It was a down year for many of the planet’s 2,640 billionaires–including those at the very top of the top. The 25 richest people in the world are worth a collective $2.1 trillion, according to Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list, released Tuesday–down a combined $200 billion from $2.3 trillion in 2022.
Two-thirds of the top 25 are poorer than they were last year, compared to around half of the list overall. No one lost more than Jeff Bezos as Amazon shares crashed by 38%. The drop lopped $57 billion from Bezos’ fortune and knocked him from No. 2 in the world in 2022 to No. 3 this year. This year’s second-biggest loser, Elon Musk, had it worse. He lost his title of world’s richest person after his pricey purchase of Twitter, which he funded in part by the sale of Tesla shares, helping to spook investors. Musk, who is worth $39 billion less than a year ago, is now No. 2.
Two people lost their spot among the top 25. Zhang Yiming, who founded Tik Tok-parent Bytedance, dropped one place, from No. 25 to No. 26, as his embattled company has taken a haircut from investors. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, fell from No. 19 last year all the way to No. 167 amid the crypto winter.
Still, it’s not all bad news among this elite set. Bernard Arnault, head of luxury goods giant LVMH, is up $53 billion–more than any billionaire, and enough to vault him into No. 1 spot for the first time. Eight other members of the top 25 got richer since the 2022 ranking, including Spanish retailer Amancio Ortega (+$17.7 billion), Bloomberg LP cofounder and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg (+$12.5 billion) and Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú (+$11.8 billion).
With so many fortunes dropping around them, two billionaires joined the top 25 this year: Canadian media mogul David Thomson and Nike cofounder Phil Knight.
Americans dominate the top of the billionaires ranks, taking 17 of the 25 spots, followed by France and India, with two apiece. The top 25 mostly made their money in technology (eight list members) and fashion & retail (seven).
Here are the 25 richest people on the 2023 World’s Billionaires list (Net worths are as of March 10, 2023)
No comments:
Post a Comment