Billionaires play a major role in helping influence the world, from political decisions to social and economic reforms. Forbes put the world’s billionaires list at 2,755. However, only a few – 10 to be exact – currently have $100 billion or more in net worth each. Many of these billionaires are founders of tech companies, and most of their fortunes are encased in the companies they started
Note that many billionaires are taxed differently or not at all on their wealth because a lot of their gains are unrealized – which means they haven’t sold any stocks or shares, and therefore haven’t had to pay taxes yet. In addition, while some billionaires own several billion dollars in cash, many also own investments in private assets, such as private companies, real estate, or other public companies.
But because a lot of top billionaires’ fortunes are encased in public stocks, their net worth can fluctuate a lot from year to year. For example, Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla and the richest person in the world as of January 19, 2022, saw his net worth increase in 2021 thanks to the increase in Tesla stock (he owns 23% of the company) – with Tesla shares rising by more than 32% in 2021.314
Here are the 10 individuals who are currently the richest at the time this article was updated – January. 19, 2022 – according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
1. Elon Musk
Age: 50
Residence: Texas
Co-founder and CEO: Tesla (TSLA)
Net Worth: $269 billion
Tesla Ownership Stake: 18% ($186 billion)
Other Assets: Space Exploration Technologies ($40.3 billion private assets), $4 billion in cash5674
Elon Musk has worked for many different companies over the years. Musk originally attended Stanford University, and postponed his attendance to launch Zip2, one of the oldest online navigation services. A portion of the proceeds from this endeavor were reinvested to create X.com, an online payment system that later became PayPal. While both systems were eventually sold to other companies, Musk maintained his position as CEO and lead designer of his third project, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), which aims to make space exploration more affordable.
2. Jeff Bezos
Age: 58
Residence: Washington
Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon (AMZN)
Net Worth: $187 billion
Amazon Ownership Stake: 10% ($162 billion)
Other Assets: Blue Origin ($9.15 billion private assets), The Washington Post ($250 million private assets), and $16.1 billion in cash18
In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in a Seattle auto repair garage, shortly after quitting hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw.19 had pitched the idea of an online bookstore to his former boss, David E. Shaw, who wasn’t interested.
3. Bernard Arnault
Age: 72
Residence: Paris, France
CEO and Chair: LVMH (LVMUY)
Net Worth: $164 billion
Christian Dior Ownership Stake: 97.5% ($137 billion total)
Other Assets: Moelis & Company equity ($24.6 billion public assets), Hermès equity (undisclosed stake), and $11.2 billion in cash3132
Bernard Arnault of France is President and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company. This business owns some of the biggest brands on earth, including Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora.
4. Bill Gates
Age: 66
Residence: Washington
Cofounder: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Net Worth: $133 billion
Microsoft Ownership Stake: 1.3% ($31.9 billion)
Other Assets: Cascade Investment LLC ($60 billion public and private assets), $56.5 billion in cash38
While attending Harvard University in 1975, Bill Gates went to work alongside his childhood friend Paul Allen to develop new software for the original microcomputers. After the success of this project, Gates dropped out of Harvard during his freshman year and went on to found Microsoft with Allen.
5. Larry Page
Age: 48
Residence: California
Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
Net Worth: $124 billion
Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($107 billion total)
Other Assets: $14.4 billion in cash53
Like many of the tech billionaires on this list, Larry Page’s claim to fame began in a college dorm room. While attending Stanford University in 1995, Page and his friend Sergey Brin came up with the idea of improving data mining capabilities while accessing the Internet. The duo created a new type of search engine technology they called “Backrub”, named after its ability to analyze “supporting links”. From there, Page and Brin went on to found Google in 1998, with the former serving as the company’s CEO until he stepped down in 2001.
6. Mark Zuckerberg
Age: 37
Residence: California
Co-founder, CEO, and Chair: Meta (FB)
Net Worth: $124 billion
Facebook Ownership Stake: 13% ($115 billion)
Other Assets: $3.5 billion in cash64
Mark Zuckerberg first developed Facebook (now Meta) along with fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes while attending Harvard University in 2004. With Facebook beginning to be used at other universities, Zuckerberg withdrew from Harvard to focus entirely on his growing business. . Today, Zuckerberg is the CEO and president of Meta, which had more than 2.9 billion monthly active users as of the third quarter of 2021.
7. Sergey Brin
Age: 48
Residence: California
Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
Net Worth: $119 billion
Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($102 billion total)
Other Assets: $14.7 billion in cash72
What makes Google unique, compared to the other companies on this list, is that its founders are relatively close in terms of total wealth. Sergey Brin’s Google post follows a similar path to page sharing. After the duo founded the company in 1998, Brin served as co-chairman alongside Page until Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001. Likewise, after founding Alphabet in 2015, Brin served as president of the holding company before stepping down in 2019 when Sundar Pichai took over as CEO.
8. Warren Buffett
Age: 91
Residence: Nebraska
CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
Net Worth: $117 billion
Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 16% ($115 billion)
Other Assets: $1.13 billion in cash78
Warren Buffett, the most famous value-for-living investor, filed his first tax return in 1944 at the age of 14, declaring his earnings through his childhood paperwork.79 He first bought shares in a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway in 1962, becoming the majority shareholder by 1965. . He expanded the company to include insurance and other investments in 1967. Now, Berkshire Hathaway is a half-trillion dollar company, with one share of stock (Class A shares) trading at more than $477,000 per share as of January 18, 2022.
9. Steve Ballmer
Age: 65
Residence: Washington
Owner: Los Angeles Clippers
Net Worth: $111 billion
Microsoft Ownership Stake: 4% ($101 billion total)
Other Assets: Los Angeles Clippers ($2.63 billion private assets), $5.03 billion in cash87
Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 after Bill Gates persuaded him to drop out of the Stanford University MBA program. He was the thirtieth employee at Microsoft. Ballmer went on to become CEO of Microsoft in 2000, succeeding Bill Gates. He held the position until his resignation in 2014. As part of his tenure, he oversaw the 2011 purchase of Skype for $8.5 billion.
10. Larry Ellison
Age: 77
Residence: Hawaii
Co-founder, CTO, and Chair: Oracle (ORCL)
Net Worth: $107 billion
Oracle Ownership Stake: 40% ($71.3 billion)
Other Assets: Tesla equity ($15.5 billion public assets) and $17.2 billion in cash90
After dropping out from the University of Chicago in 1966, Larry Ellison moved to California and worked as a computer programmer for several companies over the years. First, in 1973, he was an employee of the electronics company Ampex, where he met his future partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner. Three years later, Ellison joined Precision Instruments, where he served as the company’s vice president of research and development
By 1977, Ellison founded the Software Development Laboratories (SDL) along with Oates and Miner, which two years later released Oracle, the first commercial relational database software to use Structured Query Language. to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. Additionally, Ellison joined the Tesla Board of Directors in December 2018.