Top 10 Richest People in The World in 2024
The balance of power and money is still shifting in 2024; some well-known figures hold their positions while new billionaires take their place. In addition to being affluent individuals, the wealthiest people in the world are powerful characters who have a significant impact on economies, society, and industries.
A notable group of people have made incredible fortunes in a time and society driven by ambition and the desire to start their own business. These outstanding leaders have reached the pinnacles of achievement and joined the elite group of the world’s wealthiest people. They are innovative and visionary.
And that is no easy task.
After all, the combined wealth of the world’s ten richest individuals exceeds the GDP of many countries. These days, the retail, banking, and technology sectors account for the majority of their wealth. And a major concern for people everywhere is the widening wealth gap between them and the less fortunate.
To avoid selling shares, these billionaires can still borrow against their fortune, which postpones—or eliminates—their successors’ taxes on unrealized capital gains. Some of the billionaires on this list have paid no income tax in recent years due to their ability to utilize a wide range of tax deductions to reduce their reported income.
The top 10 richest persons in the world are revealed in this article, together with information about their outstanding achievements, prowess as entrepreneurs, and significant impact on the world economy. Forbes is the source of this ranked list.
1. Elon Musk
Age: 53
Net Worth: $218.7 Billion
Source of Wealth: Tesla, SpaceX
Country: United States
The richest guy on the planet is Elon Musk. Born in South Africa, he first studied at a Canadian university before moving to the University of Pennsylvania to complete his bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics.
Musk postponed attending Stanford University’s graduate physics program for two days in order to introduce Zip2, one of the first internet navigation systems. A part of the startup’s profits were reinvested by him to launch X.com, an online payment system that was eventually acquired by eBay (EBAY) and rebranded as PayPal Holdings (PYPL).
Musk started contributing significantly to Tesla Motors (now Tesla) in 2004, which helped him advance to the CEO role at the electric vehicle manufacturer. Apart from its electric car range, Tesla also manufactures energy storage devices, car accessories, and solar power systems, which it acquired in 2016 from SolarCity. In addition, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a company that develops space launch rockets, has Musk as its CEO and principal engineer.
Tesla became the largest corporation to be admitted to the S&P 500 in December 2020. Elon Musk then became the richest person in the world in January 2021; however, this title has changed as Tesla’s valuation has fluctuated.
Musk launched a campaign to take X private in April 2022, and it resulted in a $44 billion buyout. Musk intended to use $21 billion of his personal funds to finance the transaction. Prior to the announcement of the takeover, Musk sold 9.6 million Tesla shares, or about $8.5 billion in value.
Musk made the decision to withdraw from the takeover in July 2022. To compel Musk to complete the takeover, the business sued him. Musk first filed a countersuit against the business, but he then changed his mind and said he would be prepared to purchase it. With the deal’s official closing in October 2022, he now owns 79% of the business.
2. Jeff Bezos
Age: 60
Net Worth: $183.3 Billion
Source of Wealth: Amazon
Country: United States
Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com in a Seattle garage in 1994, not long after leaving the massive hedge company D.E. Shaw. When he first proposed the concept of an online bookshop to David E. Shaw, his former supervisor, Shaw turned him down.
Despite having begun as a book seller, 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 surprise forays into new markets, like its 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods and entry into the pharmacy industry, demonstrate the company’s consistent pattern of diversification.
Before giving 4% of Amazon to his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott as part of their divorce settlement, Bezos owned as much as 16% of the company in 2019. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic and increased demand for online shopping in 2020, Amazon’s share price increased by 76%. Bezos became the executive chair of the massive e-commerce company on July 5, 2021, after leaving his position as CEO.
After taking Amazon public for the first time in 1997, Bezos went on to become the first person to have a net worth of more than $100 billion since Bill Gates in 1999. The aerospace company Blue Origin, The Washington Post (which he acquired in 2013), and the 10,000-year clock, commonly referred to as the Long Now, are among Bezos’s other endeavors.
The first crewed flight of Blue Origin was successfully conducted on July 20, 2021, by Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen. The aircraft reached a height of over 66 miles before making a safe landing. In the same month, Bezos’s wealth reached its pinnacle at $213 billion.
He spent $500 million purchasing the superyacht Koru in 2023.
