Although 2020 is a down year for many small businesses, the wealth of the world’s richest people has never been higher. Unfortunately, to date, there are no women among the 15 richest people. We have to wait until the 13th place to see the name of a French woman, FRANÇOISE BETTENCOURT MEYERS, daughter and heiress of LILIANE BETTENCOURT.
If the ranking of the richest people in the world is often fixed, now two entrepreneurs are fighting side by side. They are ELON MUSK and JEFF BEZOS. The former recently overtook the latter on the podium, but the founder of Amazon quickly returned to the stolen first place, including TESLA and SPACE-X.
Disclaimer: It’s important to note that the wealth of the world’s richest people is often tied to stock prices. The top 15 members all own shares in companies that they often start or take over. Therefore, this article considers data as of May 4, 2021. They can obviously change over time.
The new update of May 2021 has again shaken up the boundaries. When Bernard ARNOTT was ahead of BILL GATES, WARREN BUFFETT came back behind LARRY PAGE and the incredible reversal shook the podium. At the bottom of the ranking we saw the appearance of ROB WALTON, the son of the founder of WAL-MART, and he brought out the founder of TENCENT, MA HUATENG.
TOP 15 RICHEST ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
15- ROB WALTON
Although MA HUATENG, founder of China’s TENCENT, was ranked the 15th richest man in the world in March 2021, he has now been overtaken by ROB WALTON. ROB WALTON is the heir of Sam Walton, who founded the popular American chain WAL-MART.
Rob Walton’s wealth has reached 63.4 billion dollars. It should be noted that in the ranking of the richest man in the world, next to Rob is his brother Jim Walton, who is also the heir.
14- CHARLES KOCH
CHARLES KOCH is the CEO of Koch Industries. The second largest private company in the United States. Third, it is a global company that brings together entities from several sectors: textiles, oil, energy, chemicals, etc.
CHARLES KOCH’s fortune in March 2021 is estimated at 61 billion US dollars. In May 2021, he became the 15th richest man in the world. His fortune reached to 63.7 billion U.S. dollars.
13-ZHONG SHANSHAN
ZHONG SHANSHAN is considered the richest man in China. His wealth rose from 16.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 to 50.9 billion U.S. dollars at the end of the year. As of February 23, 2021, ZHONG SHANSHAN’s net worth is estimated at US$87.4 billion, and as of March 23, his net worth is estimated at US$66 billion.
Therefore, he lost 11.4 billion in one month. Since then, after ZHONG SHANSHAN reached 66.3 billion U.S. dollars in May 2021, he never regained his wealth in February and became the 14th richest person in the world, ranking 13th on this global rich list.
12- MUKESH AMBANI
MUKESH AMBANI is of Indian origin and is the head of RIL (Reliance Industries Limited), one of the largest conglomerates in the world. It brings together players in the oil, textile and chemical industries. In addition, RIL is also active in the retail and telecommunications sectors. MUKESH AMBANI’s wealth is estimated at 74.7 billion US dollars.
11- AMANCIO ORTEGA
If you don’t know AMANCIO ORTEGA, you probably know the brand he created: Zara. He is also the founder of Inditex, a textile group with brands such as Zara, Zara HOME, Stradivarius and Pull and Bear.
Today, AMANCIO ORTEGA’s fortune is estimated at 75.6 billion U.S. dollars, which makes him the 11th richest person in the world, just behind FRANÇOISE BETTENCOURT MEYERS, you can find him in the ranking of the richest people in the world.
10- STEVE BALLMER
STEVE BALLMER was born in Detroit, USA, in 1956. After studying mathematics and economics at Harvard University, he started his career at Procter & Gamble (P&G) and then went to Stanford Business School. It was there that he met Bill Gates, and he persuaded him to drop out of school. In 2000, STEVE BALLMER became the CEO of Microsoft. He will hold this position until 2014.
In 2020, STEVE BALLMER’s fortune is estimated to be around $62.4 billion. He then dropped out of the top ten. In March 2020, his fortune also fell to 50 billion, the lowest. In 2021, he became the 10th richest man in the world with a fortune of 91 billion US dollars.
9-LARRY ELLISON
In the top 10 a few months ago, Larry Ellison is now the 10th richest person in the world in March 2021. In May 2021, he leaves with a fortune of 91.4 billion US dollars. As we all know, he is the co-founder of Oracle. He still runs the company today and will receive a dividend of $1.1 billion in 2020.
8- SERGEY BRIN
SERGEY BRIN and LARRY PAGE are the co-founders of Google. Born in Moscow in 1973, he moved to the United States with his family in 1979 and studied at the University of Maryland, where he was involved in various activities such as sailing and circus. After earning his PhD at Stanford University, he met LARRY PAGE and founded the search engine Google in 1998. The company has been very successful.
