Jeff Bezos ($185.5 billion)
The leading position has long belonged to Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon. His fortune totals $185.5 billion. A bit earlier, he had $177 billion. However, the founder of one of the world’s largest online retailers has managed to increase his capital. Notably, in February 2021, Jeff Bezos decided to step down from his job as the CEO of Amazon to become the company’s executive chair. The billionaire is planning to devote his free time to charity, as well as to the Washington Post and the aerospace company, Blue Origin, which belong to him.
Elon Musk ($177.4 billion)
Two billionaires, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Bernard Arnault, CEO of Dior and Louis Vuitton, were severely struggling for second place. The first one turned out to be a winner. At the moment, Elon Musk’s fortune totals $177.4 billion. Curiously, Bernard Arnault ranked second until August 2021. However, then, Elon Musk outran him. According to the estimates, just in one year, the capital of the CEO of Tesla jumped by more than $100 billion. In January of this year, when shares of the electric car maker surged by more than 1,000%, Elon Musk became the world’s wealthiest billionaire for the first time in his life. Despite the short-lived triumph, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX is still on top. From 2016 to 2020, his wealth grew by 14 times, more than the capital of other billionaires.
Bernard Arnault ($173.2 billion)
According to Forbes, third place in the list of billionaires was given to Bernard Arnault, the owner of such popular brands as Dior and Louis Vuitton. At the end of August of 2021, he took second place in the list, but then was outrun by Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX. The main reason for such a failure was a drop in shares of the LVMH holding that belongs to Bernard Arnault and his family. The company’s shares depreciated by 12.6%. As a result, the businessman’s fortune slid by almost $21 billion to $173.2 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg ($130 billion)
Mark Zuckerberg, a creator of the popular social network, Facebook, was ranked fourth. Earlier, he could hardly reach fifth place but the situation has changed. Divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates was the main driver of a rise in Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune. The fact is that after the divorce, Bill Gates lost some of his savings and his ranking dropped. Notably, the global social network became even more popular. About 98% of Zuckerberg’s fortune is kept in Facebook shares.
Bill Gates ($129.6 billion)
Bill Gates, a founder of Microsoft, closes the list of top 5 global billionaires according to Forbes. Not so long ago, he was confidently occupying fourth place. However, a divorce knocked him out of the race. Bill Gates gave his ex-wife shares worth $5.7 billion. At the moment, his fortune totals $129.6 billion and is smaller compared to the capital of Mark Zuckerberg. Just after the divorce, Cascade Investment, a company that manages the billionaire's investments, transferred part of the securities to his ex-wife. According to Bloomberg, the couple fairly divided the property acquired during 27 years of marriage.
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