As of 2024, the landscape of global wealth has seen some familiar faces, along with a few new entrants. These individuals have amassed their fortunes through a combination of innovative ventures, strategic investments, and, in many cases, the burgeoning tech industry. Here is a detailed look at the top 10 richest people in the world in 2024.
The year 2024 has continued to see significant growth in wealth among the world’s richest individuals. The technology sector remains a dominant force, contributing substantially to the net worth of several top billionaires. Additionally, the energy sector, particularly renewable energy, has emerged as a key area of wealth accumulation.
Economic Factors Influencing Wealth
Several economic factors have influenced the accumulation of wealth in 2024, including advancements in technology, shifts in global markets, and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. These elements have shaped the financial landscapes and investment opportunities available to the world’s wealthiest individuals.
10. Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer, a Harvard University classmate of Bill Gates, assumed the CEO role at Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. His journey with Microsoft began in 1980 when he joined as the company’s 30th employee, having dropped out of the MBA at Stanford University.
In the same year that Ballmer retired from Microsoft, he made headlines by acquiring the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for a staggering $2 billion, setting a new benchmark for the highest price paid for an NBA team at that time.
9. Bill Gates
In 1987, Forbes first recognised Gates as a billionaire. From 1995 to 2017, he maintained the title of the world’s richest person, with brief exceptions in 2008 and from 2010 to 2013. In 2021, Gates and Melinda French Gates finalised their divorce, with Melinda receiving at least $6 billion in stocks as part of the settlement. After running Microsoft for 25 years, Gates turned his attention to philanthropic ventures. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation began working in India in 2003, and with its Avahan initiative for HIV prevention, it is estimated to have prevented 6,00,000 new infections.
8. Warren Buffett.
Warren Buffett, widely known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” is one of the most accomplished investors in history. He heads Berkshire Hathaway, an investment conglomerate with a diverse portfolio that includes numerous companies, insurance provider Geico, battery maker Duracell, Apple, Nu Holdings and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.
In 2010, Buffett and Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates established the Giving Pledge initiative, which urges billionaires to donate at least 50 percent of their wealth to charitable organizations. Demonstrating his unwavering philanthropic commitment, Buffett has expressed his intention to donate 99 percent of his wealth.
7. Sergey Brin.
Sergey Brin was born in Moscow, Russia, moving to the US with his family in 1979 when he was six years old. had gone After co-founding Google with Larry Page in 1998, Brin became Google’s president of technology when Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001. In addition to its dominant Internet search engine, Google offers a suite of online tools and services called Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides and more. . Google also offers a variety of electronic devices, including Pixel smartphones, computers and tablets, Nest smart home devices, and the Stadia gaming platform.
6. Larry Page
Like some of the tech billionaires on this list, Larry Page began his path to fame and fortune in a college dorm room. While studying at Stanford University in 1995, Page and his friend Sergey Brin came up with an idea to improve Internet data extraction. After its ability to evaluate a page’s links, the duo created a new search engine technology known as backrub.
From there, Page and Brin founded Google in 1998, with Page serving as the company’s CEO until 2001 and again between 2011 and 2019.3536
Google is the world’s dominant Internet search engine, accounting for over 92% of global search requests. In 2006, the company bought YouTube, the top platform for user-submitted videos.3738
US Securities and Exchange Commission. “Google to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.”
5. Larry Ellison.
Larry Ellison was born in New York City to a 19-year-old single mother. After dropping out of the University of Chicago in 1966, Ellison moved to California and worked as a computer programmer. In 1973, he joined electronics company Ampex, where he met future partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner. Three years later, Ellison moved to Precision Instruments, serving as the company’s vice president of research and development.57
In 1977, Ellison founded Software Development Laboratories with Oates and Miner. Two years later, the company released Oracle, the first commercial relational database program to use a structured query language. The database program proved so popular that SDL changed its name to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. Ellison left his role as CEO at Oracle in 2014 after 37 years.