Billionaires have a considerable influence over the global economy, diplomacy, and philanthropy.
In 2022, Forbes estimates that there will be 2,668 billionaires in the world.
The wealthiest of them are members of yet another elite club with even more influence.
Several of these billionaire are the founders of technology behemoths, with a sizable portion of their fortune still invested in the businesses they launched. They can, though, mortgage against such an income to avoid selling stock, delaying (or eliminating) taxes on unrealized capital gains for themselves and their successors in the process.
Multi-billionaires can also take use of a slew of tax breaks to reduce their taxable income, with several on this list paying no taxes in current history.
Elon Musk is number one.
50 years old
Co-founder and CEO teslaa
$224 billion in net worth
Tesla's stake in the company is 16 percent ($107 billion).
Other assets include Human Spaceflight Innovations ($40.3 billion in private capital), The Digging Companies ($3.4 billion in private capital), Twitter ($2.9 billion in public capital), and $11.3 billion in assets. Elon Musk was born in South Africa and studied a Canadian university before moving to the University of Pennsylvania to study physics and economics.
Musk dropped out of Stanford University's graduate physics programme two days later to establish Zip2, one of the first internet navigation services.
He used a portion of the earnings from this firm to launch X.com, an internet banking mechanism that was eventually purchased by eBay Inc. (EBAY) and renamed PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL). Musk became a key investor in Tesla Motors (now Tesla) in 2004, which led to his present position as the company's CEO.
Tesla makes battery storage, automobile accessories, and, thanks to the acquisition of Solar City in 2016, solar power systems, in addition to electric cars.
Musk is also the founder and CEO of Space Travel Innovations (SpaceX), a space launch rocket company. Tesla shares rose 740 percent in 2020, propelling Musk to the top of the wealth standings.
Tesla will be the biggest business added to the S&P 500 in December 2020.
Musk has become the world's wealthiest man in January 2021 (a distinction he has retained since). Musk asked his Twitter followers on Nov. 6, 2021 whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock, framing the question as a response to the allegations of unrecognized investment income as a way to evade taxes.
Over the course of the rest of 2021, he sold shares worth $16.4 billion. Musk initiated a programme to take Tweets privately in April 2022, which resulted in a $44 billion purchase.
Musk intends to put $21 billion from his own money into the purchase.
Musk purchased 9.6 million Tesla stock worth $8.5 billion in the weeks leading up to the takeover declaration.
2. Amazon's Jeff Bezos
58 years old
Washington is where he calls home.
Amazon is the company's founder and executive chairman (AMZN)
$144 billion in net worth
10% ($120 billion) ownership stake in Amazon
Blue Origin ($9.15 provided by private asset), The Washington Times ($250 million private asset), and $14.9 billion in cash are among the company's other assets.
Soon after resigning from the hedge company D.E. Shaw, Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com in a basement in Seattle in 1994.
His previous supervisor, David E. Shaw, was initially uninterested inside the concept of an online bookstore. In 2019, Bezos held up to 16 percent of Amazon before surrendering 4 percent to his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott as terms of their divorce.
The increased demand for online purchasing amid the COVID-19 epidemic boosted Amazon's stock price by 76 percent in 2020.
Bezos served as the Ceo of Amazon on July 5, 2021, and became the company's executive seat. Bezos took Amazon private in 1997 and moved on and became the first guy to reach a net worth of many more than $100 billion since Bill Gates in 1999.
Bezos' other initiatives include the engineering company Blue Origin, The Washington Times (which he bought in 2013), and the Long Now, a 10,000-year clock.
Blue Origin's first successful crewed flight took place on July 20, 2021, with Bezos, his brother Mark, aircraft pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen, reaching a height of over 66 miles before landing safely.
In the same month, Bezos' net worth reached $211 billion.
Bernard Arnault is number three on the list.
73 years old
Paris, France is where I call home.
LVMH is the CEO and Chairman (LVMUY)
$136 billion in net worth
Christian Dior owns 97.5 percent of the company ($110 billion total).
Moelis & Company equity ($20.2 billion public asset), Hermès equity (undisclosed share), and $11.1 billion in cash are the other assets.
Bernard Arnault, a French national, is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods conglomerate.
Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora are among the brands owned by LVMH.
The majority of Arnault's fortune stems from his 41.3 percent share in Christian Dior SE, the operating company which owns LVMH.
His family-owned holding business, Groupe Familial Arnault, owns 6.2 percent of Christian Dior SE and another 6.2 percent of LVMH. Arnault stayed on as Férinel's chairman for another six years, until 1984, when he bought and reorganised luxury goods firm Financière Agache, finally selling all of the company's holdings save Christian Dior and Le Bon Marché.
In 1987, he was encouraged to invest in LVMH, and two years later, he became the company's largest shareholder, head of the boards, and CEO.
Bill Gates is number four.
66 years old
Washington is where he calls home.
Microsoft Corporation is a co-founder (MSFT)
$123 billion in net worth
Microsoft
1.3 percent ($28 billion) ownership stake.
Cascade Investment LLC ($53.4 billion in public assets, $56.6 billion in cash) has other assets.
Bill Gates started to work with his close friend Paul Allen to build new software for the early microcomputers while entering Harvard University in 1975.
Following the success of this effort, Gates dropped out of Harvard during his junior year and joined Allen to create Microsoft. The William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation combined in 2000 to form the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is still co-chaired by Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.
They have spent billions fighting polio and malaria through the foundation.
In 2014, the charity contributed $50 million to aid in the fight against Ebola.
The foundation had spent more than $1.9 billion fighting the COVID-19 epidemic by 2021.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett started the Giving Pledge in 2010, a campaign encouraging the wealthy to commit to give the majority of their fortune to charitable causes.
On August 2, 2021, Bill and Melinda French Gates divorced.
Approximately $5 billion in equities were transferred to French Gates as a result of the divorce.
Warren Buffett is number five.
91 years old
Nebraska is where I call home.
Berkshire Hathaway's CEO (BRK.A)
$114 billion in net worth
Berkshire Hathaway's stake in the company is 16 percent ($113 billion).
$1.1 billion in cash is among the company's other assets.
Warren Buffett, the world's greatest living value investor, filed his first tax return at the age of 14 in 1944, declaring revenues from his adolescent paper route.
In 1962, he began investing in Berkshire Hathaway, a textile company, and by 1965, he had become the dominant stakeholder.
In 1967, he expanded the business to include insurance and other ventures.
As of May 5, 2022, Berkshire Hathaway has a market capitalization of $705 billion dollars, with a single share represents (Class A shares) trading for more than $481,000. Buffet has given up a large portion of his fortune to charity.
He donated over $41 billion between 2006 and 2020, largely to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his children's institutions.
In 2010, Buffett and Bill Gates co-founded the Giving Pledge.
Buffet, who is 91 years old, is still the CEO, but in 2021 he indicated at who would succeed him: Gregory Abel.
Berkshire Hathaway's non-insurance activities are led by Abel.
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