When it comes to who gets the top spot as the richest person in the world, there's a constant battle of the billionaires. Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos spring to mind when talking about the rich and wealthy but surprisingly, although these famous A-listers have personal fortunes worth billions and are the faces behind big name companies such as Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN), neither of them takes the top spot on the Forbes "Real-Time Billionaires List" tracking the richest people in the world.
Americans "dominate the billionaires ranks" with 16 out of the top 25 spots, says Forbes. Other household names that have made it onto the Forbes rich list include Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett, but where do they rank and who is the richest person in the world?
5. Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett makes the rich list with a net worth of $119.2 billion. Buffett is famous for his investing style, making him one of the richest investors in the world. Some of his famous investments include Coca-Cola (KO), Wells Fargo (WFC) and American Express (AXP).
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Buffett's investing method is centered around finding undervalued companies with a strong foundation and investing in them for the long term. The companies he opts for all have a competitive advantage to deter competitors from entering the market, and this style of investing has proven to be a success as he has historically generated impressive returns for his investors.
Textile manufacturer Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) is one of Buffett's successful investments. After investing in the company in 1962, he took it over and expanded the holding into other industries such as retail, insurance and utilities.
4. Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle (ORCL), has a fortune of $145.5 billion, a jump in his net wealth that makes him the fourth richest person on the rich list, just behind Jeff Bezos.
The billionaire founded the computer technology company Oracle in 1977 and has expanded it to specialize in hardware, enterprise software and cloud computing. Ellison's inspiration to start the business came from working on a project with the CIA where he had to create a database.
3. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos has a net worth of around $167.4 billion, Forbes reports. His spot on the rich list is fairly dynamic and yet he's one of the best-known billionaires of them all. Bezos is famous for founding Amazon (AMZN) in 1994. From just selling books in the 90s, Amazon has now grown to be the biggest online retailer in the world with a market capitalization of over $1 trillion.
It all started when Bezos was working on Wall Street and saw a gap in the market for selling products online and its potential. After selling books, he branched out to other products, such as household goods and electronics, and the success came from his business model, focusing on great customer service and low prices.
The entrepreneur also has other investments, including The Washington Post and Blue Origin.
2. Bernard Arnault
Billionaire, businessman and the chairman and chief executive of LVMH (LVMUY), Bernard Arnault holds the crown as the second richest person in the world. According to Forbes, Arnault has a fortune of $191.3 billion.
LVMH is the biggest luxury goods company in the world and owns more than 70 high-end brands including Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Fendi.
The billionaire was born on March 5, 1949, in Roubaix, a city in northern France, and comes from a wealthy family who owned a construction company. Arnault had a good education and holds a degree in engineering from the École des Mines de Paris.
Putting aside Arnault's business acumen and wealth, he enjoys art and has one of the biggest private art collections in the world. He has donated millions of dollars to charities in his time.
1. Elon Musk
One result that may come as a surprise is Elon Musk, who is back in the top spot — despite his Twitter woes — with an estimated wealth of around $245.5 billion, according to Forbes. The entrepreneur has accumulated his wealth from his involvement in companies such as Tesla and SpaceX. More recently, he acquired Twitter, now X, for $44 billion in April 2022.
Tesla is a great example of how Musk's vision transformed the automotive industry by producing electric cars that produce less CO2 than petrol vehicles. His innovation for a sustainable future made Tesla one of the biggest car companies in the world.
Musk's other venture, SpaceX, was founded in 2002 and aims to make space travel accessible and affordable for all. The company is valued at approximately $180 billion and the latest valuation represents a 20% increase from SpaceX’s previous high of $150 billion, according to CNBC.
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