Top ten billionaires: who is the world’s richest person?

The title of the world’s richest person continues to be a duel between Bernard Arnault and Elon Musk.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Arnault, who is co-founder, chairman, and CEO of the LVMH luxury goods empire, once again sits at the summit with a personal fortune of $205bn. Tesla and Twitter chief Musk is second on the global rich list with $163bn while Jeff Bezos, chairman and founder of Amazon, is third with $126bn.

Here we look at the top ten richest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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1. Bernard Arnault and family: $205bn

When it comes to “the world of luxury goods”, perhaps no one is “more successful” than Bernard Arnault, said Business Insider. The Frenchman oversees the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton empire of more than 70 brands, including Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, TAG Heuer, Christian Dior and Dom Pérignon.

2. Elon Musk: $163bn

Elon Musk is the CEO of electric car giant Tesla and founder and CEO of SpaceX. In October 2022 he completed his takeover of social media company Twitter. Since buying the platform for $44bn his tenure as Twitter CEO has been “turbulent”, said Sky News.

A guide to Elon Musk’s big family

3. Jeff Bezos: $126bn

Former hedge fund manager Jeff Bezos started Amazon in his garage in 1994. He has invested heavily in space technology too, having founded Blue Origin as a “pet project” back in 2000. After stepping down as Amazon CEO he took on the new role of executive chair. He also owns The Washington Post newspaper.

4. Bill Gates: $125bn

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been a permanent fixture near the top of the rich list for the past 20 years, despite selling and then giving away much of his stake in the tech company. He now owns just 1% and focuses predominantly on his philanthropic work.

5. Warren Buffett: $116bn

Warren Buffet was 11 years old when he first bought stock, according to Forbes. Now in his ninth decade, the Berkshire Hathaway chief executive, known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, is one of the most successful investors of all time. Like Bill Gates, Buffett has pledged to give away more than 99% of his fortune to charity.

6. Larry Ellison: $107bn

American business magnate Larry Ellison is co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle. He owns around 35% of the software giant.

7. Steve Ballmer: $107bn

The former CEO of Microsoft led the tech giant from 2000 to 2014. He is now the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.

8. Larry Page: $99bn

Internet entrepreneur Larry Page is one of the co-founders of Google. He stepped down as CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc in December 2019 but remains a board member.

9. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers: $94.7bn

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the richest woman in the world. The French heiress is the granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugene Schueller. Bettencourt Meyers and her family own around 33% of L’Oréal stock.

10. Sergey Brin: $94.6bn

Along with Larry Page, Sergey Brin was a co-founder of Google. Until December 2019, he was president of Alphabet Inc.