Forbes’ ranking of the world’s wealthiest billionaires: Elon Musk slips to the second position after his acquisition of ‘X.’ The report identifies 2,640 billionaires, which is 28 less than the count in 2022.
The American business magazine Forbes has unveiled its 37th annual billionaires ranking, placing French business magnate Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault in the leading position with an impressive net worth of $211 billion. Arnault, who serves as the founder and CEO of the world’s foremost luxury goods brand, ‘LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton,’ stands out as the sole billionaire on the list to possess a net worth exceeding $200 billion.
Following closely behind, the second place is occupied by Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, boasting a significant net worth of $180 billion. In the top 10 billionaires, we also find Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani, securing the 9th position with a net worth of $83.4 billion.
According to the Forbes list, it is evident that almost half of the billionaires have seen a decrease in their wealth compared to the previous year. Factors such as declining stock values, struggling unicorn companies, and increasing interest rates have been attributed to this decline. The global list now consists of 2,640 individuals with net worths exceeding ten figures, a decrease from the 2,668 individuals in 2022.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates are also prominent figures within the top 10 list.
World’s Richest People in 2023 list:
In 2022, Musk claimed the top position but now finds himself in the second spot after his acquisition of Twitter in October of the previous year, a move that contributed to the decline in Tesla’s stock value. Musk retains an estimated 74% ownership of the company, which has been rebranded as X.
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce and cloud computing enterprise, secured the third position this year. Following him are notable figures such as Larry Ellison, one of the most successful investors in history, Warren Buffett, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Michael Bloomberg, co-founder of media company Bloomberg LP, among others.
Mukesh Ambani, the founder and chairman of Reliance Industries, stands as the sole Indian representative in the top ten list. Reliance, a conglomerate with interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, and retail, was established by his late father, Dhirubhai Ambani, a yarn trader, in 1966.