The Forbes Billionaires Index is a ranking of the world’s richest people as March 27, 2023. Details about the calculations are provided in the net worth analysis on each billionaire’s profile page.

The individuals on this list belong to an even more exclusive club and wield still more power. Many are founders of technology giants, with much of their wealth still invested in the companies they started.

Source: Forbes

TOP 25 World’s Billionaires List 2023

There’s been a huge fluctuation in the net worth of these billionaires in the past year. But, you can find out more about that below.

№	NAME	WORTH	SOURCE
1	Bernard Arnault & family	$211B	LVMH
2	Elon Musk	$198B	Tesla, SpaceX
3	Jeff Bezos	$120B	Amazon
4	Larry Ellison	$112B	Oracle
5	Warren Buffett	$107B	Berkshire Hathaway
6	Bill Gates	$107B	Microsoft
7	Carlos Slim Helu & family	$91B	telecom
8	Mukesh Ambani	$86B	diversified
9	Steve Ballmer	$83B	Microsoft
10	Larry Page	$82B	Google
11	Francoise Bettencourt Meyers	$81B	L’Oréal
12	Sergey Brin	$79B	Google
13	Michael Bloomberg	$77B	Bloomberg
14	Amancio Ortega	$75B	Zara
15	Zhong Shanshan	$67B	beverages, pharma
16	Jim Walton	$62B	Walmart
17	Mark Zuckerberg	$62B	Facebook
18	Rob Walton	$61B	Walmart
19	Alice Walton	$60B	Walmart
20	Julia Koch & family	$59B	Koch Industries
21	Charles Koch	$59B	Koch Industries
22	David Thomson & family	$56B	media
23	Michael Dell	$52B	Dell Technologies
24	Zhang Yiming	$49B	TikTok
25	Phil Knight & family	$47B	Nike
26	Gautam Adani	$46B	infrastructure
27	Rodolphe Saadé & family	$41B	shipping
28	François Pinault & family	$40B	luxury goods
29	Li Ka-shing	$39B	diversified
30	Jacqueline Mars	$39B	candy, pet food
31	John Mars	$38B	candy, pet food
32	Ma Huateng	$38B	internet media
33	Klaus-Michael Kuehne	$37B	shipping
34	Giovanni Ferrero	$35B	Nutella, chocolates
35	Miriam Adelson & family	$35B	casinos
36	Robin Zeng	$34B	batteries
37	Gerard Wertheimer	$34B	Chanel
38	Alain Wertheimer	$34B	Chanel
39	Len Blavatnik	$34B	music, chemicals
40	Ken Griffin	$33B	hedge funds
41	Colin Zheng Huang	$33B	e-commerce
42	Tadashi Yanai & family	$31B	fashion retail
43	Jeff Yass	$30B	trading, investments
44	Gina Rinehart	$30B	mining
45	Lee Shau Kee	$30B	real estate
46	Stephen Schwarzman	$29B	investments
47	Jim Simons	$28B	hedge funds
48	William Lei Ding	$28B	online games
49	Susanne Klatten	$27B	BMW, pharma
50	Thomas Peterffy	$27B	brokerage

Source: Forbes

TOP 25 World’s Billionaires List 2023

All the statistics given in this article in regard to individuals’ net worth estimates were originally sourced from Forbes.

There’s been a huge fluctuation in the net worth of these billionaires in the past year. But, you can find out more about that below.

1. Bernard Arnault, LVMH — $211.1B

Age: 74
Residence: Paris, France
Source of Wealth: LVMH
LVMH Ownership Stake: 47%
Other Assets: Art collection with works of Picasso, Yves Klein, Henry Moore, yacht Symphony

Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault is a French business magnate, investor, and art collector. He is the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE, the world’s largest luxury goods company. Arnault has an estimated net worth of US$211 billion as 2023, according to Forbes, making him the richest person in the world. Ultimately, the company was formed by merging the two businesses. Louis Vuitton is a very successful luxury fashion brand, and Moet Hennessey is the merged champagne and cognac manufacturers.

2. Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX — $198.2 B

° Age: 51

Residence: Austin, Texas

Source of Wealth: Tesla, SpaceX

Tesla and SpaceX Ownership Stake: 25% of Tesla, 44% of SpaceX

Other Assets: 9.2% of Twitter, Neuralink, The Boring Company

Elon Musk FRS is a South-African-born, Canadian/American engineer, industrial designer, and tech entrepreneur. If you’re excited about the future of the world, you’ll probably have seen Musk everywhere. Musk founded PayPal and is also the founder of Tesla Inc, SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink. Two years ago, Musk first appeared on this list as the 24th richest person worldwide, and he’s now the 2nd.

3. Jeff Bezos, Amazon —

Age: 59
Residence: Seattle, Washington
Source of Wealth: Amazon
Amazon Ownership Stake: 10%
Other Assets: The Washington Post, Blue Origin, Bezos Expeditions, Altos Labs

Jeff Bezos founded e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle. He stepped down as CEO to become executive chairman in July 2021. He now owns a bit less than 10% of the company.

He and his wife MacKenzie divorced in 2019 after 25 years of marriage and he transferred a quarter of his then-16% Amazon stake to her.

Bezos has donated more than $400 million worth of stock to nonprofits in 2022, though it’s unclear which organizations received those shares. Bezos owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing rockets; he briefly flew to space in one in July 2021.

5. Larry Ellison, Oracle — $112.3B

Age: 79

Residence: Lanai, Hawaii

Source of Wealth: Oracle

Oracle Ownership Stake: 35%

Other Assets: 3 million shares of Tesla, $1 billion worth of real estate

Lawrence Joseph Ellison is an American business magnate and investor who is the co-founder, executive chairman, chief technology officer (CTO) and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the American computer technology company Oracle Corporation.

As of 13th January 2023, he was listed by Bloomberg Billionaires Index as the seventh-wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated fortune of $98.2 billion. Ellison is also known for his 98% ownership stake in Lanai, the sixth-largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago

5. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway — $107.3B

Age: 92
Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
Source of Wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 30.71%

Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of over $110 billion as of January 2023, making him the world’s fourth-wealthiest person.

Buffett has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970. He has been referred to as the “Oracle” or “Sage” of Omaha by global media. He is noted for his adherence to value investing, and his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.

6. Bill Gates, Microsoft — $107B

Age: 67

Residence: Medina, Washington

Source of Wealth: Microsoft

Microsoft Ownership Stake: 1%

Other Assets: investments in Canadian National Railway, AutoNation, approximately 242,000 acres of farmland in the U.S.

William Henry Gates III is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014.

He was a major entrepreneur of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. Gates founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen and has since become the largest PC software company worldwide. Gates has pursued many business and philanthropic endeavors. He is the founder and chairman of several companies, including BEN, Cascade Investment, bgC3, and TerraPower.

Gates led the company as chairman and CEO until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, succeeded by Steve Ballmer, but he remained chairman of the board of directors and became chief software architect. In June 2008, Gates transitioned to a part-time role at Microsoft and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the private charitable foundation he and his then-wife Melinda established in 2000. In March 2020, Gates left his board positions at Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway to focus on his philanthropic efforts on climate change, global health and development, and education.

7. Carlos Slim Helu, Grupo Carso — $90.7B

Carlos Slim Helu

Age: 83

Residence: Mexico City, Mexico

Source of Wealth: América Móvil

América Móvil Ownership Stake: 57%

Other Assets: 17% of The New York Times, 79% stake of Grupo Carso

Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by the Forbes business magazine. He derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso.

Slim’s corporate conglomerate spans numerous industries across the Mexican economy, of which includes education, health care, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, mass media, energy, hospitality, entertainment, high-technology, retail, sports and financial services. He accounts for 40% of the listings on the Mexican Stock Exchange, while his net worth is equivalent to about 6% of Mexico’s gross domestic product. As of 2016, he is the largest single shareholder of The New York Times Company.

8. Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries — $8 5.7B

Age: 66
Residence: Mumbai, India
Source of Wealth: Reliance Industries Limited
Reliance Industries Limited Ownership Stake: Ambani family holds around 49% of shares

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), a Fortune Global 500 company and India’s most valuable company by market value. According to Forbes and Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ambani’s net worth is estimated at US$93.8 billion as of 29 November 2022, making him the second richest person in Asia after Gautam Adani and the 8th richest in the world.