3. Bernard Arnault & family
Age: 75
Net Worth: $175.2 Billion
Source of Wealth: LVMH
Country: France
The head of the world’s largest luxury goods company, LVMH, is French national Bernard Arnault. Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora are among the LVMH brands.
Arnault’s sizable holding in LVMH accounts for the majority of his wealth. The investment firm that oversees his wealth, Financiere Agache, is linked to the organizations that hold his shares in LVMH.
Originally trained as an engineer, Arnault first shown his economic aptitude while employed by his father at Ferret-Savinel, the construction company he eventually took over as CEO in 1971. In 1979, he changed Ferret-Savinel into Ferinel Inc., a real estate corporation.
After taking over and restructuring luxury goods manufacturer Financiere Agache in 1984, Arnault continued to serve as Ferinel’s chair for an additional six years before selling all of the company’s holdings save Christian Dior and Le Bon Marche. In 1987, he received an invitation to invest in LVMH, and two years later, he rose to the position of CEO, chair of the board, and major shareholder.
4. Mark Zuckerberg
Age: 40
Net Worth: $174.1 Billion
Source of Wealth: Facebook
Country: United States
While attending Harvard University in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook (now Meta) with fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. When Facebook started to be utilized at other colleges, Zuckerberg left Harvard to concentrate solely on his expanding company. Zuckerberg is currently Meta’s chair and CEO.
The largest social networking site in the world is called Facebook. Since the website is free to use, advertising accounts for the majority of the business’s income.
In addition, Meta is home to a number of other businesses, such as the photo-sharing app Instagram, which it purchased in 2012; the cross-platform mobile messaging service WhatsApp; the manufacturer of virtual reality headsets Oculus, which it also purchased in 2014; and Workplace, its platform for business connection.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was established in 2015 by Zuckerberg and his spouse, Priscilla Chan, who also serves as co-CEO. Their nonprofit works to improve society by leveraging technology to address issues like increasing access to the quality of education, changing the criminal justice and immigration systems in the United States, lowering the cost of housing, and finally curing all diseases.
5. Larry Ellison
Age: 79
Net Worth: $158.6 Billion
Source of Wealth: Oracle
Country: United States
In New York City, Larry Ellison was born to a 19-year-old single mother. Ellison left the University of Chicago in 1966 and went to work as a computer programmer in California. He met future business partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner when he started working at the electronics company Ampex in 1973. After working for Precision Instruments for three years, Ellison became vice president of research and development.
Along with Oates and Miner, Ellison established Software Development Laboratories in 1977. The first commercial relational database program to use Structured Query Language, Oracle, was launched by the business two years later. Due to the success of the database program, SDL renamed itself Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. Ellison left Oracle as CEO in 2014, ending a 37-year tenure. He became a board member of Tesla in December 2018 and left in June 2022.
The second-biggest software firm in the world, Oracle offers a broad range of cloud computing applications, Linux and Java code, and the Oracle Exadata processing platform. Over the years, Oracle has acquired a number of major businesses, including Sun Microsystems and Cerner.
Ellison has made medical research the centerpiece of his charitable giving. He donated $200 million for a new cancer research facility at the University of Southern California in 2016. The Oracle Team USA sailing team, which took home the America’s Cup racing series in 2010 and 2013, was supported by Ellison.
6. Warren Buffett
Age: 93
Net Worth: $134.9 Billion
Source of Wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
Country: United States
At the age of 14, Warren Buffett, the most well-known value investor alive, filed his first tax return in 1944, reporting revenues from his childhood paper route. In 1962, he began purchasing shares in the textile company Berkshire Hathaway, and by 1965, he had assumed the bulk of the company’s ownership. In 1967, Buffett increased the company’s assets by adding insurance and other ventures.
Often referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha,” Buffett is a buy-and-hold investor who amassed wealth by purchasing undervalued businesses. Berkshire Hathaway has made investments in sizable, well-known businesses more recently. Along with consumer goods, its portfolio of fully owned companies includes interests in railroads, energy distribution, insurance, and insurance.
Buffett is a well-known opponent of Bitcoin. Buffett has made charitable giving a major part of his fortune. He donated $41 billion between 2006 and 2020, primarily to his children’s organizations and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Alongside Bill Gates, Buffett established the Giving Pledge in 2010.
Although Buffett is still the CEO at the age of ninety-three, he indicated in 2021 that Gregory Abel, who oversees Berkshire’s non-insurance operations, will most likely take over as CEO.
