Jeff Bezos of Amazon held the title of richest person in the world as of the list’s measurement date with a net worth of $201 billion, but Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX has since reclaimed it (at least temporarily). On September 27, Musk became the third person (and second American) to ever have a net worth of $200 billion.
Two newcomers to the top 20 this year are investor Len Blavatnik, who since June 2020 has made both Warner Music and cloud computing company DigitalOcean publicly traded, and Stephen Schwarzman, the co-founder of alternative investments behemoth Blackstone. They take the place of the late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson (who passed away in January) and two siblings who are the heirs to the Mars confectionery empire.
- Jeff Bezos
NET WORTH: $201 billion (up from $179 billion).
SOURCE: Amazon
In July, Bezos announced his resignation as CEO of Amazon. He then immediately launched himself into space on the first human spacecraft of his business Blue Origin, spending 10 minutes outside the atmosphere. His net worth has increased significantly over the past year, rising $22 billion, making him the first member of The Forbes 400 to be valued more than $200 billion.
- Elon Musk
NET WORTH: $190.5 billion (up from $68 billion)
SOURCE: Tesla, SpaceX
Thanks to selling of emissions credits, Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, has indeed been productive for eight straight quarters and achieved its greatest net income ever in July, helping to increase his fortune by $120 billion in a single year. He presented ideas for the Tesla Bot, a humanoid robot that would utilize the same technologies as Tesla cars, in August. His rocket business, SpaceX, finished its first voyage with only civilians aboard in September.
- Mark Zuckerberg
NET WORTH: $134.5 billion (up from $85 billion)
SOURCE: Facebook
The Federal Trade Commissioner re-filed a complaint in August that, if it is successful, may compel Facebook to separate its WhatsApp and Instagram businesses. No amount of regulatory risk or controversy, even President Biden’s criticism of Facebook for spreading false information about vaccines, has been able to stop the social media company’s steady rise in the stock market thus far. Facebook’s market value reached $1 trillion for the very first time in June. Its CEO and founder’s net worth increased by $49.5 billion in just one year.
- Bill Gates
NET WORTH: $134 billion (up from $111 billion)
SOURCE: Microsoft
For first time in thirty years, Gates falls outside of the top two. The Microsoft co-founder gave Melinda French Gates $5.7 billion in shares in organizations including Canadian National Railway and Deere & Co. after their 27-year marriage came to an end in May. He invested $2.2 billion in September to increase his ownership of Four Seasons Hotels from 48% to 71%.
5. Larry Page
NET WORTH: $123 billion
SOURCE: Google
- Sergey Brin
NET WORTH: $118.5 billion (up from $65.7 billion)
SOURCE: Google
In the midst of a Congressional antitrust probe, the pair resigned as Alphabet’s CEO and President, respectively, in late 2019. They continue to serve on the board and hold controlling interests in the company, though. According to reports, Page has been staying in Fiji to weather the pandemic while Brin, whose yachts was recently spotted close to Tahiti and Fiji, opened a Singapore branch of his family business.
- Larry Ellison
NET WORTH: $117.3 billion (up from $72 billion)
SOURCE: Software
The Hawaiian island of Lanai, which the Oracle co-founder, chief technology officer, and chairman purchased for $300 million in 2012, disclosed in December 2020 that he had relocated there. He purchased a Palm Beach estate for $80 million in April, which he apparently intends to demolish.
- Warren Buffett
NET WORTH: $102 billion (up from $73.5 billion)
SOURCE: Berkshire Hathaway
A Oracle of Omaha has been building a portfolio for the twenty-first century despite his infamous reluctance to invest in tech stocks. Currently, Apple, Amazon, and Snowflake all have billion-dollar holdings in Berkshire Hathaway. It invested $500 million in Brazilian fintech Nubank in June.
- Steve Ballmer
NET WORTH: $96.5 billion (up from $69 billion)
SOURCE: Microsoft
The fiery former CEO of Microsoft donated $38 million to organizations in Washington to help fill the state’s behavioral health workforce gap; roughly a quarter of the state’s adult residents suffering mental illness reported being unable to receive care. Construction on a new 18,000-seat facility for his NBA team, the Los Angeles Clippers, which is expected to cost him over $1 billion, began in September.
