Move over, Elon Musk: who’s the richest billionaire in 2023? Bernard Arnault takes first place with LVMH, with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Mukesh Ambani among the top 10 too
Musk had previously held the top global position for over a year until his net worth dropped due to Tesla shares going down as a result of his pricey US$44 billion Twitter buy-out deal.
While it’s important to remember that wealth can fluctuate at any given moment, Forbes’ recently released “Richest People in the World” ranking gives a strong indication on the who’s who for this year’s billionaires. The publication noted 2,640 10-figure fortunes, down from 2,668 last year. The United States still has the most billionaires with 735 individuals, followed by China (including Hong Kong and Macau) coming in second with 562 billionaires.
So let’s see who made the cut in 2023, according to Forbes’ calculations.
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10. Steve Ballmer – US$81 billion
Since retiring as CEO of Microsoft, Ballmer bought the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers for US$2 billion. The 67-year-old still holds shares in Redmond, which makes the Windows operating system, Surface tablet computers and Xbox game consoles, states Bloomberg.
9. Mukesh Ambani – US$83 billion
8. Carlos Slim Helú – US$93 billion
Carlos Slim Helú and his family run América Móvil – Latin America’s biggest mobile telecoms company. The 83-year-old also holds stakes in Mexican construction, property and mining, and previously had a 17 per cent cut of The New York Times.
7. Michael Bloomberg – US$94 billion
Michael Bloomberg is the CEO and co-founder of financial and media company Bloomberg, which has estimated revenues of over US$12 billion. He still owns 88 per cent of the business.
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6. Bill Gates – US$104 billion
5. Warren Buffett – US$106 billion
Nicknamed the “Oracle of Omaha”, Warren Buffett has cemented his status as one of the smartest investors of all time. The son of a US congressman currently runs Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate that owns businesses from insurer Geico to restaurant chain Dairy Queen. Now 92, Buffett has pledged to give away 99 per cent of his wealth, reported The Economic Times.
4. Larry Ellison – US$107 billion
Despite retiring from his role as Oracle’s CEO, Larry Ellison still makes bank as he owns around 35 per cent of the software giant, per Forbes. The 78-year-old continues to make big investments, including the US$28 billion acquisition of electronic health records company Cerner and his 15 million shares in Tesla.
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3. Jeff Bezos – US$114 billion
This billionaire boasts an estimated net worth of US$114 billion, mainly thanks to Amazon. The 59-year-old owns The Washington Post and aerospace company Blue Origin. The Guardian reported that he saw a massive increase in wealth during the Covid-19 pandemic.
2. Elon Musk – US$180 billion
His controversial buy-out of Twitter and subsequent slide of Tesla shares led to his Guinness World Record of losing the most wealth ever, per Fortune. That’s a US$182 billion drop. Yep.
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1. Bernard Arnault – US$211 billion
- Elon Musk, who runs Tesla, SpaceX and recently announced AI ‘TruthGPT’, was replaced by LVMH’s Bernard Arnault as world’s richest man when his buy-out of Twitter led to a drop in Tesla stock
- Mukesh Ambani is also Asia’s richest man thanks to Reliance Industries, while Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, media mogul Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft’s Bill Gates are also doing very well for themselves