The Hurun Global Rich List 2022, which was published on March 16, included 3,381 billionaires from 2,557 companies and 69 countries. While Elon Musk held the number one slot, Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian to make the top ten.
Billionaires have a disproportionate impact on the world economy, politics, and philanthropy. According to Forbes, there are 2,755 billionaires in the world. The wealthiest of them are members of an even more elite club and hold even more power. Many of these billionaires are the founders of technology behemoths, with a large portion of their fortune still invested in the firms they founded.
They can, however, borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stock, so deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains.
Multi-billionaires can also use a variety of tax breaks to offset reported income, resulting in some on this list paying no income tax in recent years.
With so much of their wealth invested in publicly traded assets, the richest people’s net worth might change with market prices. For example, Elon Musk, the creator and CEO of Tesla Inc. (TSLA) and the world’s richest person, saw his net worth increase in 2021 due to an increase in the share price of Tesla (of which he now owns 17 percent)—with Tesla shares climbing about 50 percent in 2021.
In comparison, Meta Platforms Inc. (FB) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of the top ten in February 2022, when Meta’s share price plummeted following a dismal financial report. In 2022, Zuckerberg’s net worth will be $40 billion lower.
IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS
- Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla, is the world’s richest person, with a net worth of $273 billion.
- Behind Musk comes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has an estimated net worth of $188 billion.
- Musk, LVMH Chair and CEO Bernard Arnault, Google co-founder Larry Page, and L’Oreal heir
- Francoise Bettencourt Meyers was among the billionaires who saw the greatest growth in their wealth in 2021.
- Seven of the top ten billionaires made their riches in technology, with the exceptions being Arnault,
- Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, and Adani Group founder Gautam Adani.
The following are the world’s top 10 billionaires:
1. Elon Musk
He is the world’s richest person for the second year in a row, with $205 billion, an increase of $8 billion from last year. Musk has been in the news a lot this year, most recently for his commitment to keeping Space X’s Starlink satellite internet services operational in Ukraine.
Tesla, which has a market capitalization of $831 billion, is currently larger than the combined market capitalization of the world’s next ten automobile manufacturers and has begun construction on its Berlin gigafactory.
According to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2021, SpaceX has grown to become the largest unicorn in the United States, with a valuation of $100 billion.
2. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
58 years old
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Amazon is the company’s founder and executive chairman (AMZN)
$188 billion in net worth
Amazon owns 10% of the company ($163 billion).
Blue Origin ($9.15 billion private corporate stakes), The Washington Post ($250 million private assets), and $15.6 billion in cash are among the other assets.
Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com in a Seattle garage in 1994, shortly after resigning from the hedge fund behemoth D.E. Shaw.
He first proposed the notion of an online bookstore to his former boss, David E. Shaw, who was uninterested. Though Amazon.com began by selling books, it has since evolved into a one-stop shop for everything under the sun and is often regarded as the world’s largest retailer. Amazon’s habit of ongoing diversification may be seen in some of its surprise expansions, such as the acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017 and entry into the pharmacy market the same year.
3. Bernard Arnault
73 years old
Paris, France
LVMH’s CEO and Chairman (LVMUY)
$148 billion in net worth
Christian Dior owns 97.5 percent of the company ($120 billion total).
Other assets include equity in Moelis & Company ($22.6 billion public assets), equity in Hermès (undisclosed share), and $10.7 billion in cash.
Nationality: French Bernard Arnault is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate. LVMH is the parent company of Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora.
Arnault stayed in charge of Férinel for another six years, until he bought and rebuilt the luxury goods company Financière Agache in 1984, finally selling all of its interests save Christian Dior and Le Bon Marché. 32 He was encouraged to invest in LVMH in 1987 and later became the company’s largest stakeholder, chair of the board, and CEO two years later.
4. Bill Gates
66 years old
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Microsoft Corp. is a co-founder (MSFT)
$133 billion in net worth
Microsoft’s 1.3 percent ($31.9 billion) ownership stake
Cascade Investment LLC ($59.2 billion in public assets) and $56.9 billion in cash are among the other assets.
Cascade Investment LLC has a large portion of Bill Gates’ total fortune. Cascade is a privately held investment vehicle that owns stocks such as Canadian National Railway (CNR), Deere (DE), and Republic Services (RSG), as well as private real estate and energy ventures.
Bill Gates, along with Warren Buffett, founded the Giving Pledge in 2010, a campaign encouraging the wealthy to commit to donating the majority of their fortune to charitable causes. On August 2, 2021, Bill and Melinda French Gates divorced. Approximately $5 billion in equities were transferred to French Gates as a result of the divorce.
