US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — Top 20 richest people in the world – The list, like last year, was led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Top 3 included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and the main shareholder of the LVMH fashion house, Bernard Arnault. The state of all 2095 world billionaires amounted to $ 8 trillion, $ 700 billion less than a year earlier.
The founder and CEO of Amazon’s online retailer, Jeff Bezos, like last year, topped the Forbes ranking of the world’s richest people. This is the only person on the list with a twelve-digit fortune, although even he has become $ 18 billion “poorer” in a year – since February 2020, Amazon shares, along with the entire US stock market, have sank more than 20%.
On the second line of the rating, as in 2019, is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with a fortune of $ 98 billion. In third place, investor Warren Buffett was replaced by the main owner of the LVMH fashion house, Bernard Arnault and his family, whose fortune Forbes estimates at $ 76 billion.
The next, 34th in a row global ranking of dollar billionaires was published by American Forbes on April 7. It has 2095 world billionaires. This is 58 people less than in 2019, and 226 less than March 6, when Forbes made the first ratings calculations. The final measurement of the state of billionaires was made on March 18, when the market was in the acute phase of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The total fortune of all billionaires this year reached $ 8 trillion, which is $ 700 billion less than last year. The list of 102 participants from Russia. Beginners in the ranking of 2020 – 178.
The combined fortune of the first twenty participants in the rating in 2020 amounted to $ 1.14 trillion.
1. Jeff Bezos
Status: $ 113 billion
Status: $ 113 billion
Annual change: – $ 18 billion
Source of wealth: Amazon.com
Age: 56
Country: USA
Jeff Bezos founded the Amazon online store in 1994 in his Seattle garage. Over a quarter-century, the project has grown into the world’s largest online retailer. Bezos continues to be the CEO of the company and owns almost 12% of the shares. He also owns The Washington Post and the private aerospace company Blue Origin.
In July 2019, the entrepreneur divorced Mackenzie Bezos after 25 years of marriage. The billionaire transferred a quarter of his stake in Amazon to his ex-wife. Mackenzie’s share has made her one of the richest women in the world.
Amazon’s revenue in 2019 was $ 280.5 billion, and net profit was $ 11.6 billion. In February, the company refused to build a second $ 2.5 billion headquarters in New York due to the negative mood of local politicians. In recent weeks, Amazon quotes have dipped along with the entire US stock market.
2. Bill Gates
Status: $ 98 billion
Status: $ 98 billion
Annual change: + $ 1.5 billion
Source of wealth: Microsoft, investment
Age: 65
Country: USA
Together with his wife, Melinda, Bill Gates leads the world’s largest private charitable foundation. The organization’s work is aimed at improving the global healthcare system and has gained particular relevance against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic – the businessman is a long-standing advocate of the importance of universal vaccination and today is actively involved in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Gates sold most of his shares to Microsoft – he owns a little more than 1% of the company – and invested in the stock market and other assets, such as deciding to buy Freenet shares (Freenet Aktien kaufen) at his own pleasure, which at the same time allowed him not to “sag” in size over the past year. At the same time, he remains a member of the board of directors of the “native” corporation, which he founded together with Paul Allen in 1975.
In recent years, Gates has supported many important initiatives that spur the social responsibility of big business. So, together with Warren Buffett, he initiated the Giving Pledge campaign, in which dollar billionaires from around the world commit themselves to donating at least 50% of their fortune to charity. And in 2019, Microsoft co-founder also supported the “left” idea of raising real estate taxes for super-wealthy Americans.
3. Bernard Arnault and family
Status: $ 76 billion
Status: $ 76 billion
Change for the year: has not changed
Source of wealth: LVMH
Age: 71
Country: France
Bernard Arnaud, who in the mid-1980s took $ 15 million from a family-owned construction business to buy the Christian Dior fashion house, today oversees a global business empire of 75 luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. In 2019, LVMH revenue grew by 15%, to $ 60 billion. Such dynamics were provided by good demand both in Europe and the USA, and in Asia.
