Top 10 Richest People in the World (Latest Ranking 2022)

• Net Worth: $116.9 billion1
• Founder: Amazon (AMZN)

In 1994, Bezos founded Amazon.com in a garage in Seattle, shortly after he resigned from the hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw. In fact, he had originally pitched the idea of an online bookstore to his former boss David E. Shaw (a rumor that Shaw himself has confirmed), who wasn’t interested.

Though Amazon.com originally started out selling books, it has since morphed into a one-stop-shop for everything under the sun, and is arguably the world’s most important retailer. At any rate, it is hard to dispute its self-description as the “earth’s most customer-centric company.” Its pattern of constant diversification is evident in some of its unexpected recent expansions, which include its acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017 and its launching of its own branded over-the-counter drugs in Feb. 2018.

Bezos took Amazon public in 1997, and has since gone on to become the first man since Bill Gates in 1999 to achieve a net worth of over $100 billion.2 Bezos’ other projects include aerospace company Blue Origin, The Washington Post (which he bought in 2013), and the 10,000-year clock, also known as the Long Now.

• Net Worth: $99.9 billion3
• Co-Founder: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)

The only Harvard dropout in the Top Five, Bill Gates’ knack for increasing wealth is staggering, even for an already wealthy guy. The Microsoft co-founder’s net worth has more than doubled since 2009.4

Through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he has also spent billions to fight polio and malaria. Additionally, he pledged $50 million in 2014 to help fight Ebola.5

Bill Gates stepped down from the boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway on March 13, 2020.6 7

• Owner of LVMH
• Net Worth: $91.6 billion

French national Bernard Arnault is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury goods company. The company owns some of the biggest brands on earth including Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Bulgari, Marc Jacobs, Dior, Sephora, and many more.

An engineer by training, Arnault’s business chops became apparent whilst working for his father’s engineering company, Ferret-Savinel. He converted the company to a real estate company in 1976.

Arnault acquired luxury goods maker Financière Agache in 1984, eventually selling all of its holdings other than Christian Dior and Le Bon Marché department store. He became chairman of the board of LVMH in 1989. His own investments are broad, including technology concerns and yacht companies.

• Net Worth: $70.5 billion
• Best Investor of the 20th Century

The most famous living value investor, Warren Buffet filed his first tax return in 1944 at age 14, declaring his earnings from his boyhood paper route.

He first bought shares in a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway in 1962, becoming the majority shareholder by 1965. He expanded the company to the insurance and other investments in 1967. Now, Berkshire Hathaway is a half-trillion-dollar company, with a single share of stock trading at over $300,000 per share in early 2019.10

Warren Buffett is widely known as “The Oracle of Omaha” because of his knack for value investing, in other words, finding bargains in undervalued companies. While most investors have been piling into social media companies, Buffett has repeatedly stated that it’s too difficult to determine their value, and has instead stuck with investments that he thinks will pay off 10 years down the road. He is also a noted Bitcoin skeptic.

Buffett is also known for his frugality. At age 14, he itemized his bicycle as a $35 deduction on his first income tax return because he used it for his paper route. He gives much of his wealth to charity, and has said that he doesn’t intend to leave his riches to his children. Between 2006 and 2019, Buffett has given back nearly $34.5 billion and committed to eventually giving away nearly his entire fortune.

See Also: Top 10 Richest Politicians In Nigeria And Their Networth

• Chief Technology Office and Founder of Oracle
• Net Worth: $62.4 billion

Larry Ellison co-founded database software company, Oracle, in 1977. He stepped down as CEO in 2014, but is still CTO and chairman of the board. He has also served on the board of Tesla since December 2018.

In the 34th annual Forbes list of the world’s billionaires, the list included 2,095 billionaires with a total net wealth of $8 trillion, down 58 members and $700 billion from 2018. The list was finalized as of 18 March, thus was already partially influenced by the coronavirus pandemic.

Top 10 Richest People in the World Summary Table

If you want to get a little closer to making Forbes’ richest billionaires list, then you might need to become a technological innovator or a retail king. Or you can keep it simple and focus on value investing. It also wouldn’t hurt to inherit a large sum, as some of the world’s wealthiest people have.