Forbes has just released its 32nd annual ranking of the world’s billionaires which has a record 2,208 billionaires with a cumulative wealth of $9.1 trillion, up from $7.7 trillion last year.
Bill Gates, who has been the richest person in the world for 18 of the past 24 years, drops to No. 2 behind Centi-billionaire Jeff Bezos who has a fortune of $112 billion, up $39.2 billion from 2017, the biggest one-year gain ever. Gates has a fortune of $90 billion, up from $86 billion last year.
Warren Buffett occupies the third spot with $84 billion. France’s Bernard Arnault, with a fortune of $72 billion jumped 7 steps to number four. Thanks to his $30.5 billion gain in the past year, Arnault is the richest person in Europe for the first time since 2012.
Rounding up the top 5 is Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, worth $71 billion. Spanish clothing retailer Amancio Ortega (best known for the Zara fashion chain) in at No. 6, drops out of the top 5 for the first time since 2011. Ortega’s net worth is $70 billion, a $1.3 billion decrease from 2017.
Mexican Carlos Slim Helu and family is 7th with $67.1 billion. in 8th position is Charles Koch with $60 billion so also is his brother David Koch. In 10th position is Larry Ellison with $58.5 billion. Michael Bloomberg is 11th followed by Google duo of Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 12th and 13th respectively.
By country, the U.S. leads with the greatest number of billionaires, with 585, followed by Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) with 476, Germany with 123, India with 119 and Russia with 102. California alone has 144 billionaires, more than any country besides the U.S. and China.
Hungary and Zimbabwe were represented on the list for the first time.Papa John’s pizza founder John Schnatter, Christoffel Wiese of South Africa, Indian jeweller Nirav Modi, and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud are among the 121 people dropped out of the rankings.
Robert Smith is the richest African-American with $4.4 billion. Alice Walton reclaims the crown as the richest woman in the world, as her fortune leapt from $33.8 billion to $46 billion over the past year. Walton takes the title of richest woman from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, who died in September 2017 at the age of 94. The only child of Bettencourt, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, is the runner-up with a net worth of $42.2 billion.
Susanne Klatten is in third with $25 billion fortune primarily thanks to her inherited stake in automaker BMW. In fact, of the top 10 wealthiest women, eight inherited all their riches while two — Australia’s Gina Rinehart, who sources her fortune from iron ore, and U.S.’s Abigail Johnson, who heads Fidelity Investments — received a family business but played a hand in substantially growing it.
President Donald Trump fall from 544 to 766 after his wealth dwindled by $400 million to $3.1 billion
Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote is still the richest man in Africa with $12.2 billion.
Source: Forbes
