Some people swim in cash—no wonder they’re called the wealthiest people in the world! Their other name is billionaires; their combined wealth amounts to a staggering $12.8 trillion! And that’s just 2640 people in this elite flock! And that sum could’ve been larger if they used Pawns.app (maybe some do?)!
But that’s not all, folks, for there’s an even smaller coterie of HNWIs who put a shade on the rest in this group. These are the top 10 wealthiest individuals out there, and together, they’re worth $1.44 trillion! So, who are these walking ka-chings, and what’s their secret? Let’s find out!
1. Bernard Arnault, LVMH — $235.3B
- Source of wealth: Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH)
- LVMH ownership stake: 47%
- Age: 75
- Residence: Paris, France
Mixing his passion for art and business, Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault has been contributing to the successful journey of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton for years. He’s the co-founder of this luxury goods company, its chairman, and CEO. How did this multibillion-dollar business come to life? By merging fashion, champagne, and cognac.
Arnault first entered the world of fashion and fame as an engineer for Ferret-Savinel, a well-known construction company. Since then, his net worth has grown exponentially. He later switched between multiple executive management positions before being named chairman in 1978. And it was well deserved.
This rich man kept his golden office in the company until he agreed to shuffle things up in the Financière Agache. In 1984, he got the holding out of quicksand by reorganizing it. Soon, the ka-ching started to echo between its walls again! The new organizational structure had no other but Christian Dior as its central pillar.
In just five years, Arnault climbed the business ladder way too high. He became LVMH’s major shareholder, making the company a leading luxury products brand. This gentleman is now responsible for the worldwide recognition of his family’s company, Groupe Arnault S.E., and clashes with waves on his yacht, Symphony.
2. Jeff Bezos, Amazon — $194.2B
- Source of wealth: Amazon
- Amazon ownership stake: 10%
- Age: 60
- Residence: Seattle, Washington
Multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos is next on our list of wealthiest people in the world. We’ve all stopped by his shop around the corner—the global one, that is! He launched Amazon in 1994, straight from the comfort of his Seattle-based garage. And today, he’s one of the top 10 billionaires out there!
Once the company’s CEO, he’s now its executive chairman, with no more than 10% of its assets under his golden belt. But this tycoon didn’t stop at 10%. Instead, he saw the profitable nature of space and founded Blue Origin! The spaceflight company snatched an excellent launch site in Texas to put outer space on the tourist destinations map.
2013 Bezos loosened the purse strings again and bought The Washington Post. It was a $250 million deal, further solidifying his status as a grand richman. But it was not all roses for this business magnate, at least not in love matters. In 2019, he went through a divorce, leaving his ex-wife MacKenzie with $35.6 billion in Amazon stock.
Apart from ending a billion-dollar marriage, Bezos let his philanthropy take over in 2022. He donated over $400 million in stocks to charities, making him the favorite crazy rich person of many!
3. Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX — $192.8B
- Source of wealth: SpaceX, Tesla
- SpaceX and Tesla ownership stake: 44% of SpaceX, 25% of Tesla
- Age: 52
- Residence: Austin, Texas
Wealth doesn’t have to skip you, whether you’re born in Europe or South Africa, like Elon Musk. This world-famous engineer and tech magnum makes us all curious and fearful about the future. But he’s also ensured we time travel financially savvy by founding PayPal — yay!
Of course, this is also the businessman behind Tesla Inc, The Boring Company, SpaceX, and the infamous Neuralink. How does he benefit Tesla’s momentum? By ensuring sustainable energy products go from sketch to real-life inventions! As the company’s co-founder and CEO, he’s been pushing for the global embracement of electric vehicles and solar-powered devices.
Musk is also SpaceX’s lead designer, and his job is to fiddle with rockets. Whether it’s missions to Earth’s orbit or ones to other planets, he’s got everything under control! Claiming victory over gravity, SpaceX launched Falcon 1 in 2008. Their success was extended in 2017 when we saw Falcon 9 and Dragon dot the skies. But this company’s goals go as fringe as building self-sustainable cities on Mars, so we’ll be seeing more from them.
As the CEO of Neuralink, Elon is — brace yourself for a sci-fi crème de la crème — giving his all to link human brains to computers. Of course, some mundane grind is also on schedule for this entrepreneur, as he’s making the Vegas Loop — a project by The Boring Company to ease the transportation hustle at the LV Convention Center.
4. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook — $174.0B
- Source of wealth: Facebook (Meta)
- Facebook ownership stake: 12%
- Age: 40
- Residence: Palo Alto, California
One can’t jumble the names of the wealthiest people in the world without thinking of Mark Zuckerberg. This American businessman once co-founded Facebook, the social media website we’re all so fond of. But before that, there was Meta Platforms (once Facebook, Inc.), which he also brought to life. Nowadays, he’s its CEO, chairman, and controlling shareholder.
We all know about The Social Network, the biographical drama about Mark’s — and Facebook’s — success journey. As the movie shows, he went to Harvard University and launched the reason for a big chunk of our screen time with his roommates.
The site took very little to connect non-students and people outside college campuses. By 2012, it was a global tool with a billion users typing into the search bar! No wonder Zuckerberg became the youngest self-made billionaire at just 23! But he’s not just a rich person. He’s also a philanthropist! Have you heard of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative?
Still, that much success has brought about lawsuits and political attention. Everything was complicated right from the start, with Mark caught up in lawsuits related to Facebook’s founding and ownership. And it didn’t stop there. In April 2018, he was involved in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach, stirring the public’s grudge. But both he and the site are doing well nowadays, except for some lawsuits occasionally popping up.
5. Larry Ellison, Oracle — $158.8B
- Source of wealth: Oracle
- Oracle ownership stake: 35%
- Age: 80
- Residence: Lanai, Hawaii
Fortune lies in the tech industry. Lawrence Joseph Ellison knew this all too well when he co-founded Oracle, an American computer technology company. Once its CEO, he’s now the company’s chief technology officer and executive chairman.
But laptops and PCs can’t pay the bills, at least not Larry’s! 🙂 That’s why this tech genius owns 98% of Lanai, a Hawaiian island! Jokes aside, this is one of the largest islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and he bought 87,000 of its 90,000 acres for about 300 million dollars.
There are many fun facts about Larry, but one tops them all. He was involved in an insider trading lawsuit because he sold many Oracle stocks worth around $900,000. The court let Elisson donate $100 million to a charitable foundation to settle the affair. Of course, it was Larry’s foundation, and he admitted no wrongdoing.
Speaking of fun facts about him, here’s a more painful one: In 1992, he was in a bicycle crash and hurt his elbow—well, it was more like he shattered it. He then went to the University of California, Davis, for treatment and launched the Lawrence J. Ellison Musculo-Skeletal Research Center. There is so much inspiration in a funny bone!
6. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway — $136B
- Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
- Berkshire Hathaway ownership stake: 30.71%
- Age: 93
- Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
Warren Edward Buffet is also one of the wealthiest people in the world. He’s an American businessman who invests and does some philanthropy. In fact, he’s so good at investing that he’s among the most successful investors on the planet! Currently, he is the CEO and chairman of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway.
Being a world-class investor, Buffet deserves all the cute nicknames he’s been given throughout the years. Some have called him the “Oracle.” Others refer to him as “Sage” or “Omaha.” The media is clear, though — he is a smart value investor and a very wealthy one, too. Yet, he likes to be as frugal as possible, making him a great example for the Pawns users! 🙂
The Columbia Business School truly helped him understand what value investing is. He graduated from there to later attend the New York Institute of Finance and pack his economic portfolio. Later, he started making business partners and even made one with Benjamin Graham, the pioneer of value investing.
In 1956, he founded Buffet Partnership, an investment firm that later acquired Berkshire Hataway. At the time, BH was just a textile manufacturing company. However, thanks to Buffet’s efforts, it grew into a diversified holding, with Charlie Munger as vice-chairman.
7. Bill Gates, Microsoft — $130.2B
- Source of wealth: Microsoft
- Microsoft ownership stake: 1%
- Age: 68
- Residence: Medina, Washington
You might wonder who William Henry Gates III is. Well, he is one of the richest people in the world. He’s the one and only Bill Gates, an American businessman who cares for the people. He’s also Microsoft’s co-founder and has had the privilege of being the company’s chairman, CEO, chief software architect, and even president.
Remember the microcomputer revolution of the 70s and 80s? Well, Gates was a significant factor in it. He and his childhood friend, Paul Allen, founded Microsoft in 1975, and the company grew to be the largest PC software company in the world.
