World’s Billionaires List The Richest in 2020
Jeff Bezos is the world’s wealthiest person for the third year in a row, despite giving $36 billion worth of his Amazon stock to his ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos as part of their divorce settlement last summer. He’s worth $113 billion, buoyed by a 15% rise in Amazon’s shares since our 2019 list. The e-commerce giant he runs has been in the spotlight amid the pandemic; it’s hiring 100,000 full- and part-time workers to help meet increased demand from consumers staying home and shopping online.
Bill Gates keeps his spot as number two richest, followed by luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault, who nudged out Warren Buffett to move into the number three spot for the first time. Alice Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune, is the richest woman, ranked No.9 at $54.4 billion. Altogether 241 women made the list, including 7 who share a fortune with a spouse, sibling or child.
The biggest gainer in dollar terms is Qin Yinglin, the world’s richest pig breeder. He’s ranked No. 43 and is worth $18.5 billion--a $14.2 billion jump since the 2019 list, after shares of his Shenzhen-listed Muyuan Foods nearly tripled as the African swine flu reduced the supply of pigs and drove up prices.
Altogether, 267 people who made last year’s list have dropped off as businesses faltered; among the most notable drop-offs is Adam Neumann of WeWork. Another 21 people died. Still, Forbes found 178 newcomers hailing from 20 countries, including some, like Zoom Video Communications’ founder and CEO Eric Yuan, whose service is booming amid our current shelter-in-place reality. The U.S. remains the country with the most billionaires, with 614, followed by greater China (including Hong Kong and Macao), with 456.
For daily updated net worths of all 2,095 billionaires, go to forbes.com/real-time-billionaires1. Jeff Bezos, $145bn
The former hedge fund manager turned online book seller started Amazon in his garage in 1994. Bezos has invested heavily in space technology and also owns The Washington Post newspaper.
2. Bill Gates, $106.6bn
A permanent fixture at the top end of Forbes’ list for the past 20 years, the Microsoft founder has sold or given away much of his stake in the company – he owns just 1% of Microsoft – and now focuses predominantly on his philanthropic work.
3. Bernard Arnault, $91.6bn
Arnault is the wealthiest European on the list. The Frenchman oversees an empire of more than 60 brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. And he recently overtook Bill Gates to become the second richest man on the planet.
4. Mark Zuckerberg, $78.6n
Zuckerberg famously started Facebook in 2004 at the age of 19 and now is among the top five richest men in the world.
5. Warren Buffett, $68.8bn
Now in his ninth decade, the Berkshire Hathaway chief executive, known as the “Oracle of Omagh” is one of the most successful investors of all time. Like Gates he has pledged to give away more than 99% of his fortune to charity.
6. Larry Ellison, $67.3bn
Co-founder of software firm Oracle, Ellison stepped down as CEO in 2014 but still serves as chairman of the board and chief technology officer.
7. Steve Ballmer, $66.4bn
The former Microsoft CEO led the company from 2000 to 2014 after joining in 1980 as employee number 30, having dropped out of Stanford University’s MBA programme. The same year he retired from Microsoft he bought the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers for $2bn, says Forbes.
8. Larry Page, $63.3bn
In 1998, Page co-founded Google with business partner Sergey Brin. He stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, in December last year but is still a board member.
9. Amancio Ortega, $61.9bn
Ortega stepped down as chairman of Inditex, known for its Zara brand, in 2011 but he still owns nearly 60% of its shares.
10. Sergey Brin, $61bn
The Google co-founder stepped down as president of Alphabet in December, although remains a board member. He spends a lot of time on Alphabet’s moonshot research lab X.
Comments