It’s a rich man’s (or woman’s) world; it always has been and always will be. But something has changed. The wealthy have grown wealthier, expanding the ultra-wealthy club to include 15 centibillionaires whose staggering net worths dwarf those of mere multi-millionaires. The identities of Earth’s three richest individuals are hardly a secret. LVMH boss Bernard Arnault ($221 billion), Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos ($206 billion), and Tesla CEO Elon Musk ($187 billion) continue to maintain their positions and rule the billion-dollar roost. It is interesting to see new members join the high-net-worth herd, with L’Oreal SA heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers ($100 billion) coming in at number 14 and becoming the only woman on the esteemed list.
Dell Technologies Inc. founder Michael Dell ($112 billion) and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim ($106 billion), who has capitalized on the booming markets for artificial intelligence and luxury goods, along with geopolitical shifts, also hold strong positions, according to Bloomberg. All these tycoons have, at some point, crossed the baffling $100 million mark, but the nature of stocks and business causes fluctuations. It is for the first time that the richest people on Earth managed to stay above and, owing to a 13% increase in their wealth this year, boast a combined net worth of $2.2 trillion.
Together, these billionaires could easily fund the creation of a city like Neom, preserving its grandeur and scale. Moreover, let’s not forget this wealth will only balloon even further in the years to come. Many of these billionaires have demonstrated a consistent ability to preserve their wealth and retain their rankings. Case in point are the top 3 mentioned above followed by names like tech tycoon Mark Zuckerberg ($168 billion), Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffet ($137 billion), and Larry Page ($155 billion). The list includes two Indian billionaires: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani ($109 billion) and 61-year-old Gautam Adani ($100 billion), who made a touch-and-go stint at the top 3 positions earlier this year and recently returned to the elite group after losing more wealth than anyone in 2023. He briefly became the second richest person in the world with a net worth of $155.7 billion in September 2022.
Despite the heavy losses, Adani Enterprises Ltd. rose as global investors continued to pump wealth into the Indian businesses. That’s the thing with this extremely affluent population of billionaires. Even when they lose billions, they remain rich! CEO Elon Musk, with a net worth of $187 billion, lost more than a whopping $40 billion this year but is still the third richest man worldwide owing to his stake in the world’s most valuable car maker.
Interestingly, despite dropping from the world’s richest position with a net worth of $137 billion at the end of 2022, Musk made a donation of $1.9 billion—a very generous gift that represented about 1.4% of his net worth at that time. It seems these centibillionaires, most of whom are known for their philanthropy, are reaping the rewards of good karma.
Note – All net worths are per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