But Gates didn’t expand just the gates of Microsoft. He continued founding other companies, including Cascade Investment, TerraPower, BEN, and bgC3. When it was time to step down as Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer took his place. Gates later became the chief software architect.
In the summer of 2008, Bill Gates decided to continue working part-time at Microsoft. He believed it was time for a new full-time career as a philanthropist at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which he once created with his ex-wife Melinda. Since 2020, he’s joined the effort to combat climate change and help people be healthier and empowered.
8. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft — $124.7B
- Source of wealth: Microsoft
- Microsoft ownership stake: 4%
- Age: 68
- Residence: Hunts Point, Washington
Steven Anthony Ballmer was the CEO of Microsoft for 14 years (from 2000 to 2014). He is an American investor and business magnate, and he currently owns the Los Angeles Clippers, an NBA-league basketball team. Business and sports mix well together!
It was Bill Gates who let Ballmer join the Microsoft team back in 1980. The job opportunity must’ve been fantastic: he left Stanford University to pursue a career in the company. Before he became one of the wealthiest people in the world, he was named president of Microsoft. Later, he took the position of CEO, replacing Gates. And 14 years after that, he retired.
Although not everyone praises his work at Microsoft, he tripled the company’s sales and oversaw the launch of the original Xbox. He also doubled Microsoft’s profits, proving that the company can do well with the correct strategy. Yet, some don’t like him because Microsoft lost market dominance on his term.
Although he wasn’t everyone’s favorite and, like some say, missed the tech trends of the 21st century, he did grow the company’s bottom line. Microsoft is still an incomparable brand, and he is still super rich!
9. Larry Page, Google — $122.8B
- Source of wealth: Alphabet, Google
- Alphabet ownership stake: 51% of voting shares and 12% of total shares with co-founder Sergey Brin
- Age: 51
- Residence: Palo Alto, California
Lawrence Edward Page is the definition of financial success. This American business magnate and computer scientist is the co-founder of Google! He was the company’s CEO from 1997 to 2001 and returned to this position in 2011. In 2015, he became the CEO of Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company. That’s a lot of CEO-ing!
During his time as a CEO at Google, Page enriched the company by over 200 employees. Even today, he’s still on top of some of Google’s operations, along with his colleagues Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt. As a highly prolific entrepreneur, Larry even co-created PageRank, Google’s ranking algorithm. That, and he also supported some flying car startups!
His tech story began when he was just six years old. That’s when he fell in love with computers! Growing up, he became interested in studying and got a BS in engineering from the University of Michigan. He was and still is a persevering genius — he even made an inkjet printer with Legos!
Of course, Page also enrolled in a computer science Ph.D. program at Stanford University. Sergey Brin was there, and the Google magic happened. Nowadays, Page is a member of the NAC of the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan.
10. Sergey Brin, Google — $118.1B
- Source of wealth: Alphabet, Google
- Alphabet ownership stake: 51% of voting shares and 12% of total shares with co-founder Larry Page
- Age: 50
- Residence: Los Altos, California
The last person on our list of wealthiest people in the world is the American business magnate Sergey Brin. He is both an internet entrepreneur and a computer scientist. He co-founded Google with Larry Page, a company we’re all familiar with. That said, it’s no surprise he was president of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, until December 2019.
Brin got a BS in math and computer science at the University of Maryland, College Park, years after he and his family emigrated from the Soviet Union. He was ambitious, unsurprisingly, and went after that PhD in computer science at Stanford! Page was also there; they met and went straight to Susan Wojcicki‘s garage to get googling!
Sergey, of course, does extensive research in his field of interest. He’s particularly interested in search engines, scientific data, data mining, and extracting information from unstructured sources. Another of his interests is publishing academic papers; dozens of those have seen the light of day!
What does he do when he’s not working? He works! He’s been a speaker at various tech, business, and academic forums and an avid debater at various shows, like the Charlie Rose Show. If you want to learn more about the future of the tech industry, check out his interviews!
Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?
The financial elite could welcome some more members to its circles! If we ever talk to Ballmer or Buffet, we’ll recommend the Pawns crew! 🙂 In the meantime, you, guys, should keep building your financial habits and stay prepared for great opportunities with Pawns.app.
Check out our app, see if you like it, and answer some surveys! You can also share your internet for free and earn! OR, explore the Quests tab and the Spin the Wheel feature to get lucky! The app brings you luck in dollars whatever you do, so download it and start making money!