- Michael Bloomberg
NET WORTH: $70 billion (up from $55 billion)
SOURCE: Bloomberg LP
The former mayor of New York City donated $1.6 billion through his Bloomberg Philanthropies in addition to spending $1.2 billion on his unsuccessful presidential campaign and backing several candidates in the 2020 race. His charitable contributions this year have gone toward the Covid-19 response effort, reducing climate change, and establishing an Emma Center at Princeton to promote student diversity. on.
- Jim Walton
NET WORTH: $68.8 billion (up from $62.1 billion)
SOURCE: Walmart
- Alice Walton
NET WORTH: $67.9 billion (up from $62.3 billion)
SOURCE: Walmart
- Rob Walton
NET WORTH: $67.6 billion (up from $61.8 billion)
SOURCE: Walmart
In response to a nationwide labor crisis, Walmart, the largest private employer in the country, is eliminating quarterly bonuses for retail employees while increasing its base pay by $1 to $12 an hour. Despite selling off almost $6.4 billion worth of stock during the previous year, the founder Sam Walton’s offspring still hold an estimate 39% of the retailing giant’s shares, which are up 14% since last year. On the board, only Rob is seated.
- Phil Knight & family
NET WORTH: $59.9 billion (up from $39.2 billion)
SOURCE: Nike
Nike experienced a robust rebound from the pandemic’s first year, with sales increasing by 19% to about $45 billion for such fiscal year ending in May 2021. In August, shares of the massive sportswear company Knight established reached a record high. In July, he and his wife Penny pledged a further $500 million to his alma mater, the University of Oregon.
- MacKenzie Scott
NET WORTH: $58.5 billion (up from $57 billion)
SOURCE: Amazon
The media former of Jeff Bezos is dispersing her riches with a speed and secrecy that is virtually unheard of. She has given $2.7 billion to 286 organizations so far this year, raising her total donations since July 2020 to about $8.6 billion. Her gifts frequently occur as a surprise to the recipients and are given without conditions, but she has received requests for greater transparency. News of her marriage to a Seattle science instructor who taught at the exclusive school where her kids attend surfaced in March.
- Charles Koch
NET WORTH: $51 billion (up from $45 billion)
SOURCE: Koch Industries
- Julia Koch & family
NET WORTH: $51 billion (up from $45 billion)
SOURCE: Koch Industries
Charles Koch, the CEO of Koch Industries, has invested $19 billion in innovation expenditures since 2017 in an attempt to improve his industrial behemoth. Several of its portfolio companies, including the startup for automation Outrider, have teamed up with Koch affiliates like the paper products manufacturer Georgia-Pacific. Each of Charles and Julia Koch, the widow of his brother David, owns 42% of the business.
- Michael Dell
NET WORTH: $50.1 billion (up from $35.6 billion)
SOURCE: Dell computers
Since the list from the previous year, shares of Dell Technology have increased by 60%, adding roughly $15 billion to the company’s chairman and CEO’s wealth. Dell Technologies declared in April that it would spin off its prized asset, an 81% interest in industry leader in cloud infrastructure VMware, even by end of the year. Both businesses’ chairman will be Michael Dell.
- Stephen Schwarzman
NET WORTH: $37.4 billion (up from $19.1 billion)
SOURCE: Investments
Schwarzman’s alternative investments behemoth Blackstone, which raised its assets managed from $564 billion to $684 billion during the past year, has benefited from strengthening capital markets. Its share price has also increased during that period, increasing his net worth by $18.3 billion and placing him for the first time among the top 20 wealthiest people in the country. By the time it closed in March, Blackstone’s first growth equity fund had collected $4.5 billion and had made investments in the oat milk producer Oatly and the dating app Bumble. The company’s CEO and chairman is Schwarzman, who cofounded it in 1985.
- Len Blavatnik
NET WORTH: $36.7 billion (up from $25 billion)
SOURCE: Music, chemicals
The cloud computing company DigitalOcean, funded by Blavatnik, raised $5 billion in its initial public offering in March, which enabled the billionaire from the Soviet Union to finally enter the top 20. Since last year’s list, shares of Blavatnik’s Warner Music Group have increased by 35%, and his sports streaming service, DAZN, has attracted close to 10 million customers.
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