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 19 April 1957 in the British Crown colony of Aden (present-day Yemen) into a Gujarati Hindu family to Dhirubhai Ambani and Kokilaben Ambani. He has a younger brother Anil Ambani and two sisters, Nina Bhadrashyam Kothari and Dipti Dattaraj Salgaonkar.

The family’s financial status slightly improved when they moved to India but Ambani still lived in a communal society, used public transportation, and never received an allowance.

9. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft — $83.1

Age: 67
Residence: Hunts Point, Washington
Source of Wealth: Microsoft
Microsoft Ownership Stake: 4% (333 million shares)
Other Assets: Los Angeles Clippers, Redmond

Steven Anthony Ballmer is an American business magnate and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As of November 2022, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates his personal wealth at around $79.7 billion, making him the tenth-richest person on Earth.

Ballmer was hired by Bill Gates at Microsoft in 1980, and subsequently left the MBA program at Stanford University. He eventually became president in 1998, and replaced Gates as CEO on January 13, 2000. On February 4, 2014, Ballmer retired as CEO and was replaced by Satya Nadella; Ballmer remained on Microsoft’s Board of Directors until August 19, 2014, when he left to prepare for teaching a new class.

His tenure and legacy as Microsoft CEO has received mixed reception, with the company tripling sales and doubling profits, but losing its market dominance and missing out on 21st-century technology trends such as the ascendance of smartphones in the form of iPhone and Android.

10. Larry Page, Google — $82B

Age: 50

Residence: Palo Alto, California

Source of Wealth: Alphabet, Google

Alphabet Ownership Stake: with a co-founder Sergey Brin, Page owns 51% of voting shares and less than 12% of total shares

Lawrence Edward Page is an American business magnate, computer scientist and internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin.

Page was the CEO (chief executive officer) of Google from 1997 until August 2001 (stepping down in favor of Eric Schmidt) then from April 2011 until July 2015 when he moved to become CEO of Alphabet Inc. (created to deliver “major advancements” as Google’s parent company), a post he held until December 4, 2019. He remains an Alphabet board member, employee, and controlling shareholder.

Creating Google helped Page build a significant amount of wealth. He has also invested in flying car startups Kitty Hawk and Opener. Page is the co-creator and namesake of PageRank, a search ranking algorithm for Google. He received the Marconi Prize in 2004 with co-writer Brin.

11. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, L’Oréal — $81B

Age: 69

Residence: Paris, France

Source of Wealth: L’Oréal

L’Oréal Ownership Stake: 33%

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is a French businesswoman, philanthropist, writer, pianist and billionaire heiress, the richest woman in the world. She is the only child, heiress of Liliane Bettencourt and granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller. Her mother died in September 2017, after which her fortune tripled with her investments through her family holding company, Tethys Invest, and the high valuation of L’Oréal shares on the stock exchange.

In 2008, she sued François-Marie Banier for taking money from her mother, and she started proceedings to have her mother declared mentally incompetent. In December 2010, Bettencourt Meyers announced that she had settled

out of court with both her mother and Banier.

Her mother died in September 2017 when her net worth was about $39.5 billion, which makes Bettencourt Meyers among the top 20 richest people in the world.

12. Sergey Brin, Google — $78.6B

Age: 49

Residence: Los Altos, California

Source of Wealth: Alphabet, Google

Alphabet Ownership Stake: with a co-founder Larry Page, Brin owns 51% of voting shares and less than 12% of total shares

Other Assets: shares in Tesla and 23andMe

Sergey Brin is an American business magnate, computer scientist, and internet entrepreneur, who co-founded Google with Larry Page. Brin was the president of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., until stepping down from the role on December 3, 2019. He and Page remain at Alphabet as co-founders, controlling shareholders, board members, and employees.

Brin immigrated to the United States with his family from the Soviet Union at the age of six. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland, College Park, following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps by studying mathematics, as well as computer science. After graduation, he enrolled in Stanford University to acquire a PhD in computer science. There he met Page, with whom he built a web search engine. The program became popular at Stanford, and they suspended their PhD studies to start up Google in Susan Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park.

13. Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg LP — $76.8B

Age: 81
Residence: New York, New York
Source of Wealth: Bloomberg LP
Bloomberg LP Ownership Stake: 88% ($10 Billion)

Michael Rubens Bloomberg is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President of the United States. He has served as chair of the Defense Innovation Board, an independent advisory board that provides recommendations on artificial intelligence, software, data and digital modernization to the United States Department of Defense, since June 2022.