In the moment of Arno last year, even briefly became the richest man on the planet. But the coronavirus pandemic in recent months has severely brought down consumer demand around the world, which also affected LVMH quotes.
Arno – philanthropist and passionate collector. In 2014, he opened the Museum of Modern Art, the building of which was designed by Frank Gehry, one of the main architects of our time, for $ 135 million. And in April 2019, the businessman promised to allocate more than $ 200 million for the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, partially destroyed by fire.
4. Warren Buffett
Status: $ 67.5 billion
Status: $ 67.5 billion
Change for the year: – $ 15 billion
Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
Age: 90
Country: USA
Warren Buffett is one of the most successful and respected investors in the world. Omaha Oracle runs the Berkshire Hathaway investment house, which owns shares in more than 60 companies, including Geico, the battery maker Duracell, and the Dairy Queen restaurant chain.
Buffett, the son of a US Congressman, bought his first block of shares at the age of 11, and at 13 filed his first tax return. Over his long life, he has become an indisputable authority in the field of investment.
In recent years, Buffett, along with Bill Gates, has been actively involved in charity work. Only in 2019, as a philanthropist, did the investor allocate $ 3.6 billion. The operator of most of these funds is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In his latest message to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett first seriously raised the need for a gradual transit of investment home management. The market took this reasoning as a signal of the billionaire’s readiness to retire.
5. Larry Allison
Status: $ 59 billion
Status: $ 59 billion
Annual change: – $ 3.5 billion
Source of state: Oracle
Age: 76
Country: USA
Larry Ellison founded Oracle software maker in 1977 to address the growing need for databases. The company’s first client was the CIA, and later the company’s product was also in demand by the commercial sector.
For more than a quarter century of business management, Allison has experienced many ups and downs, but in the end managed to turn Oracle into one of the largest software developers in the world, including thanks to a series of unfriendly acquisitions of competitors. In 2014, he left the post of CEO, but retained his place on the board of directors and the position of technical director.
Allison invests a lot in medical and agricultural technology. In 2012, he acquired the Hawaiian island of Lanai for $ 300 million, where he is developing innovative projects in the field of health and agriculture. The businessman also actively supports projects aimed at combating cancer and prolonging life.
Since 2018, Allison has been on the board of directors of another notable U.S. technology company, Tesla, founded by his friend Elon Musk. The creator of Oracle itself is a minority shareholder in the manufacturer of electric cars.
6. Amancio Ortega
Status: $ 55.1 billion
Status: $ 55.1 billion
Change for the year: – $ 7.6 billion
Source of wealth: Inditex
Age: 84
Country: Spain
Amancio Ortega is one of the richest people in Europe and a fast fashion pioneer of retail . In 1975, together with his ex-wife Rosalia Mera (died in 2013), he founded a company that over the years has grown into Inditex Corporation, which manages a number of global brands, the most famous of which is Zara.
Ortega owns about 60% of the shares of Inditex registered in Madrid. The chain of stores of the corporation is about 7,500 points worldwide. The average billionaire income from dividends is $ 400 million per year. He invests in real estate in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Chicago, Miami and New York.
7. Mark Zuckerberg
Status: $ 54.7 billion
Status: $ 54.7 billion
Change for the year: – $ 7.6 billion
Source of wealth: Facebook
Age: 36
Country: USA
The year 2019, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg devoted not so much to business expansion as to the analysis of claims against the social network. Recently, the company has been plagued by both an insufficiently effective fight against fake news, and insufficiently sensitive handling of user data, and a close to monopolistic position in the market.
Criticism has not yet led to major troubles, but in July the US Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook a record $ 5 billion for violating user information privacy.
Zuckerberg founded Facebook at Harvard in 2004 at the age of 19. In 2012, the company held an IPO. The entrepreneur continues to own a 15% stake in the social network and have controlling voting rights in the business.
In December 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, promised during their lifetime to donate most of their wealth to charity.