Today, SERGEY BRIN is the chairman of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. His fortune has reached 104 billion US dollars.
7- WARREN BUFFETT
WARREN BUFFETT is a well-known investor who makes his fortune by carefully choosing the companies he wants to invest in. He has made numerous investments through his company Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is the majority shareholder. The entity holds shares in large companies such as American Express or The Coca-Cola Company.
In March 2021, WARREN BUFFETT was ranked as the 6th richest person in the world. Today, he is ranked 7th after Google co-founder Larry Page. WARREN BUFFETT’s wealth has peaked at $106 billion.
6- LARRY PAGE
LARRY PAGE is another founder of Google. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1995, where he earned his Ph. D. at Stanford University, where he met SERGEY BRIN and founded this iconic company with him! Until 2019, LARRY PAGE was the CEO of Alphabet.
As of March 2021, LARRY PAGE’s net worth is $93.8 billion (US). He has now surpassed 100 billion US dollars and his wealth is now 107 billion US dollars.
5- MARK ZUCKERBERG
MARK ZUCKERBERG is number one with a fortune of over $100 billion. In fact, in 2021, it reached 120 billion U.S. dollars, and in 2020, it was 76.7 billion U.S. dollars. Note that in the last quarter, this wealth decreased as it reached $105 billion.
There is no more description of the background of MARK ZUCKERBERG, who studied at Harvard, where he created Facebook, which he still operates today. The entrepreneur owns 24% of his company.
4 – Bill Gates
Bill Gates is the co-founder and largest shareholder of Microsoft. He studied computer science at the Lakeside School (Seattle). There he met Paul Allen, also from Microsoft. Before dropping out in 1975, he studied at Harvard. From 1975 to 2000, he was CEO of Microsoft.
In 2021, Bill Gates is the third richest person in the world in the first third of this year. His fortune at that time was estimated at 139 billion US dollars. Now, by May 2021, his fortune will reach 146 billion. Unfortunately, this increase will not compensate BERNARD ARNAULT’s fortune.
Although BILL GATES is deeply involved in philanthropy, the recent announcement of his divorce from his wife could greatly affect the commitments of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
3- Bernard Arnault
Bernard Arnault is the only top 5 in the technology world who has not evolved in the corporate world. He is also the only Frenchman in the top 10, and this person who is now the CEO of LVMH needs no introduction.
Although he is the third richest person in the world in 2020, he was in fourth place in early 2021. However, he just replaced BILL GATES, who was in the top three by a third of 2021. Indeed, BERNARD ARNAULT’s fortune reached $124 billion in March 2021 and is now estimated at $154 billion.
2- ELON MUSK
After overtaking JEFF BEZOS, ELON MUSK has regained the second place in the list of the world’s richest men. The founders of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX are now worth $187 billion. It’s worth mentioning how quickly ELON MUSK’s wealth has grown in recent months. In fact, according to Forbes, his fortune is estimated at US$72 billion in 2020 and will exceed US$100 billion by August 2020.
In fact, the entrepreneur has developed the long-awaited Hyperloop. This new type of transportation involves people traveling on high-speed pipelines and is expected to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles in less than 30 minutes, compared to an hour and 10 minutes by air. Today, ELON MUSK is no longer directly involved in the development of Hyperloop, but his company SpaceX continues to hold competitions for the best startups to solve this problem.
1-JEFF BEZOS
If he is handed over to ANDY JASSY in August 2021, JEFF BEZOS will continue to serve as Amazon’s executive chairman. For now, 2021 is still JEFF BEZOS’ year, and he still maintains his position as the richest man in the world. It must be said that Amazon is the big winner of the coronavirus crisis, because during the two confinements put in place in 2020, consumers have mainly turned to online sites.
In February 2021, Jeff Bezos’ fortune was estimated at $183 billion. As of May 2021, Jeff Bezos was still the richest person in the world and his fortune had continued to grow, now estimated at $197 billion.
JEFF BEZOS is considered the richest man in the world in 2021, but he wasn’t always. In fact, ELON MUSK stole that spot for a few hours, especially as Tesla’s stock price soared.
Today, JEFF BEZOS’ wealth doesn’t just come from his Amazon stock, even though that’s his main source of income. In fact, the entrepreneur has other businesses. He also owns the Washington Post.
Finally, there are many men who are building their fortune, MOUNTASSIR BOUHADBA is the best example. After only 4 years of launching the GIGAFIT group, MOUNTASSIR BOUHADBA is at 28 years old at the head of a network of about sixty gyms. And he does not intend to stop there!