The World's Richest Man is No Longer Elon Musk; Bernard Arnault Takes His Place

In the past few months, Elon Musk has lost the number one spot as the richest man on the planet, according to Forbes magazine. Musk was the founder of SpaceX, the CEO of Tesla, Inc., and the CEO of Twitter, Inc. In addition to being the founder of the Boring Company, the co-founder of Neuralink, the open source software startup and the president of the Musk Foundation, all of which were founded by him.

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Musk recently fell out of the top spot of the list of the richest people in the world due to the disgraceful removal by Bernard Arnault & family of Musk as the richest man in the world. More importantly, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, becomes the third richest person on this list.

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After a record-breaking year at LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tiffany & Co., and other luxury brands, the French tycoon has been named the World's Billionaires for the first time on the list. LVMH shares, revenues, and profits are all at record highs, helping Arnault to build a fortune that has risen by $53 billion over the past 12 months – the biggest gain for any billionaire over the past 12 months. Arnault is now more wealthy than he was a decade ago, and he is now now planning for the succession in the family business: In July, he proposed a dramatic restructuring of his holding company, Agache, which holds the bulk of his LVMH stock, so that each of his five children would have equal stakes in it.

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Elon Musk

Combined net worth is $180 billion | Source of wealth is Tesla, SpaceX | Age: 51 | Citizenship: American.

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Tesla stock has fallen nearly 50% since Musk announced he planned to take over Twitter for $44 billion in April, far exceeding the 18% fall of the tech-heavy Nasdaq index. Musk has mostly tweeted himself out of the top spot. He has been criticized by investors for selling $23 billion worth of Tesla shares to finance the acquisition. SpaceX's stock, on the other hand, continues to rise, as a tender offer closed early in 2023 at nearly $140 billion for the company - a significant increase from its valuation last May of $127 billion. It is still the case, however, that Musk's net worth has diminished by $39 billion since last year.

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Jeff Bezos

Its net worth is $114 billion dollars | Source of Wealth: Amazon | Age: 59 | Citizenship: U.S.

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It is no secret that Bezos has flown into space with his company Blue Origin since stepping down as Amazon CEO in 2021, made waves with a $5 million super yacht and stepped up his philanthropic efforts, supporting a number of groups including the Free Preschool Bezos Academy and grants from the Bezos Earth Fund. It's not going to be good for his fortune either: A 38% drop in Amazon stock has left him $57 billion poorer than a year ago, which is the biggest loss of any billionaire since the company was formed.

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Larry Ellison

A net worth of $107 billion | Oracle is his source of wealth | Age: 78 | Citizenship: American

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As Oracle shares increased 10% on solid earnings and a focus on security during a tough year for tech, the chairman and former CEO rose four spots amid a tough year. Last summer, Ellison bought one of the most expensive homes in Florida, adding to his list of luxurious properties, including his home on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, where he lives. After serving on Tesla's board for four years, he stepped down in August.

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Warren Buffett

$106 billion net worth | Berkshire Hathaway source of wealth | 92 years old | Citizenship: American

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Since Berkshire Hathaway bought Alleghany Corp. for $11.5 billion in October of last year, Buffett has been spending some $90 billion of Berkshire Hathaway's cash in stocks, share buybacks and an aggressive acquisition spree. It has been reported that the Oracle of Omaha, who is well versed in market crises, was advising the Biden administration in late March on potential bank runs and possible investments in regional banks.

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Bill Gates

An American citizen with a net worth of $104 billion | Source of Wealth: Microsoft | Age: 67 | Citizenship: American

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As of 2020, Gates is no longer a part of the Microsoft board, but he still works 10% of his time with Microsoft employees – including those working for OpenAI - a startup backed by Microsoft. Gates recently told Forbes that generative artificial intelligence tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT are just as important as the PC, the internet, Gates said in February. The Gates Foundation, which he owns and co-chairs with his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, is currently running at full capacity, with the goal of winding down within 25 years, and gaining more resources to spend.

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Michael Bloomberg

His net worth is $94.5 billion | His source of wealth is Bloomberg LP | His age is 81 | His citizenship is United States.

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While Bloomberg LP co-founder Michael Bloomberg donated an additional $1.7 billion over the past year to charitable organizations, Bloomberg LP's fortune still rose, as it is estimated that his financial terminal and media business will generate $13.3 billion in revenue in 2022, up from $12.5 billion in 2021. In a New York Times opinion piece published in March, Bloomberg, who has been a longtime supporter of Israel, criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to weaken the judicial system of the country.

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Carlos Slim Helú & family

Wealth: $93 billion | Source of Wealth: Telecom | Age: 83 | Citizenship: Mexican

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In the past year alone, the New York-listed shares of Slim's pan–Latin American mobile phone firm, América Móvil, rose 14%, thereby allowing him to increase his wealth by over $12 billion and make him a global ten-thousand-dollar individual for the first time. A few months ago, when his historic Manhattan mansion – located directly opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art - was up for sale, he paid almost twice as much in 2010 for it.