8. Jim Walton
Status: $ 54.6 billion
Status: $ 54.6 billion
Annual change: + $ 10 billion
Source of wealth: Walmart
Age: 72
Country: USA
Jim Walton is the youngest son of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, the largest US retail chain. In June, the businessman donated $ 1.2 billion in shares of the retailer to charity, but remained the richest of the heirs of the business empire – all thanks to a stake in 44% of Arvest Bank.
Jim served on Walmart’s board of directors for more than a decade, and in 2016 gave way to his son Stuart. Together with other heirs of Sam Walton, the entrepreneur controls almost half of Walmart’s shares. Together with her sister, Alice Jim also implements a charity program through which the family allocated $ 300 million to support the school system.
9. Alice Walton
Status: $ 54.4 billion
Status: $ 54.4 billion
Annual change: + $ 10 billion
Source of wealth: Walmart
Age: 71
Country: USA
Alice Walton is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. She does not participate in the operational management of the family business, but is focused on curating in the field of art. In 2011, the heiress of Walmart founder opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is located in her hometown of Bentonville in Arkansas. The museum also exhibited works by such eminent artists as Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell and Mark Rothko.
10. Rob Walton
Status: $ 54.1 billion
Status: $ 54.1 billion
Annual change: + $ 9.8 billion
Source of wealth: Walmart
Age: 76
Country: USA
Rob Walton is the eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. He took over as CEO after his father died in 1992 and left office in June 2015, losing the reins to his son-in-law Greg Penner. At the same time, the billionaire remains on the board of directors of Walmart.
11. Steve Ballmer
Status: $ 52.7 billion
Status: $ 52.7 billion
Change for the year: – $ 11.5 billion
Source of wealth: Microsoft
Age: 64
Country: USA
Steve Ballmer is a former Microsoft CEO. He joined Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1980 as a 30th employee, abandoning Stanford University’s MBA program, and went through crises such as the dot-com bubble, the war with Google and the advent of the Apple era. After retiring in 2014, Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers basketball club for $ 2 billion.
For ten years, the businessman has directed more than $ 2 billion to a charity fund focused on poverty in America. In 2018, he invested $ 59 million in Social Solution, a company that produces software for non-profit and government agencies.
12. Carlos Slim Helu
Status: $ 52.1 billion
Status: $ 52.1 billion
Annual change: – $ 11.9 billion
Source of wealth: telecommunications
Age: 80
Country: Mexico
Carlos Slim Helu is the richest man in Mexico. He controls America Movil, the largest telecom operator in Latin America. Slim also owns stakes in Mexican companies in the construction, consumer, mining, and retail sectors. The billionaire owns 17% in the American newspaper The New York Times. Slim’s brother-in-law Fernando Romero founded a museum in Mexico City, which houses a family art collection.
13. Larry Page
Status: $ 50.9 billion
Status: $ 50.9 billion
Annual change: + $ 100 million
Source of wealth: Google
Age: 47
Country: USA
Larry Page resigned as CEO of the parent company Google – Alphabet – at the end of 2019, but remains its shareholder and member of the board of directors. The businessman founded the Internet corporation together with Sergey Brin in 1998.
Since then, partners have built one of the largest IT companies in the world, managing the most popular search engine on the planet. Page ran the business until 2001, and then returned to management as early as the 2010s.
He is also a co-founder of Planetary Resources, which is exploring the possibilities of expanding the Earth‘s natural resource base. Page also finances Kitty Hawk and Opener flying car startups.
14. Sergey Brin
Status: $ 49.1 billion
Status: $ 49.1 billion
Change for the year: – $ 700 million
Source of wealth: Google
Age: 47
Country: USA
Sergey Brin left the post of president of the parent company Google, Alphabet, in December 2019, but remains its shareholder and member of the board of directors. Google founded the entrepreneur in 1998 with Larry Page.
The partners met at Stanford University, where they studied computer science, and over time created the world’s most popular search engine, and built around it an entire ecosystem of services. In 2004, their company entered an IPO, and in 2015 changed its name to Alphabet.
