth. He paid $44 billion for the acquisition of X, which was then known as Twitter, in October 2022.
At the moment, it is estimated that he owns almost 74% of this well-known social media corporation. But it’s important to remember that the company is currently worth less than half of what he paid for it originally, according to Forbes.
2. Bernard Arnault
As the CEO and chairman of LVMH, Bernard Arnault has built the greatest luxury goods company in the world, with a portfolio of almost 70 fashion and cosmetics brands.
Among the most well-known brands are Sephora, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Moet & Chandon. Tiffany & Co. was acquired by LVMH for $15.8 billion in January 2021, marking a huge transaction.
3. Jeff Bezos
Having created the company in 1994, Jeff Bezos remained chairman of Amazon until July 2021. He generously contributed significant funds to assist Blue Origin, his private space exploration business, which launched him on a space mission in July of that year. His fortune rose by $5.8 billion in December 2023 as a result of an increase in the value of his Amazon shares.
4. Larry Ellison
In 1977, Larry Ellison co-founded the software company Oracle, which he ran as CEO until 2014. At the moment, he is the company’s chairman and chief technology officer. Oracle has acquired several noteworthy companies in recent years, most notably Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion in 2010.
5. Mark Zuckerberg
While attending Harvard University in 2004, Zuckerberg co-founded what is now known as Meta Platforms. It is now the world’s largest social network, with 3.88 billion monthly users. The business also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, which it acquired and greatly developed in addition to its platform. CEO Mark Zuckerberg guided Meta through its 2012 IPO, and he presently owns about 13% of the business.
6. Bill Gates
Forbes was the first to identify Gates as a billionaire in 1987. With the exception of 2008 and the years 2010 to 2013, he was the richest person in the world from 1995 to 2017.
Owing to his significant $59 billion in gifts to the Gates Foundation, which includes a $20 billion commitment in July 2022, Bill lost his ranking as the richest person in 2018 to Jeff Bezos.
After graduating from Harvard in 1975, Gates teamed up with Paul Allen, a friend from high school, to cofound Microsoft and create one of the earliest computer programs. Before 2014, he was chairman and CEO for 25 years each. He told Forbes in early 2023 that he still consults with Microsoft teams 10% of the time after quitting the board in 2020. He has a large property holding in the United States and invests in numerous companies, such as Republic Services and Deere & Co.
7. Warren Buffett
Known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett has made a name for himself as one of the greatest investors in history. He is the CEO of the investment giant Berkshire Hathaway, which is home to a variety of businesses like Geico, Dairy Queen, and Duracell. He showed a strong interest in money problems at an early age. He was given the chance to explore the world of stocks at the age of eleven because his father was a representative in the United States. Even at the astonishingly early age of 13, he took the initiative to file his taxes.
8. Larry Page
In 1998, Page and Sergey Brin co-founded Google, the search engine. From 2001 until 2011 and again from 2015 to the present, he served as CEO. He still has controlling ownership of Google and serves as a board member of Alphabet, the business that owns the search engine.
9. Sergey Brin
In December 2019, Sergey Brin announced his resignation as head of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Nonetheless, he remains a big stakeholder and maintains his position as a board member, giving him considerable authority. When he and Larry Page met at Stanford University in 1998 while pursuing graduate degrees in computer science, they went on to become partners.
10. Steve Ballmer
In 1980, Ballmer—who was Bill Gates’ Harvard University classmate—joined Microsoft as the thirty-first employee. From 2000 to 2014, he was Microsoft’s CEO.
Ballmer made waves after departing Microsoft when he paid $2 billion to acquire the Los Angeles Clippers, which broke the previous record for the highest price paid for an NBA team. Forbes has assessed the team’s worth at $4.65 billion, according to current sources.