7. Larry Page
Age: 51
Net Worth: $134.1 Billion
Source of Wealth: Google
Country: United States
Similar to a few software millionaires on this list, Larry Page started his journey to stardom and wealth in a dorm room during his time in college. In 1995, Page and buddy Sergey Brin of Stanford University came up with the idea to enhance Internet data extraction. The two created a brand-new search engine technology that they named Backrub because of its capacity to evaluate page links.
After that, Page and Brin founded Google in 1998, with Page leading the business as CEO twice—from 2011 to 2019 and again until 2001.
With over 92% of all search queries coming from Google, it is the most popular search engine worldwide. The business bought YouTube, the leading website 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 division of holding company Alphabet.
Page was one of the first investors in Planetary Resources, a space exploration and mining firm focused on asteroids. Amidst financial difficulties, the 2009-founded business was purchased by blockchain corporation ConsenSys in 2018. In addition, he has invested in Kitty Hawk and Opener, two firms that make flying cars, despite the fact that Kitty Hawk discontinued operations in 2022.
8. Bill Gates
Age: 68
Net Worth: $129.0 Billion
Source of Wealth: Microsoft
Country: United States
In 1975, Bill Gates joined his childhood friend Paul Allen at Harvard University to concentrate on creating new software for the first microcomputers. After the success of this effort, Gates left Harvard in his junior year and co-founded Microsoft with Allen.
Microsoft, the world’s biggest software corporation, also makes a range of personal computers, offers email services via its exchange server, and retails video game consoles and related accessories. It has made significant recent investments in cloud services.
In 2008, Gates moved from being the company’s CEO to the position of board chair. He became a board member of Berkshire Hathaway in 2004. He resigned on March 13, 2020, from both boards.
The majority of Bill Gates’s fortune is kept in a privately held investment company called Cascade Investment LLC, which is comprised of a range of stocks.
9. Sergey Brin
Age: 50
Net Worth: $128.5 Billion
Source of Wealth: Google
Country: United States
Born in Moscow, Russia, Sergey Brin moved to the United States in 1979 with his family when he was six years old. When Eric Schmidt took over as CEO of Google in 2001, Brin, who had co-founded the company with Larry Page in 1998, was named president of technology. Following the company’s founding in 2015, he maintained the same position at Alphabet, retiring in 2019 to make way for Sundar Pichai as CEO.
Google provides a range of online tools and services called Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and more. Google is the leading search engine on the internet. In addition, Google sells a range of electronics, such as the Stadia game platform, Nest smart home appliances, and Pixel smartphones, laptops, and tablets.
In collaboration with The Michael J. Fox Foundation, Brin has contributed millions of dollars to the study of Parkinson’s disease.
10. Steve Ballmer
Age: 68
Net Worth: $123.5 Billion
Source of Wealth: Microsoft
Country: United States
After Steve Ballmer was persuaded by Bill Gates to leave Stanford University’s MBA program, he joined Microsoft in 1980. He was Microsoft’s thirty-first worker. In 2000, Ballmer succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft. He served in that capacity until resigning in 2014. Ballmer oversaw Skype’s $8.5 billion acquisition by Microsoft in 2011.
Ballmer is the largest individual stakeholder of Microsoft, holding an estimated 4% of the software giant. Shortly after leaving his position as CEO of Microsoft in 2014, Ballmer paid $2 billion to acquire the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.
When Ballmer and Bill Gates were both students at Harvard, they shared a dorm and a floor. When Ballmer began pushing the tech company into products during his stint as CEO—such as the Surface tablet and the Windows mobile phone—their fraternal connection soured.
Conclusion
The year 2024 presents a list of billionaires that are not only the leaders of their sectors but also have a significant impact on the world economy, technology, luxury, and philanthropy. These people have changed the definition of wealth in the modern era, from Bernard Arnault’s control over the luxury industry to Elon Musk’s aspirations in space and sustainable energy. Their success is not solely based on money; it also reflects their ability to disrupt established markets and lead with vision.
Despite their incredible fortune, several of these billionaires have demonstrated a dedication to giving back by engaging in major charitable endeavors that tackle some of the most critical issues facing the globe. These influential people’s riches and clout will change along with the world, producing a lasting impact that penetrates beyond their commercial ventures and into society as a whole. The 2024 World’s Richest People list serves as a timely reminder of the revolutionary potential of entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategic vision.
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