In 2019, Brin skipped Alphabet public events – spent time at the X Development Lab. The purpose of her work is the invention and implementation of breakthrough technologies that will make the world radically better.
15. Francoise Bettencourt Myers and family
Status: $ 48.9 billion
Status: $ 48.9 billion
Change for the year: – $ 400 million
Source of wealth: L’Oreal
Age: 67
Country: France
Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers is one of the richest women in the world, the granddaughter of the founder of the cosmetic business empire L’Oreal. Together with her family, the entrepreneur owns 33% of the corporation. She entered into inheritance rights after her mother Liliane Bettencourt died at the age of 94 in 2017. Francoise has been on the board of directors of L’Oreal since 1997.
The Bettencourt-Meyers Family Fund, led by an entrepreneur, donated $ 226 million to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral after a devastating fire in April 2019.
16. Michael Bloomberg
Status: $ 48 billion
Status: $ 48 billion
Change for the year: – $ 7.5 billion
Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP
Age: 78
Country: USA
Michael Bloomberg founded the financial information provider and media company Bloomberg LP in 1981 and remains its primary owner. Bloomberg revenue in 2019 is estimated at $ 10 billion.
Having received an MBA degree at Harvard, Bloomberg got a job in 1966 at Salomon Brothers, where he manually counted securities. The future billionaire went all the way to a general partner and was dismissed in 1981 after 15 years at the investment bank. After that, he decided to launch his own project.
Bloomberg is an active philanthropist. He donated $ 8 billion to the problems of combating the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons in the United States, environmental protection and other charitable goals.
In the current presidential campaign, the businessman put forward his own candidacy from the Democratic Party, but he could not compete with the favorites of the primaries Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
17. Jack Ma
Status: $ 38.8 billion
Status: $ 38.8 billion
Annual change: + $ 1.5 billion
Source of wealth: Alibaba Group
Age: 56
Country: China
Former English teacher Jack Ma is the founder of one of the largest e-commerce companies in the Alibaba Group. In September 2019, the Chinese billionaire resigned as CEO of an Internet retailer. Alibaba’s IPO in New York in 2014 holds a record $ 25 billion in capital raised. Ma’s investments outside the hometown corporation include stakes in Chinese entertainment companies Huayi Brothers and Beijing Enlight Media.
18. Charles Koch
Status: $ 38.2 billion
Status: $ 38.2 billion
Annual change: – $ 12.3 billion
Source of wealth: Koch Industries
Age: 85
Country: USA
Since 1967, Charles Koch, along with his brother David, who passed away in 2019, developed the Koch Industries family holding, one of the largest private companies in the United States. Koch Industries makes about $ 110 billion of its annual revenue in a wide range of industries, from pipeline construction and chemicals to paper cups and carpets.
The Kokhi brothers are the heirs of industrialist Fred Koch, who in 1927 improved the method of refining oil into gasoline and made a fortune in the 1940s. The sons, who each owned 42% of Koch Industries each, repeatedly increased the capital accumulated by their father.
19. Julia Koch and family
Status: $ 38.2 billion
Status: $ 38.2 billion
Yearly change: first time on the list
Source of wealth: Koch Industries
Age 58 years old
Country: USA
Julia Koch and her three children inherited a 42% stake in Koch Industries from her husband David, who died in August 2019 at the age of 79. Julia, a native of Iowa, moved to New York in the 1980s, worked as an assistant with fashion designer Adolfo, crossed paths with many of his famous clients, including First Lady Nancy Reagan. She met David on a blind date in 1991, and in 1996 they got married. Together with her husband, she donated $ 10 million to the Stanford Food Allergy Children’s Hospital.
20. Ma Huateng
Status: $ 38.1 billion
Status: $ 38.1 billion
Change for the year: – $ 700 million
Source of wealth: internet
Age: 49
Country: China
Ma Huateng heads the Tencent Holdings Internet holding company, which he founded in 1998, which has controlling and minority interests in many notable projects around the world. In China, Tencent is an especially important asset: the WeChat messenger. In December 2018, the “daughter” of Tencent Music holding held an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.
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