With economic fluctuation and continuing uncertainty in the markets, the list of who is richest in the world is a constantly changing one. In February 2024, for example, we saw a few name changes to the top five richest. Let’s take a closer look into who is on the list.
Keep in mind that there are around 3,000 billionaires worldwide, and we’ll only be going over the top five richest of these billionaires — current ones, that is. There are plenty of other extraordinary people that have amassed a truly staggering amount of wealth, such as this person, for example.
Read on to learn who the richest people currently are and how these individuals acquired their fortune, what their net worth is, and more.
1. Bernard Arnault
Bernard Arnault is not a new face to the number one spot, at least for February, but still may take a lot of people by surprise as his name is not seen as often as other billionaires on this list.
Bernard Arnault made his fortune after an extremely successful series of mergers and acquisitions in the luxury goods industry. Today, he owns some of the most iconic luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Bulgari.
As of February 2024, his net worth is $202.9 billion.
2. Elon Musk
Not surprisingly, Elon Musk is on this list. However, I’m sure many are surprised to see him ranked second instead of first on this list. After some turbulence in the markets, Elon Musk’s net worth dropped a significant amount, dropping him to the #2 spot.
For those who don’t know, Elon Musk made billions through a number of businesses. He co-founded Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and The Boring Company. Through all of these companies, Elon Musk eventually acquired a fortune of $320 billion in late 2021.
Unfortunately, his net worth took a record tumble, and he is now worth $190.3 billion.
3. Jeff Bezos
Another name on this list that needs no introduction, Jeff Bezos is the founder and former CEO of Amazon. He stepped down from CEO in July of 2021, and Andy Jassy took over as the chief executive officer of the company.
He is another individual on this list that has seen some of their wealth shrinks. With the stock price of Amazon being the major factor in Bezos’ net worth, he has lost quite a lot of his fortune due to Amazon’s tumble from $186 a share to $92 a share. In addition to that, he also lost a pretty penny to his ex-wife in a historic divorce.
Despite Jeff Bezos’ wealth losses, Amazon remains the fifth largest company in the world, and Jeff Bezos sits comfortably as the third richest in the world. As of February 2024, his net worth is $116.2 billion.
4. Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison is the co-founder and CEO of Oracle, a multinational computer technology corporation. In addition to his leadership at Oracle, Larry also invested early on in a number of extremely successful businesses such as Tesla, Salesforce, and Netsuite. Larry also holds a significant amount of real estates, such as owning 98% of Hawaii’s sixth largest island – Lanai.
As of February 2024, Larry Ellison’s net worth is $112.9 billion.
5. Warren Buffet
Warren Buffet is considered by many to be one of the most successful investors in history. As CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate holding company, he has made his fortune through a series of extremely successful investments and acquisitions.
If you’re interested in becoming a successful investor, you may want to learn about the life of Warren Buffet and how he made his fortune. We recommend checking out this article from Investopedia on Warren Buffet if you’re interested in learning more about his incredible career.
As of February 2024, Warren Buffet’s net worth is $106 billion.
That’s it! It’s pretty interesting how quickly this list can change. Who knows, the list may look completely different in a few months.