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Mukesh Ambani

A net worth of $83.4 billion | A source of wealth that is diverse | An age of 65 | An Indian nationality

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A new record is in place for the richest person in the world. In this year's list, Ambani reclaimed the number 24 spot as Gautam Adani (No. 24) dropped. Last year, his oil-to-telecom company, Reliance Industries, was the first Indian company to exceed $100 billion in revenue. As part of his succession plans last year, he gave his children key positions: Akash, his oldest son, is chairman of Jio Infocomm, Isha, the company's retail division; and Anant, the company's new ventures, is also heading that organization.

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Steve Ballmer

Wealth: $80.7 billion | Citizen of the United States | Age: 67 | Source of Wealth: Microsoft

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The former Microsoft CEO takes his fame from his networks in the tech industry, however. The former CEO is a millionaire and has a fortune worth $10 billion. As a result of the slump in Microsoft shares, Ballmer’s L.A. Clippers are flying high. He’s building a privately-funded $2 billion arena that will be finished in 2024.

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Françoise Bettencourt Meyers & family

A net worth of $80.5 billion | A source of wealth of L'Oréal | A physical age of 69 | A French citizenship

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In the last 12 months, a 12% increase in the shares of the cosmetics giant has helped the L'Oréal heiress keep her title of world's richest woman for the third year in a row. She has also committed $230 million to constructing Notre-Dame Cathedral, as well as hiring a managing director for her investment firm, Téthys Invest, which focuses on projects including the management of Elsan private hospitals in France.

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Larry Page

An estimated net worth of $79.2 billion | Source of Wealth: Google | Age: 50 | Citizenship: American.

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In late 2022, when the generative AI arms race fueled by ChatGPT was in full swing, Page and co-founder Sergey Brin (No. 14) attended strategy meetings in late 2022 during a period in which Page had stepped away from day-to-day operations. There has also been no selling of Page's stock: After selling over $2.5 billion (pretax) between May 2021 and April 2022, he hasn't sold any shares since.

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Amancio Ortega

Wealth: $77.3 billion | Source of Wealth: Zara | Age: 87 | Citizenship: Spaniard

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It has been quite some while since he founded his Inditex fashion retail empire, which specializes in Zara. During the past 12 months, the stock of the company has risen 39% because of brisk sales; revenue for the period from January 31, 2023, to the end of January 31, 2023, increased 18% to nearly $35 billion. During that period, Ortega's fortune has risen by almost $18 billion. His daughter Marta Ortega has been named as Inditex's chair since April 2022.

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Sergey Brin

$76 Billion in net worth | Source of wealth: Google | Age: 49 | Citizen: American

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The same way Larry Page (No. 12) stopped what the two men called their "daily nagging" at Google in 2019, Brin has also quit. However, is Brin back? It appears that he submitted a code request in January, which was his first in a few years, and he has been making code updates to Google's artificial intelligence chatbot since then as well. Brin has donated $1.1 billion total to Parkinson's disease research in the past few years after selling more than $2.5 billion worth of Alphabet shares between May 2021 and April 2022. Between May 2021 and April 2022, he has only gifted stock. He has donated more than $1.5 billion.

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Zhong Shanshan

A net worth of $68 billion | Source of wealth: beverages, pharmaceuticals | Age: 68 | Citizenship: Chinese

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A third consecutive year has passed since China’s bottled water king has been named the country’s richest person. It has been noted that Nongfu Spring gained share prices after the country eased pandemic restrictions at the end of last year, which offset a decline in the shares of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, one of Zhong's Covid test suppliers.

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Mark Zuckerberg

Affluent: $64.4 billion | Source of wealth: Facebook | Age: 38 | Citizenship: American | Net Worth: $64.4 billion

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It hasn’t been an easy ride for Zuckerberg, compared to most big technology founders who have lost their jobs and had to lay off staff. In November alone, Zuckerberg cut 21,000 jobs at Meta Platforms, including the company’s AI division. In March, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a charitable organization that seeks to develop tools that can help cure and manage all diseases, announced the opening of a new Chicago Biohub.

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Charles Koch

$59 Billion in net worth | Wealth derived from Koch Industries | Age: 87 | Citizenship: American

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Julia Koch & family

A net worth of $59 billion, according to Koch Industries | Age is 60 | Citizenship is American.

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Earlier this year, Koch Industries, a $125 billion, Wichita, Kansas-based conglomerate with a sales of $125 billion (2022 sales), announced a restructuring of certain subsidiaries that could result in a reorganization of its subsidiaries. The CEO of Koch Group, Charles Koch, recently announced that after 55 years alone in the role, he will join him as co-CEO. The widow of Charles Koch’s brother David Koch (who passed away in 2019) was recently appointed to the Metropolitan Museum's board of trusteeship.

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Jim Walton

58.8 billion dollars in net worth | Walmart as source of wealth | 74 years old | American citizenship

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Rob Walton

57.6 billion dollars in net worth | Source of Wealth: Walmart | Age: 78 | Citizenship: U.S.