Forbes, the leading American business magazine, has released its annual list of the world’s 25 wealthiest people for the year 2023.
The list features French businessman Bernard Arnault in the top position, followed by Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, who had held the coveted No. 1 spot in the previous year’s list.
According to Forbes, Musk’s drop to second place marks him as “this year’s second-biggest loser”. The publication notes that Musk’s purchase of Twitter, which was partly funded by the sale of Tesla shares, spooked investors, causing his net worth to drop by a staggering $39 billion in less than a year.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, slipped from No. 2 in the previous year’s list to No. 3 this year, as a result of a 38% drop in Amazon’s shares.
Among the top 25, two billionaires, Zhang Yiming and Changpeng Zhao, were unable to make the list this year.
Yiming, the founder of Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, dropped from No. 25 to No. 26 due to his embattled company’s declining fortunes.
CZ, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, plummeted from No. 19 to No. 167, a result of the so-called “crypto winter” that has hit the industry.
Below is the list of Forbes 25 richest people in the world in 2023 with their net worth
1. Bernard Arnault & family
(Net worth: $211 Billion | Source of Wealth: LVMH | Age: 74 | Citizenship: France)
2. Elon Musk
(Net worth: $180 Billion | Source of Wealth: Tesla, SpaceX | Age: 51 | Citizenship: U.S.)
3. Jeff Bezos
(Net worth: $114 Billion | Source of Wealth: Amazon | Age: 59 | Citizenship: U.S.)
4. Larry Ellison
(Net worth: $107 Billion | Source of Wealth: Oracle | Age: 78 | Citizenship: U.S.)
5. Warren Buffett
(Net worth: $106 Billion | Source of Wealth: Berkshire Hathaway | Age: 92 | Citizenship: U.S.)
6. Bill Gates
(Net worth: $104 Billion | Source of Wealth: Microsoft | Age: 67 | Citizenship: U.S.)
7. Michael Bloomberg
(Net worth: $94.5 Billion | Source of Wealth: Bloomberg LP | Age: 81 | Citizenship: U.S.)
8. Carlos Slim Helú & family
(Net worth: $93 Billion | Source of Wealth: Telecom | Age: 83 | Citizenship: Mexico)
9. Mukesh Ambani
(Net worth: $83.4 Billion | Source of Wealth: Diversified| Age: 65 | Citizenship: India)
10. Steve Ballmer
(Net worth: $80.7 Billion | Source of Wealth: Microsoft | Age: 67 | Citizenship: U.S.)
11. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers & family
(Net worth: $80.5 Billion | Source of Wealth: L’Oréal | Age: 69 | Citizenship: France)
12. Larry Page
(Net worth: $79.2 Billion | Source of Wealth: Google | Age: 50 | Citizenship: U.S.)
13. Amancio Ortega
(Net worth: $77.3 Billion | Source of Wealth: Zara | Age: 87 | Citizenship: Spain)
14. Sergey Brin
(Net worth: $76 Billion | Source of Wealth: Google | Age: 49 | Citizenship: U.S.)
15. Zhong Shanshan
(Net worth: $68 Billion | Source of Wealth: Beverages, pharmaceuticals | Age: 68 | Citizenship: China)
16. Mark Zuckerberg
(Net worth: $64.4 Billion | Source of Wealth: Facebook | Age: 38 | Citizenship: U.S.)
17. Charles Koch
(Net worth: $59 Billion | Source of Wealth: Koch Industries | Age: 87 | Citizenship: U.S.)
18. Julia Koch & family
(Net worth: $59 Billion | Source of Wealth: Koch Industries | Age: 60 | Citizenship: U.S.)
19. Jim Walton
(Net worth: $58.8 Billion | Source of Wealth: Walmart | Age: 74 | Citizenship: U.S.)
20. Rob Walton
(Net worth: $57.6 Billion | Source of Wealth: Walmart | Age: 78 | Citizenship: U.S.)
21. Alice Walton
(Net worth: $56.7 Billion | Source of Wealth: Walmart | Age: 73 | Citizenship: U.S.)
22. David Thomson & family
(Net worth: $54.4 Billion | Source of Wealth: Media | Age: 65 | Citizenship: Canada)
23. Michael Dell
(Net worth: $50.1 Billion | Source of Wealth: Dell Technologies | Age: 58 | Citizenship: U.S.)
24. Gautam Adani
(Net worth: $47.2 Billion | Source of Wealth: Infrastructure, commodities | Age: 60 | Citizenship: India)
25. Phil Knight & family
(Net worth: $45.1 Billion | Source of Wealth: Nike | Age: 85 | Citizenship: U.S.)
