fortune
The 10 richest men in the world
Forbes magazine published the ranking, in September 2024, of the 10 richest people on the planet.
Forbes magazine, renowned in particular for its various rankings of fortunes and heritage, recently unveiled the updated ranking of the richest personalities in the world. If Elon Musk maintains his position at the top of the ranking at the start of the 2024 school year, the various turbulences in technological stocks have shaken up the ranks of the other richest personalities in the world, like Larry Ellison who lost a place.
10th. Steve Ballmer ($122.5 billion)
A classmate of Bill Gates when they were both studying at Harvard, he joined Microsoft as an employee in 1980, after dropping out of Stanford University’s MBA program. Current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise, Steve Ballmer’s fortune has declined by $1.5 billion over the past month, with Microsoft stock seeing a slight decline. With his wife Connie, Steve Ballmer is one of the 25 most generous philanthropists in the United States.
9th. Sergey Brin ($130.4 billion)
With Larry Page, his classmate at Stanford Larry Page, he founded what would become the number 1 search engine: Google. A member of the board of directors of Alphabet (the parent company of Google), he recently lost 1 place in the ranking following the depreciation of his fortune by 5.7 billion dollars, a consequence of the general decline observed among companies of tech.
8th. Larry Page ($136.1 billion)
It was in 1998 that Larry Page, with his colleague Sergey Brin cited just before in this ranking, decided to take advantage of the rise of new technologies and computers to found Google, which over the years would become one of the the most powerful companies in the world. Today a member of the board of directors of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, he continues to be the majority shareholder and entered the top 10 of the richest personalities in the world following a rise notable 15% of Alphabet’s share price in May 2023.
Suffering from the current difficulties of tech companies, Larry Page’s fortune fell by $6.1 billion in August, due to a 5% drop in Alphabet shares.
7th. Bill Gates ($137.2 billion)
The co-founder of Microsoft can boast of having, through his vision, changed the face of the world with his Microsoft software. CEO of the company for 25 years, he is now involved in various business projects such as “Business Angel”. The richest person in the world from 1995 to 2017 (with the exception of 2008 and 2010 to 2013), he is one of the richest men in the world with the longest longevity in this position.
6th. Warren Buffett ($149.9 billion)
The man nicknamed “the Oracle of Omaha” or the “Sage of Omaha”, because of his numerous investment successes, heads the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and is the owner of numerous companies, including Geico, Duracell and Dairy Queen. He bought his first shares at age 11 and filed his first tax return at 13. In 2010, with Bill and Melinda Gates, he co-founded the Giving Pledge, pledging to donate 99% of his fortune to charity. He has already donated $59.3 billion. After falling to tenth place in July 2023, it rose back to sixth place in August, thanks to a rise in shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
5th. Larry Ellison ($174.7 billion)
Larry Ellison, 80, co-founded the software company Oracle in 1977. Now chairman of the board and chief technology officer of the company, Oracle has made a series of acquisitions significant, including the acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010 for $7.4 billion. In 2012, Larry Ellison purchased 98% of the island of Lanai for $300 million and moved there in 2020, while owning properties in California and Nevada. He also invested in Tesla and served on its board of directors from 2018 to 2022. In February 2024, he was overtaken by Mark Zuckerberg, moving to fifth place in the richest ranking, but regained fourth place in July before coming back down in September.
4th. Mark Zuckerberg ($180.5 billion)
The founder of Facebook consolidates his position in the top 4 of the richest personalities in the world, despite a loss of interest among younger people for the social network. The Meta group expanded its galaxy by purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp and was listed on the stock market in 2012. Holding around 13% of the shares Mark Zuckerberg sees his fortune fluctuate strongly depending on the group’s listing results, such as in August 2023 where the increase of Meta shares by 9% allowed him to increase his fortune by 13.9 billion dollars. Furthermore, Meta has invested heavily in AI and the metaverse, two major areas that Zuckerberg now wishes to develop.
3rd. Bernard Arnault ($189.7 billion)
The only non-American in the ranking, the CEO of the French luxury group LVMH saw his position in the ranking largely shaken up in 2024. After dominating the ranking for a time, the Frenchman saw himself fall to third place in the ranking in June 2024 , despite an increase in his fortune of $10.2 billion due to the rise in LVMH shares. Born into a wealthy family, he used $15 million to buy Christian Dior and built the world’s largest luxury group, including brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany & Co.
2nd. Jeff Bezos ($197 billion)
Founder of the E-commerce giant Amazon in 1994, Jeff Bezos was for a long time an undisputed leader in the ranking of the richest people in the world. A title that he saw stolen several times, notably by the Frenchman Bernard Arnault. In 2019, Jeff Bezos divorced his wife MacKenzie, who obtained 4% of Amazon shares, while he kept 12%. He has since reduced his stake to less than 10% and sold more than $27 billion worth of stock. Through Bezos Expeditions, he has invested in various companies, including Airbnb and Workday.
1st. Elon Musk ($243.7 billion)
The decadent CEO of SpaceX, Originally from South Africa, Elon Musk studied in Canada and the United States before co-founding X.com, which merged with a Peter Thiel company to form PayPal, acquired by eBay in 2002. He later founded SpaceX in 2002 and joined Tesla in 2004, where he became CEO in 2008. Under his leadership, Tesla experienced strong growth in the stock market, making him the richest person in the world on several occasions. In May 2024, he regained first place thanks to funding of six billion dollars for his start-up xAI, of which he owns 60%.
