4 Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, launched his flagship social media platform Facebook in 2004 when he was just 19 years old. He was a computer science and psychology student at Harvard University. Facebook was created to match students’ names with their photos on campus. In 2006, Facebook opened to anyone at least 13 years old with a valid email address.
In May 2012, Zuckerberg took the company public, and by December 2016, he was ranked 10th on the Forbes list of the world’s most powerful people. Currently, Zuckerberg owns about 13 percent of the company’s stock.
Takei, 39, is married to Priscilla Chan and is the father of three daughters. Together with his wife, he is spending $3 billion to end, cure or manage all diseases by the year 2100.
3. Bernard Arnault and Family
French national Bernard Arnault is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company. LVMH brands include Louis Vuitton, Hennessy, Marc Jacobs and Sephora. Most of Arnault’s wealth comes from his huge stake in LVMH. Its shares in LVMH are held by entities associated with Financier Agache; An investment firm that manages its fortunes. Notable names in its portfolio include Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Moët & Chandon, and Sephora. In January 2021, LVMH completed the acquisition of jeweler Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion.
2. Jeff Bezos
In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in a garage in Seattle, shortly after he resigned from the hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw. He had originally pitched the idea of an online bookstore to his former boss David E. Shaw, who wasn’t interested.
Though Amazon originally started out selling books, it has since morphed into a one-stop shop for everything under the sun and is expected to overtake Walmart as the world’s largest retailer by 2024. Amazon’s pattern of constant diversification is evident in some of its unexpected expansions, which include acquiring Whole Foods in 2017 and entering the pharmacy business the same year.
Bezos owned as much as 16% of Amazon in 2019 before transferring 4% to his former wife, MacKenzie Scott, as part of their divorce proceedings. In 2020, Amazon’s share price jumped 76% on the heightened demand for online shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as CEO of the e-commerce giant, becoming its executive chair.
1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world. He is the CEO of several prominent companies, including electric car maker Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX. He currently has a 23 percent stake in Tesla. A significant portion of his wealth, nearly two-thirds, is tied to Tesla’s success. In October 2022, Musk made headlines when he bought Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk led Tesla to its initial public offering in 2010. The company experienced significant growth in market capitalization during 2020 and 2021, catapulting Musk into the top 10 richest people in the world in September 2021. At its peak in November 2021, Musk’s fortunes reached. A staggering $320 billion.