1. Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston Bezos (born January 12, 1964) is an American industrialist, media proprietor, and investor. He is best known as the founder, CEO, and president of the online retail company Amazon. The first centi-billionaire on the Forbes wealth index, Bezos has been the world’s richest person since 2017 and was named the “richest man in modern history” after his net worth increased to $150 billion in July 2018. In September 2018, Forbes described him as “far richer than anyone else on the planet” as he added $1.8 billion to his net worth when Amazon became the second company in history to reach a market cap of $1 trillion.
Born in Albuquerque and raised in Houston and later Miami, Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science. He worked on Wall Street in a variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. He founded Amazon in late 1994 on a cross-country road trip from New York City to Seattle. The company began as an online bookstore and has since expanded to a wide variety of other e-commerce products and services, including video and audio streaming, cloud computing, and AI. It is currently the world’s largest online sales company, the largest Internet company by revenue, and the world’s largest provider of virtual assistants and cloud infrastructure services through its Amazon Web Services branch.
CEO of Amazon
2010 net worth: $12.3 billion
2019 net worth: $111.5 billion
How much richer: $99.2 billion
Net Worth: $117.5 Billion
Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon, one of the biggest and most popular companies on the web. Amazon started as a simple online bookstore in Jeff’s bedroom, and the initial sales were slow.
In 2020, Jeff Bezos has become the richest man in the world, after adding a whopping $40 billion to his net worth last couple of years! Amazon is making major moves, after recently acquiring Wholefoods, launching drone shipping and a bunch of other strong ideas.
Bezos recently divorced his wife MacKenzie; after which she received 4% of Amazon, which is worth billions, and yet it still hasn’t knocked him off the top spot.
Jeff Bezos is the first man ever to reach the $100 billion mark, which is just insane! Keep reading below to view a complete summary of the richest people in 2020.
2. Bernard Arnault
Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault (born 5 March 1949) is a French billionaire business magnate, and art collector. Arnault is the chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE, LVMH, the world’s largest luxury-goods company. In April 2018, he became the richest person in fashion, topping Zara’s Amancio Ortega. He was also briefly the richest man in the world in December of 2019.
Chairman and chief executive of French company LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate
2010 net worth: $27.5 billion
2019 net worth: $109.9 billion
How much richer: $82.4 billion
Net Worth: $112 Billion
Bernard Arnault is the CEO of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey).
Ultimately, the company was formed from merging the two businesses together. Louis Vuitton is the very successful luxury fashion brand, and Moet Hennessey is the merged champagne and cognac manufacturers.
Bernard has been making serious movements up this list in the past year. In fact, at the beginning of 2017, he was at 14th. Now, a full 3 years later, he’s placed at 2nd on the list of the 20 richest people on earth in 2020.
3. Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, and philanthropist. He is best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. 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 is one of the best-known entrepreneurs and pioneers of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
Co-founder of Microsoft
2010 net worth: $53 billion
2019 net worth: $108.2 billion
How much richer: $55.2 billion
Net Worth: $108.8 Billion
Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft, and was the richest man in the world for several years running. Gates founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen, and has since become the largest PC software company worldwide.
Gates’ net worth has been pretty stagnant since he reached the $100 billion mark; so stagnant in fact that he’s fallen another spot, down to 3rd on this list.
4. Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, who is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is considered one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of US$88.9 billion as of December 2019, making him the fourth-wealthiest person in the world.
Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed an interest in business and investing in his youth, eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring and graduating from the University of Nebraska at the age of 19. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing that was pioneered by Benjamin Graham. He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. He created Buffett Partnership, Ltd in 1956 and his firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway, assuming its name to create a diversified holding company. In 1978, Charlie Munger joined Buffett and became vice-chairman of the company.
Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
2010 net worth: $47 billion
2019 net worth: $88.8 billion
How much richer: $41.8 billion
Net Worth: $89.9 Billion
Warren Buffett is an American entrepreneur and investor, and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett is the most successful investor worldwide, and millions of other traders look up to him because of his success.
Warren Buffett is the 4th richest man in the world, with an incredible net worth of $89.9 billion. However, despite this fact, Buffett still lives in the home he purchased back when he didn’t even know what a billion dollars looked like.
What a humble guy!
5. Amancio Ortega
Amancio Ortega Gaona (born 28 March 1936) is a Spanish billionaire businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories shops. As of December 2019, Ortega had a net worth of $68.3 billion, making him the second-wealthiest person in Europe after Bernard Arnault, and the sixth-wealthiest in the world. For a brief period of time in 2015, he was the richest man in the world, bypassing Bill Gates when his net worth peaked to $80 billion as Zara’s parent company, Inditex’s, stock peaked.
He is the head of the Ortega family and the second wealthiest retailer in the world.
Co-founder of Spanish fashion company Inditex, which owns Zara
2010 net worth: $25 billion
2019 net worth: $77.1 billion
How much richer: $52.1 billion
Net Worth: $77.9 Billion
Amancio Ortega is a Spanish entrepreneur and founder of the Inditex fashion group. Inditex owns Zara, and Zara is one of the most popular clothing chains worldwide.
Ortega is now the 5th richest man in the world, after other players on the list have dropped down slightly. However, Ortega’s also lost over $11 billion from his net worth in recent months, and has steadily been regaining it.
6. Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding Facebook, Inc. and serves as its chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling shareholder. He also co-founded and is a board member of the solar sail spacecraft development project Breakthrough Starshot.
CEO of Facebook
2010 net worth: $4 billion
2019 net worth: $76.3 billion
How much richer: $72.3 billion
Born in White Plains, New York, Zuckerberg attended Harvard University, where he launched the Facebook social networking service from his dormitory room on February 4, 2004, with college 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. His net worth is estimated to be nearly $54 billion as of March 2020. In 2007, at age 23, he became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. As of 2019, he is the only person under 50 in the Forbes ten richest people list, and the only one under 40 in the Top 20 Billionaires list.
Since 2010, Time magazine has named Zuckerberg among the 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world as a part of its Person of the Year award. In December 2016, Zuckerberg was ranked 10th on Forbes list of The World’s Most Powerful People.
Net Worth: $77.7 Billion
We all know Mark Zuckerberg as the founder of Facebook. Facebook has become the most popular and most valuable social media company in the world. And it all started in Mark’s dorm room at Harvard University.
Mark Zuckerberg has recently dropped off from the 3rd spot, after losing a lot of his net worth due to the Cambridge data scandal and various other issues causing the Facebook stock prices to fall.
Mark Zuckerberg is now the 6th richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $77.7 billion.
7. Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist who is a co-founder and the executive chairman and chief technology officer (CTO) of Oracle Corporation. As of October 2019, he was listed by Forbes magazine as the fourth-wealthiest person in the United States and as the sixth-wealthiest in the world, with a fortune of $69.1 billion, increased from $54.5 billion in 2018.
Co-founder of Oracle
2010 net worth: $28 billion
2019 net worth: $66.4 billion
How much richer: $38.4 billion
8. Carlos Slim Helu (and family)
Carlos Slim Helú (born 28 January 1940 in Mexico City) 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. As of February 2020, he is the fifth-richest person in the world according to Forbes’ listing of The World’s Billionaires, with he and his family having a net worth estimated at $68.9 billion. He is the richest person in Latin America.
Telecom mogul, including on the board of directors of America Movil, Latin America’s biggest mobile telecommunications company
2010 net worth: $53.5 billion
2019 net worth: $63.5 billion
How much richer: $10 billion
Net Worth: $64.4 Billion
Carlos Slim Helu is a Mexican businessman and investor; owner of the conglomerate ‘Grupo Carso’. The conglomerate’s portfolio consists of brands in many different industries, such as health care, media, energy, real estate and retail.
Carlos is 8th on this list of the richest people in the world, with a net worth of $64.4 billion. Despite recovering from the fall in his net worth last year, he’s still fallen yet another place on this list of the richest people in the world.
His conglomerate includes education, health care, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, 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 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product. As of 2016, he is the largest single shareholder of The New York Times Company.
9. Larry Page
Lawrence Edward born (March 26, 1973) is an American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as one of the co-founders of Google along with Sergey Brin.
Co-founder of Google
2010 net worth: $17.5 billion
2019 net worth: $61.1 billion
How much richer: $43.6 billion
Net Worth: $61.9 Billion
Larry Page is the co-founder of Google, which was founded back in a garage in 1998.
Google, no doubt, has become the most successful search engine in the world, and the company has gone on to make various acquisitions such as YouTube. Google’s success has made Larry Page one of the richest people in the world.
Page was the chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc. (Google’s parent company) until stepping down on December 3, 2019. After stepping aside as Google CEO in August 2001 in favor of Eric Schmidt, he re-assumed the role in April 2011. He announced his intention to step aside a second time in July 2015 to become CEO of Alphabet, under which Google’s assets would be reorganized. Under Page, Alphabet sought to deliver major advancements in a variety of industries. On December 4, 2019, Page stepped down from his CEO position from Alphabet. Both Page and Sergey Brin remain at Alphabet as co-founders, board members, employees, and controlling shareholders.
Forbes placed him 10th in the list “Billionaires 2019”. As of March 2020, Page is the 11th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $53.6 billion, according to Forbes.
10. Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani (born 19 April 1957) is an Indian billionaire business magnate, and the chairman, managing director, and largest shareholder of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), a Fortune Global 500 company and India’s most valuable company by market value. As of March 2020, Mukesh Ambani is the second richest Asian after Chinese business magnate Jack Ma.
Chair of Indian oil and gas company Reliance Industries
2010 net worth: $29 billion
2019 net worth: $59.7 billion
How much richer: $30.7 billion
In 1981 he started to help his father Dhirubhai Ambani run their family business, Reliance Industries Limited. By this time, it has already expanded so that it also deals in refining and petrochemicals. The business also included products and services in retail and telecommunications industries. Reliance Retail Ltd., another subsidiary, is also the largest retailer in India. Reliance’s Jio has earned a top-five spot in the country’s telecommunication services since its public launch on 5 September 2016.
Net Worth: $59.2 Billion
Mukesh Ambani is an Indian business magnate, currently chairman, managing director and largest shareholder of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).
Ambani has been the richest man in Asia for a while now, and this year, he’s moving up on the list of the richest worldwide!
As of 2020, Mukesh Ambani’s net worth is $59.2 billion.
Through Reliance, he also owns the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians and is the founder of Indian Super League, a football league in India. In 2012, Forbes named him one of the richest sports owners in the world. He resides at the Antilia Building, one of the world’s most expensive private residences with its value reaching $1 billion.