Billionaires significantly shape global philanthropy, politics, and the economy. According to Forbes, there will be 2,781 billionaires worldwide in 2024. The individuals on this list belong to an even more exclusive club and wield still more power. A large portion of their fortune is still invested in the businesses they founded, many of whom are founders of major technology companies.
They plays a crucial role in driving the country’s economic growth by channeling their funds into various financial projects and ventures that fuel innovation and progress. For instance, Elon Musk has recently announced the formation of an artificial intelligence startup called xAI. This new company brings together a team of talented engineers with experience at leading firms like OpenAI and Google, aiming to revolutionize the AI landscape and create groundbreaking opportunities for future financial investments.
These outstanding leaders, who are visionary and innovative, have risen to the pinnacle of success, joining the ranks of the world’s wealthiest individuals. After all, the net wealth of the top ten richest individuals exceeds the GDP of many countries. Today, their wealth is mostly concentrated in the technology, banking, and retail sectors. The widening wealth imbalance between them and the less fortunate is a major issue for people around the world.
This article reveals the identities of the world’s top ten richest people, focusing light on their astounding achievements, entrepreneurial skills, and tremendous impact on the global economy.
Elon Musk
- Age: 53
- Residence: United States
- Co-founder and CEO: Tesla
- Net Worth: $343 billion
- Tesla Ownership Stake: 13% ($142 billion)
- X Ownership Stake: 79% ($5.62 billion)
- Other Assets: Space Exploration Technologies ($82.2 billion private asset), The Boring Company ($3.33 billion private asset), Neuralink ($2.07 billion private asset), xAI ($25 billion private asset)
Known as the world’s richest man and person, Elon Musk serves as the CEO of some well-known businesses, such as SpaceX, a space exploration corporation, and Tesla, an electric vehicle manufacturer. At the moment, he owns 12.86 percent of Tesla. Approximately two-thirds of Tesla’s wealth is dependent on his success. It made headlines when Musk paid $44 billion to acquire Twitter (now X) in October 2022.
In 2010, Tesla went public under Musk’s leadership. By September 2021, Musk was among the top 10 richest persons in the world, thanks to the company’s notable market capitalization rise in 2020 and 2021. Musk’s wealth peaked in November 2021 at an incredible $320 billion.
Jeff Bezos
- Age: 60
- Residence: United States
- Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon (AMZN)
- Net Worth: $229 billion
- Amazon Ownership Stake: 8.8% ($189 billion)
- Other Assets: Blue Origin ($15 billion private asset), The Washington Post ($250 million private asset), Koru ($500 million private asset), and $23.7 billion in cash
Jeff Bezos, the third richest man in the world, started Amazon.com in a Seattle garage not long after leaving the massive hedge fund firm D.E. Shaw. He set out on a space journey that same month on a rocket built by Blue Origin, the private space exploration business he created and has billions of money to support. His previous supervisor, David E. Shaw, had initially rejected his proposal for an online bookstore.
Although it began as a bookseller, Amazon has evolved into a one-stop shop for everything and is predicted to surpass Walmart as the biggest retailer in the world by 2024. Some of Amazon’s unanticipated expansions, such as its 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods and entry into the pharmacy industry, demonstrate the company’s ongoing diversification pattern. Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen successfully accomplished Blue Origin’s first crewed flight on July 20, 2021, ascending more than 66 miles before making a safe landing. In the same month, Bezos’ wealth peaked at $213 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg
- Age: 40
- Residence: United States
- CEO and Chair: Meta Platforms (META)
- Net Worth: $203 billion
- Meta Platforms Ownership Stake: 13% ($198 billion)
- Other Assets: $5.58 billion in cash
At the age of 19, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, founded Facebook in 2004 while enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology and computer science. Facebook was first created to let students connect by matching their names with images. In 2006, it became accessible to everyone with a working email address who was at least 13 years old.
After taking the business public in May 2012, Zuckerberg was placed 10th on Forbes’ list of the world’s most influential people by December 2016. At the moment, Zuckerberg controls roughly 13.68 percent of Meta Platforms. Zuckerberg is 39 years old, married to Priscilla Chan, and has three daughters. By working together, they are spending $3 billion to eradicate, treat, or control every illness by 2100.
Bill Gates
- Age: 69
- Residence: United States
- Co-founder: Microsoft (MSFT)
- Net Worth: $164 billion
- Microsoft Ownership Stake: 1% ($27.4 billion)
- Other Assets: Billions in multiple other companies held through a holding company, Cascade Investment, and $81.3 billion in cash
In 1975, Bill Gates traveled to Harvard University to work with Paul Allen, a buddy from his youth, on creating new software for the first microcomputers. After the success of this effort, Gates left Harvard in his junior year and joined Allen in founding Microsoft.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software corporation, also manufactures a range of personal computers, sells video game systems and related gaming devices, and offers email services via its Exchange server. It has made significant investments in cloud services lately.
Larry Page
- Age: 51
- Residence: United States
- Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
- Net Worth: $153 billion
- Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($132.2 billion)
- Other Assets: $20.6 billion in cash
Larry Page started his journey to fame and money in a college dorm room, just like many other millionaires on our list. Page and his friend Sergey Brin developed the concept of enhancing Internet data extraction in 1995 while they were students at Stanford University. To evaluate links to a page, the two created a new search engine technique called Backrub. Following that, Page and Brin founded Google in 1998, and Page was the company’s CEO from 2001 to 2019 and again from 2011 to 2019.
With over 92% of global search queries, Google is the world’s most used Internet search engine. The firm acquired YouTube, the leading platform for user-submitted videos in 2006. Google released the Android mobile phone operating system in 2008 following its acquisition of Android in 2005. In 2015, Google underwent a reorganization and became a subsidiary of the holding corporation Alphabet.
Page was one of the first investors in space exploration and asteroid mining firm Planetary Resources. Amid financial difficulties, the 2009-founded business was purchased by blockchain startup ConsenSys in 2018.
Top 10 richest people in the world
Explore the top 10 richest people in the world, featuring influential entrepreneurs and business magnates with staggering net worth.
| Name & Rank | Net Worth (in $ Billions) | Companies/Source of Wealth | Country |
| #1 Elon Musk | $314.4 | Tesla, SpaceX, X | United States |
| #2 Jeff Bezos | $229 | Amazon, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, IMDB, Audible | United States |
| #3 Mark Zuckerberg | $203 | Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) | United States |
| #4 Bill Gates | $164 | Microsoft (MSFT) | United States |
| #5 Larry Page | $153 | Alphabet Inc. | United States |
| #6 Bernard Arnault & family | $154.8 | LVMH | France |
| #7 Warren Buffett | $148.3 | Berkshire Hathaway | United States |
| #8 Larry Page | $139.4 | Alphabet Inc. | United States |
| #9 Sergey Brin | $133.4 | Alphabet Inc. | United States |
| #10 Jensen Huang | $127.9 | NVIDIA | United States |
Wrapping Up
If you want to go closer to making the list of the richest billionaires, consider being a technical pioneer or a luxury retail mastermind. Alternatively, you may keep things simple and focus on value investment. It wouldn’t hurt to have been born into riches; nonetheless, the greatest fortunes on this list began with solid ideas, which people with creativity, determination, and connections utilized to develop some of the world’s largest corporations.