South African-born US entrepreneur Elon Musk has become the world’s richest person, with a net worth of $195 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s richest people. Musk, the chief executive officer (CEO) of both SpaceX and Tesla, had a rather underwhelming response to his crowning glory moment, tweeting “How strange!” adding, “Well , back to work.”
Of the 20 wealthiest persons in the world, 14 are Americans, with eight, including Musk, in top 10, according to the Bloomberg Index. With the 49-year-old occupying the top spot, the following persons are at spots 2-10 on the list, as of January 8, 2021, as per Bloomberg:
1. Jeff Bezos ($185 billion, US): Overtaken by Musk as the world’s richest person, Bezos, the Amazon founder-CEO, was number 1 since October 2017. In July 2018, the 56-year-old’s net worth increased to $150 billion, which led to him being named the “richest man in modern history.” In 2013, he purchased the popular American newspaper, The Washington Post, at $250 million.
2. Bill Gates ($134 billion, US): The Microsoft co-founder has been, for years, seen as the “face” of the position of the wealthiest person in the world. Gates co-founded Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975. He stepped down as its CEO in January 2000 but continued as chairman, a post he resigned from in February 2014. Gates also founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with wife Melinda, in 2000.
3. Bernard Arnault ($116 billion, France): The richest Frenchman and the richest non-American, Arnault was briefly the wealthiest person in the world as well, in December 2019 and January 2020. He is the chairman and chief executive of Louis Vitton SE, the world’s largest luxury goods company.
4. Mark Zuckerberg ($102 billion, US): Zuckerberg, the chairman and co-founder of Facebook, is the only person under 40 in Forbes’ list of the 20 richest people. In November 2007, Zuckerberg, then aged 23, became the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire. He has also featured regularly on the lists of the world’s most powerful and influential people.
5. Zhong Shanshan ($93.1 billion, China): The richest person in Asia and his native China, Shanshan is the founder-chairperson of Nongfu Spring, the country’s largest beverage company. In December 2020, he went past Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani to become Asia’s richest person.
6. Warren Buffet ($88.2 billion, US): Overtaken by Shanshan as the sixth richest person in January 2021, Buffet is one of the world’s most successful investors. He is also the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, which, according to Forbes, is the eighth-largest public company in the world.
7. Larry Page ($83.6 billion, US): One of the two co-founders of Google, Page also served as its CEO for two terms, 1997-2001 and 2011-2015. He later became the CEO of Alphabet Inc, which was set up in 2015 and became the parent company of Google. Page served as CEO here till December 2019 but remains a board member and controlling shareholder.
8.Sergey Brin ($81 billion, US): The other Google co-founder, Brin served as president of Alphabet Inc till December 2019. Born in 1973 in the Soviet Union, Brin immigrated to the US with his family at the age of six.
9. Larry Ellison ($80 billion, US): Rounding off top 10 is Ellison, the co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Oracle. In October 2019, Forbes listed him as the sixth richest person in the world, the highest position he has achieved.