5. Warren Buffett
91 years old
Nebraska is where I call home.
Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO (BRK.A)
$127 billion in net worth
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 16 percent ownership ($126 billion)
Other assets include $1.15 billion in cash.
Buffett has devoted a large portion of his fortune to philanthropy. Between 2006 and 2020, he donated $41 billion, the majority of which went to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his children’s organizations. In 2010, Buffett and Bill Gates co-launched the Giving Pledge. Buffett, 91, is still CEO, but in 2021 he hinted at who might be his successor: Gregory Abel. Abel is in charge of Berkshire Hathaway’s non-insurance operations.
6. Larry Page
California is my home.
Alphabet co-founder and board member (GOOG)
$125 billion in net worth
Alphabet owns 6% of the company ($109.6 billion in total).
Other assets include $14.9 billion in cash.
Page was an early investor in Planetary Resources, a business dedicated to space exploration and asteroid mining. The company was founded in 2009 and was acquired by blockchain developer ConsenSys in 2018 due to funding issues. 67 He’s also invested in two “flying car” firms, Kitty Hawk and Opener. Google stock rose about 50% in 2021, propelling Page and Brin to the top of the billionaire list. Page’s net worth increased from just under $52 billion in March 2020 to $125 billion now.
7. Sergey Brin
California is my home.
Alphabet co-founder and board member (GOOG)
$119 billion in net worth
Alphabet owns 6% of the company ($104.4 billion in total).
Other assets include $15 billion in cash.
Brin spent much of 2019 focused on X, Alphabet’s research unit responsible for cutting-edge technology such as Waymo self-driving cars and Google Glass smart eyewear. In collaboration with The Michael J. Fox Foundation, he has also donated millions of dollars to Parkinson’s disease research. Brin’s fortune has increased by more than 25% in the last year.
8. Ballmer, Steve
66 years old
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Los Angeles Clippers
$108 billion in net worth
Microsoft owns 4% of the company ($98.8 billion in total).
Other assets include the Los Angeles Clippers ($3.16 billion in private assets), as well as $5.93 billion in cash.
Ballmer owns around 4% of Microsoft, making him the company’s largest individual shareholder. Ballmer paid $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team in 2014, shortly after stepping down as CEO of Microsoft.
While attending Harvard University, Ballmer shared a dorm room and a floor with Bill Gates. During Ballmer’s tenure as CEO, the “brotherly” relationship between the two became strained when he began pushing the tech company into hardware, such as the Surface tablet and the Windows mobile phone.
9. Larry Ellison
77 years old
Oracle co-founder, chairman, and chief technology officer (residence: Hawaii) (ORCL)
$103 billion in net worth
Oracle Ownership stake: 40% ($68.4 billion).
Other assets include Tesla stock ($16.3 billion in public equities), $17.6 billion in cash, and real estate.
Ellison, who has long been known for his excessive spending, has made significant investments in luxury real estate during the last decade. Perhaps his most significant single buy was the $300 million purchase of practically the whole Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012, where he has lived since 2020. On the island, Ellison has established a hydroponics farm as well as a luxury spa. Ellison’s philanthropy has primarily benefited medical research. In 2016, he donated $200 million to the University of Southern California for the establishment of a new cancer research center.
Ellison provided financial support to the Oracle Team USA sailing team, which won the America’s Cup racing series in 2010 and 2013.
10. Gautam Adani.
Adani Group is the founder and chairman of the Adani Group.
$100 billion in net worth
Adani Enterprises, Power, and Transmissions are all subsidiaries of Adani Enterprises. Ownership stakes: 75% ($51.3 billion) each
Other Assets: 65% of Adani Green Energy ($23.4 billion public assets), 61% of Adani Total Gas ($24.3 billion public asset), and 37% of Adani Total Gas ($12.2 billion public assets).
Gautam Adani, the founder of Adani Group, will overtake Mukesh Ambani as Asia’s richest person in March 2022. Adani owns major stakes in six key Indian companies through his Adani Group, including a 75% stake in Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, and Adani Transmissions, as well as a 65 percent stake in Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, a 61 percent stake in Adani Green Energy, and a 37 percent stake in Adani Total Gas.
The Adani Group’s firms have a total market capitalization of $179 billion (as of Apr. 1, 2022). Adani Power, a subsidiary of Adani Group, joined the power generation sector in 2009. Adani Enterprises was founded in 1988 by Adani to import and sell commodities. His business was awarded permission in 1994 to build a harbor facility at Mundra Port, which is presently India’s largest private port.
