Bill Gates saw
the potential in PCs before anyone else truly grasped the commercial value of
the concept. His foresight allowed him to build Microsoft into a $400 billion
behemoth, and made him a passionate believer in the system that allowed him to
do so. ”Some people, through luck and skill, end up with a lot of assets.
If you’re good at kicking a ball, writing software, investing in stocks, it
pays extremely well. Capitalism has worked very well,” he said in 2010. To
those not as enraptured with capitalism, he offered a curt suggestion: “Anyone
who wants to move to North Korea is welcome.”
Capitalism has indeed worked well
for Gates, who’s back on top of the Forbes billionaires list for the first time
in four years. It’s been good to the other 1,645 people on the wealth ranking.
Staggering figures–record figures actually. Combined, the billionaires are worth
$6.4 trillion, a greater sum than any other Forbes has previously calculated.
Perhaps equally suggestive of the prosperous economic times is the fact that
268 folks are joining the billionaire’s club for the first time, the largest
freshman class ever, beating the 226 newcomers in 2008.
To make digesting the ranking and
our work easier, what follows is a simple list of the 500 richest. They’re
collectively worth $4.4 trillion. Taken together, it is a roll of familiar
names (people like Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump), as well
unfamiliar ones. You’ll spot Jan Koum, the WhatsApp founder, and Alexander Vik,
the financier who has enriched himself from every modern financial bubble and
left in his wake countless scorned investors. And foreigners like Kjeld Kirk
Kristiansen, the grandson of the Lego founder, and Charlene de
Carvalho-Heineken, one of the richest woman in the world thanks to her family
stake’s in the eponymous beer company. All share a commonality: they too have
made capitalism work very well.
1. Bill Gates
Net Worth: $76 B
Source of wealth: Microsoft
2. Carlos Slim Helu & family
Net Worth: $72 B
Source of wealth: telecom
3. Amancio Ortega
Net Worth: $64 B
Source of wealth: retail
4. Warren Buffett
Net Worth: $58.2 B
Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
5. Larry Ellison
Net Worth: $48 B
Source of wealth: Oracle
6. Charles Koch
Net Worth: $40 B
Source of wealth: diversified
6. David Koch
Net Worth: $40 B
Source of wealth: diversified
8. Sheldon Adelson
Net Worth: $38 B
Source of wealth: casinos
9. Christy Walton & family
Net Worth: $36.7 B
Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
10. Jim Walton
Net Worth: $34.7 B
Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
11. Liliane Bettencourt & family
Net Worth: $34.5 B
Source of wealth: L’Oreal
12. Stefan Persson
Net Worth: $34.4 B
Source of wealth: H&M
13. Alice Walton
Net Worth: $34.3 B
Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
14. S. Robson Walton
Net Worth: $34.2 B
Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
15. Bernard Arnault & family
Net Worth: $33.5 B
Source of wealth: LVMH
16. Michael Bloomberg
Net Worth: $33 B
Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP
17. Larry Page
Net Worth: $32.3 B
Source of wealth: Google
18. Jeff Bezos
Net Worth: $32 B
Source of wealth: Amazon.com
19. Sergey Brin
Net Worth: $31.8 B
Source of wealth: Google
20. Li Ka-shing
Net Worth: $31 B
Source of wealth: diversified
21. Mark Zuckerberg
Net Worth: $28.5 B
Source of wealth: Facebook
22. Michele Ferrero & family
Net Worth: $26.5 B
Source of wealth: chocolates
23. Aliko Dangote
Net Worth: $25 B
Source of wealth: cement, sugar, flour
23. Karl Albrecht
Net Worth: $25 B
Source of wealth: retail
25. Carl Icahn
Net Worth: $24.5 B
Source of wealth: investments
26. George Soros
Net Worth: $23 B
Source of wealth: hedge funds
27. David Thomson & family
Net Worth: $22.6 B
Source of wealth: media
28. Lui Che Woo
Net Worth: $22 B
Source of wealth: casinos
29. Dieter Schwarz
Net Worth: $21.1 B
Source of wealth: retail
30. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud
Net Worth: $20.4 B
Source of wealth: investments
31. Forrest Mars Jr
Net Worth: $20 B
Source of wealth: candy
31. Jacqueline Mars
Net Worth: $20 B
Source of wealth: candy
31. John Mars
Net Worth: $20 B
Source of wealth: candy
34. Jorge Paulo Lemann
Net Worth: $19.7 B
Source of wealth: beer
35. Lee Shau Kee
Net Worth: $19.6 B
Source of wealth: diversified
36. Steve Ballmer
Net Worth: $19.3 B
Source of wealth: Microsoft
36. Theo Albrecht Jr & family
Net Worth: $19.3 B
Source of wealth: Aldi, Trader Joe’s
38. Leonardo Del Vecchio
Net Worth: $19.2 B
Source of wealth: eyeglasses
39. Len Blavatnik
Net Worth: $18.7 B
Source of wealth: diversified
40. Mukesh Ambani
Net Worth: $18.6 B
Source of wealth: petrochemicals, oil & gas
40. Alisher Usmanov
Net Worth: $18.6 B
Source of wealth: steel, telecom, investments
42. Michael Otto & family
Net Worth: $18.4 B
Source of wealth: retail, real estate
42. Masayoshi Son
Net Worth: $18.4 B
Source of wealth: internet, telecom
42. Phil Knight
Net Worth: $18.4 B
Source of wealth: Nike
45. Tadashi Yanai & family
Net Worth: $17.9 B
Source of wealth: retail
46. Gina Rinehart
Net Worth: $17.7 B
Source of wealth: mining
47. Mikhail Fridman
Net Worth: $17.6 B
Source of wealth: oil, banking, telecom
48. Michael Dell
Net Worth: $17.5 B
Source of wealth: Dell
49. Susanne Klatten
Net Worth: $17.4 B
Source of wealth: BMW, pharmaceuticals
50. Abigail Johnson
Net Worth: $17.3 B
Source of wealth: money management
51. Viktor Vekselberg
Net Worth: $17.2 B
Source of wealth: metals, energy
52. Lakshmi Mittal
Net Worth: $16.7 B
Source of wealth: steel
53. Vladimir Lisin
Net Worth: $16.6 B
Source of wealth: steel, transport
54. Cheng Yu-tung
Net Worth: $16.2 B
Source of wealth: diversified
55. Joseph Safra
Net Worth: $16 B
Source of wealth: banking
56. Paul Allen
Net Worth: $15.9 B
Source of wealth: Microsoft, investments
57. Leonid Mikhelson
Net Worth: $15.6 B
Source of wealth: gas, chemicals
58. Iris Fontbona & family
Net Worth: $15.5 B
Source of wealth: mining
58. Anne Cox Chambers
Net Worth: $15.5 B
Source of wealth: media
58. Francois Pinault & family
Net Worth: $15.5 B
Source of wealth: retail
61. Gennady Timchenko
Net Worth: $15.3 B
Source of wealth: oil & gas
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