The US$100 billion club: who are the 14 people with the biggest fortunes in the world

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On last year’s Forbes list, there were only six tycoons worth more than $100 billion. This year, the number of members of this select club more than doubled. Forbes Billionaires Forbes via BBC In last year’s Forbes list, there were only six people with a fortune of more than US$100 billion (R$506 billion). The news is that in this year’s list, published on Tuesday (2/4), the number of members of this select club more than doubled, to 14 members. To get an idea of ​​the magnitude of such a fortune, just look at the size of a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), that is, the sum of all the goods and services that a nation produces in a year. Thus, the individual wealth of each of these 14 tycoons is greater than the GDP of countries such as Panama, Uruguay, Costa Rica or Bolivia. READ MORE Bernard Arnault is the richest man in the world in the 2024 Forbes billionaires ranking Bettencourt Meyers is the richest woman among Forbes 2024 billionaires; see the list Taylor Swift and Magic Johnson join the Forbes list of billionaires in 2024 Livia Voigt, Brazilian and heir to WEG, is the youngest billionaire in the world; find out who Chase Peterson-Withorn is, the Forbes editor responsible for the list, said that the last year was “incredible” for the richest people in the world. “Even in times of financial uncertainty for many, the super-rich continue to prosper,” he noted. Forbes said it recorded a record 2,781 billionaires in 2024, 141 more than the previous year and 26 more than the previous record in 2021. This elite is richer than ever and accumulates wealth of US$14.2 trillion (R$72.3 trillion). Ahead of them are the tycoons of the most exclusive club on the planet, according to Forbes. Forbes releases list of the world’s biggest influencers in 2023 1. Bernard Arnault (France) Net worth: US$ 233 billion (R$ 1.18 trillion) For the second year in a row, Arnault is the richest person in the world. His fortune grew 10% in 2023 thanks to another year of record revenue for his luxury conglomerate, LVMH, owner of Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Sephora. 2. Elon Musk (USA) Net worth: US$ 195 billion (R$ 987 billion) As the ranking changes constantly, Musk has won and lost the title of “richest in the world” several times, as the valuation of his assets has changed companies, SpaceX, Tesla and the social network X (formerly Twitter). 3. Jeff Bezos (USA) Net worth: US$194 billion (R$982 billion) Bezos became richer this year thanks to Amazon’s excellent performance on the stock market. 4. Mark Zuckerberg (USA) Net worth: US$ 177 billion (R$ 895 billion) The president of Meta faces ups and downs. After the social media giant’s shares plunged 75% from their highest level in 2021, its value nearly tripled last year. 5. Larry Ellison (USA) Net worth: US$ 141 billion (R$ 713 billion) In the last year, shares of the technology company Oracle rose more than 30%, boosting its fortune. Although he has stepped down as president of the company, Ellison continues to chair its board, is its chief technology officer and is also its largest shareholder. 6. Warren Buffett (USA) Net worth: US$133 billion (R$673 billion) Considered one of the most successful investors of all time, Buffett heads Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate that owns dozens of companies, including the insurance company Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen. Berkshire shares are at record levels, up 30% from last year. 7. Bill Gates (USA) Net worth: US$128 billion (R$648 billion) The co-founder of Microsoft was the richest person in the world for 18 of the 23 years in the period from 1995 to 2017. Despite his gigantic fortune, Gates fell on the list due to strong competition in the technology sector, a costly divorce in 2021 and his donations to charities, according to Forbes. 8. Steve Ballmer (USA) Net worth: US$ 121 billion (R$ 612 billion) The former president of Microsoft led the company from 2000 to 2014, after the crisis of technology companies. After retiring from Microsoft, Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, which has risen in value in recent years. Today, it is the fifth most valuable team in the American league, the NBA. 9. Mukesh Ambani (India) Net worth: US$ 116 billion (R$ 587 billion) Ambani’s wealth grew substantially thanks to the appreciation of the shares of his conglomerate, Reliance Industries. The company operates in the petrochemical, oil and gas, telecommunications, retail and financial services sectors. 10. Larry Page (USA) Net worth: US$ 114 billion (R$ 577 billion) Co-founder and member of the board of directors of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, continues to be, together with Sergey Brin, the largest individual shareholder of the technology giant . 11. Sergey Brin (Russia/USA) Net worth: US$ 110 billion (R$ 557 billion) Co-founder and board member of Alphabet. Brin resigned as president of the company in December 2019, but remains its majority shareholder along with Larry Page. 12. Michael Bloomberg (USA) Net worth: US$106 billion (R$536 billion) Co-founder of the financial information and media company Bloomberg LP, he currently owns 88% of the business. He was mayor of New York City for 12 years. 13. Amancio Ortega (Spain) Net worth: US$ 103 billion (R$ 521 billion) His fortune increased last year thanks to a 43% appreciation in the shares of his clothing company, Inditex, which manages the Zara chain. Its real estate portfolio includes logistics, residential and office properties, mainly in Europe and the United States. 14. Carlos Slim (Mexico) Net worth: US$ 102 billion (R$ 516 billion) The businessman was the richest person in the world and still remains the richest in Latin America. His fortune grew last year thanks to the appreciation of the Mexican peso and a 60% jump in the share price of his industrial conglomerate, Grupo Carso. Slim and his family control América Móvil, the largest mobile telecommunications company in Latin America. A growing club In the last decade, the wealth of club members has increased by 255%, a growth much greater than the wealth of the average billionaire. As most fortunes are invested in financial markets, the value of these assets constantly rises and falls. That’s how Bill Gates briefly reached the “one hundred billion” mark in 1999, before his net worth fell by almost half during the tech crisis. No one managed to break the record again for nearly two decades, even when markets were making a lot of money just before the Great Recession of 2008-2009. The story continued like this until Jeff Bezos finally broke the mark again in 2017, becoming the second member of the $100 billion tycoon club thanks to Amazon’s spectacular rise in market value. It was only in 2021 that Bezos was no longer alone at the top, when Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault and Bill Gates joined him. Nowadays, with the rise of mega-riches around the world, someone joining this club is becoming more and more common.

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