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.
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.
Also Read: Top 10 richest people in Asia in 2024
Disclaimer: Currency values mentioned in this article are accurate as of 09.08.2024 and are subject to fluctuation.
Top 10 richest people in the world
| Name & Rank | Net Worth (in $ Billions) | Source of Wealth | Country |
| #1 Elon Musk | $222.0 | Tesla, SpaceX | United States |
| #2 Jeff Bezos | $185.1 | Amazon | United States |
| #3 Mark Zuckerberg | $178.6 | United States | |
| #4 Bernard Arnault & family | $177.8 | LVMH | France |
| #5 Larry Ellison | $159.8 | Oracle | United States |
| #6 Warren Buffett | $136.1 | Berkshire Hathaway | United States |
| #7 Larry Page | $135.1 | United States | |
| #8 Bill Gates | $129.4 | Microsoft | United States |
| #9 Sergey Brin | $129.4 | United States | |
| #10 Steve Ballmer | $120.2 | Microsoft | United States |
Get to know the top 10 richest people in the world
1. Elon Musk
- Age: 53
- Residence: Boca Chica, Texas
- Citizenship: US
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.
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.
Also Read: Top 10 Indians with highest followers on Instagram in 2024
3. Mark Zuckerberg
- Age: 40
- Residence: Palo Alto, California
- Citizenship: US
At the age of 19, Mark Zuckerberg co-founded and serves as CEO of Meta Platforms, which launched Facebook, the company’s main social media platform, in 2004. He was a Harvard University student studying psychology and computer science. Facebook was designed to allow students’ identities and photographs to be matched on campus. Facebook opened its doors to anyone with a working email account who was at least 13 years old in 2006.
After taking the business public in May 2012, Zuckerberg was listed as the 10th most powerful person in the world by Forbes in December 2016. At the moment, Zuckerberg holds roughly 13% of the business’s equity.
The 39-year-old IT enthusiast has three daughters from his marriage to Priscilla Chan. He is investing $3 billion with his spouse in an
4. Bernard Arnault & Family
- Age: 75
- Residence: Paris
- Citizenship: France
The CEO and chairman of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), the largest luxury goods company in the world with almost 70 well-known fashion and cosmetics brands, is Bernard Arnault, the second richest person in the world. Among the well-known brands in its collection are Sephora, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Moet & Chandon. Jeweler Tiffany & Co. was acquired by LVMH in January 2021 for an astounding $15.8 billion.
The five children of Arnault are involved in different areas of the vast LVMH company. He named his daughter Delphine as the head of Dior, the second-biggest brand in the group, in January 2023.
5. Larry Ellison
- Age: 79
- Residence: Manalapan, Florida
- Citizenship: US
In 1977, Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle, a software company, and served as its CEO until 2014. He currently serves as the company’s chief technology officer and executive chairman. When Ellison paid $300 million for the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012, the news was publicized. Additionally, Ellison made investments at Quark Biotechnology Inc., Astex Pharmaceuticals, NetSuite, and Salesforce.com.
6. Warren Buffett
- Age: 93
- Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
- Citizenship: US
Known to many as the “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investors in history. He is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, an investing conglomerate that owns a wide range of businesses, including the food chain Dairy Queen, the insurance provider Geico, the battery producer Duracell, Apple, and Nu Holdings.
The Giving Pledge program was started in 2010 by Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Melinda French Gates. It encourages billionaires to give up at least half of their money to philanthropic causes. Buffett has declared that he will contribute 99 percent of his money, demonstrating his unwavering dedication to philanthropy.
7. Larry Page
- Age: 51
- Residence: Palo Alto, California
- Citizenship: US
In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, a fellow PhD candidate at Stanford, co-founded Google. Page was the CEO from 2011 until 2015. He had previously served in that capacity until 2001.
He is still a big shareholder in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and continues to have considerable influence over the business. A founding investor in Planetary Resources, a business that intends to mine resources from asteroids and other planetary bodies, Page also had a significant impact.
8. Bill Gates
- Age: 68
- Residence: Medina, Washington
- Citizenship: US
Forbes was the first to identify Gates as a billionaire in 1987. With brief breaks in 2008 and 2010–2013, he held the title of richest person in the world from 1995 until 2017. Melinda French Gates received at least $6 billion in stocks as part of the settlement when she and Bill Gates divorced in 2021. Following 25 years as Microsoft’s CEO, Gates focused on humanitarian endeavors. Since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation started operating in India in 2003, an estimated 6,00,000 new infections have been avoided through its Avahan campaign for HIV prevention.
9. Sergey Brin
- Age: 50
- Residence: Los Altos, California
- Citizenship: US
In 1998, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, his Stanford PhD colleague, were instrumental in founding the Google search engine. Russian-born Brin was Google’s first technology president before moving on to special project management, where he oversaw the creation of Google Glass, a wearable with voice-activated “smart glasses.” At the moment, Brin has a sizable controlling interest in Alphabet, the corporation that owns Google, in addition to serving as a board member.
10. Steve Ballmer
- Age: 68
- Residence: Hunts Point, Washington
- Citizenship: US
Bill Gates’s Harvard University classmate Steve Ballmer led Microsoft as CEO from 2000 until 2014. After leaving Stanford University’s MBA program, he joined Microsoft as its thirty-first employee in 1980, marking the beginning of his career with the corporation.
Ballmer made news the year he retired from Microsoft when he spent an astounding $2 billion to acquire the Los Angeles Clippers basketball franchise, which at the time was a record-breaking amount for the most money ever paid for an NBA team.
Frequently asked questions
- How many billionaires will there be in the world in 2024?
According to Forbes, as of April 2, 2024, there were 2,781,141 more billionaires than the previous year, with a combined net worth of $14.2 trillion.
- Is it feasible for the wealth of billionaires to change?
Yes, the wealthiest people’s net worth can change according to market valuation because a sizable amount of their money is invested in publicly traded stocks.
- Which country has the greatest concentration of billionaires?
The US leads the world with a record 813 billionaires, followed by China (473 billionaires) and India (200 billionaires) in third place on Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2024.