Bloomberg grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, and graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School. He began his career at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers before forming his own company in 1981. That company, Bloomberg L.P., is a financial information, software and media firm that is known for its Bloomberg Terminal. Bloomberg spent the next twenty years as its chairman and CEO.

14. Amancio Ortega, Zara — $75.4B

Age: 87

Residence: La Coruna, Spain

Source of Wealth: Inditex

Inditex Ownership Stake: 60%

Other Assets: real estates in Madrid, London, Chicago, and New York, among others

Amancio Ortega Gaona is a Spanish billionaire businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara and Bershka clothing and accessories shops. He is the head of the Ortega family and the second wealthiest retailer in the world.

In 2011, Ortega announced his imminent retirement from Inditex, parent company of the Zara chain, stating that he would ask Inditex vice-president and CEO Pablo Isla to take his place as head. In 2012 Ortega donated about €20 million to Caritas Internationalis, a Roman Catholic relief organisation. He purchased the Torre Picasso skyscraper in Madrid. He also purchased the Epic Residences and Hotel in Miami, Florida.

In July 2017, for its second edition of the AEF awards, the Spanish Association of Foundations awarded Amancio Ortega in the 2017 Philanthropic Initiative category. He also donated 300 million euros to fight cancer across Spain, which were invested in the purchase of 440 machines to detect the disease. Recently, news indicate that he has bought the Troy Block complex, known to the public as one of the buildings where Amazon Seattle has its headquarters.

It was revealed in July 2020 that Ortega’s property holdings, through his investment company Pontegadea, were worth $17.2 billion. Ortega is the executive chairman of Pontegadea, and real estate assets in his portfolio include Manhattan’s Haughwout Building and Southeast Financial Center. In 2019, the company completed a $72.5 million deal for a downtown Chicago hotel, which followed purchases of a building in Washington’s central business district and two Seattle office buildings.

15. Zhong Shanshan, Nongfu Spring — $66.6B

Age: 67

Residence: Hangzhou, China

Source of Wealth: Nongfu Spring

Nongfu Spring Ownership Stake: 84%

Other Assets: Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy

Zhong Shanshan is a Chinese billionaire businessman. He is the founder and chairperson of the Nongfu Spring beverage company, and the majority owner of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise. As of 2022, he is the wealthiest Chinese citizen with a net worth of $62.3 billion. His source of wealth is mainly beverages and pharmaceuticals.

In 1996, Zhong founded a bottled water company in Hangzhou, which later became Nongfu Spring. In 1999, Nongfu Spring stopped removing natural minerals from its water. Under Zhong’s leadership, the company grew to be the largest bottled water maker in China, as well as one of the largest beverage companies in the world. The company beat out behemoths in the industry such as Coca-Cola, Watsons, and Pepsi to become the best-selling package beverage brand. Zhong took advantage of new technologies such as cloud computing and big data in order to gain a key advantage in understanding Nongfu Spring’s customer base.

Nongfu Spring’s initial public offering in September 2020 massively increased Zhong’s wealth. It expanded his fortune from 18.9 billion dollars to over 50 billion dollars. As of January 2021, he owned 84.4% of Nongfu Spring and was the company’s chairperson.

16. Jim Walton, Walmart — $62.4B

Age: 75

Residence: Bentonville, Arkansas

Source of Wealth: Walmart

Walmart Ownership Stake: Walton family owns 50% of the Walmart shares

Other Assets: CEO of Waltons’ Arvest Bank Group, Inc.

James Carr Walton is an American businessman, currently the heir to the fortune of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. He is the youngest son of Sam Walton.

In 1972, he joined Walmart and was involved in its real-estate dealings. After serving for four years, he moved to the family owned Walton Enterprises as president in 1975. On September 28, 2005, Walton replaced his deceased brother, John, on the Wal-Mart Board of Directors. He is currently on the Strategic Planning and Finance committees.

He was CEO of his family owned Arvest Bank, until becoming Chairman of Arvest Bank, and Chairman of newspaper firm Community Publishers Inc. owned by Jim Walton himself (but founded by his father Sam Walton after acquiring the local newspaper the Benton County Daily Record, both operating in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He has pledged about $2 billion to the Walton Family Foundation along with his siblings from 2008 to 2013. In September 2016, Walton was reported to own over 152 million of Walmart shares worth over $11 billion (US).

17. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook — $62.1B

Age: 39
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Source of Wealth: Facebook / Meta
Facebook Ownership Stake: 12%

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), of which he is the chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling shareholder.

Zuckerberg attended Harvard University, where he launched Facebook in February 2004 with his roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Originally launched to select college campuses, the site expanded rapidly and eventually beyond colleges, reaching one billion users by 2012. Zuckerberg took the company public in May 2012 with majority shares. In 2007, at age 23, he became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. He has used his funds to organize multiple philanthropic endeavors, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Zuckerberg’s prominence in the technology industry has prompted political and legal attention. The founding of Facebook involved Zuckerberg in multiple lawsuits regarding the creation and ownership of the website. In 2013, he co-founded the pro-immigration lobbying group FWD.us. On April 10 and 11, 2018, Zuckerberg testified before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation regarding the usage of personal data by Facebook in relation to the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data breach.

18. Rob Walton, Walmart — $61.1B

Age: 78
Residence: Bentonville, Arkansas
Source of Wealth: Walmart
Walmart Ownership Stake: Walton family owns 50% of the Walmart shares
Other Assets: Denver Broncos

Samuel Robson “Rob” Walton is an American billionaire heir to the fortune of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. He is the eldest son of Helen Walton and Sam Walton, and was chairman of Walmart from 1992 to 2015. He is also the principal owner of the National Football League (NFL)’s Denver Broncos.

In 1978, he left Tulsa to join Walmart as a senior vice president, and in 1982, he was appointed vice chairman. He was named chairman of the board of directors on April 7, 1992, two days after his father’s death. Along with his siblings, he has pledged about $2 billion to the Walton Family Foundation from 2008 to 2013.

On June 7, 2022, an ownership group led by Walton entered into an agreement to purchase the Denver Broncos from the estate of Pat Bowlen for $4.65 billion, which set the record for the most expensive sale of a sports franchise in history, subject to approval from the NFL’s finance committee and a 3/4 majority of the full NFL ownership group. Walton delegated most day-to-day authority to his son-in-law, Walmart chairman Greg Penner, who took over as CEO of the franchise and the public face of the ownership group.

19. Alice Walton, Walmart — $60.2B

Age: 74
Residence: Fort Worth, Texas
Source of Wealth: Walmart
Walmart Ownership Stake: Walton family owns 50% of the Walmart shares
Other Assets: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Alice Louise Walton is an American heiress to the fortune of Walmart. In September 2016, she owned over US$11 billion in Walmart shares.

Walton was the first person to chair the Northwest Arkansas Council and played a major role in the development of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, which opened in 1998. At the time, the business and civic leaders of Northwest Arkansas Council found a need for the $109 million regional airport in their corner of the state. Walton provided $15 million in initial funding for construction. Her company, Llama Company, underwrote a $79.5 million bond. The Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Authority recognized Walton’s contributions to the creation of the airport and named the terminal the Alice L. Walton Terminal Building.

In the late 1990s, Llama Co. closed, and in 1998, Walton moved to a ranch in Millsap, Texas, named Walton’s Rocking W Ranch. An avid horse-lover, she was known for having an eye for determining which 2-month-olds would grow to be champion cutters. Walton listed the farm for sale in 2015 and moved to Fort Worth, Texas, citing the need to focus on the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Bentonville, Arkansas, art museum she founded that opened in 2011.

20. Julia Koch, Koch Industries — $59.3B

BEINSURE Money

Most Richest People in the World 2023.

Billionaires play an outsized role in shaping the global economy, politics, and philanthropy. The number of billionaires in the world at ~2,700 in 2023. The Forbes Billionaires Index is a ranking of the world’s richest people as March 27, 2023. Details about the calculations are provided in the net worth analysis on each billionaire’s profile page.

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Most people have a pretty good idea, even if they’re not an entrepreneur or interested in the subject at all, for that matter.
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These billionaires can, however, still borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stock, deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains in the process. Multi-billionaires can also take advantage of a panoply of tax deductions to offset reported income, leaving some on this list paying no income tax in recent years.