Top 10 Richest Men in The World

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Capitalism has become the dominant economic system in the world today. It has given the world a lot of benefits and made many people very rich. However, at the same time, now more than ever, it seems like wealth is concentrated in a smaller number of hands. The richest people in the world combined hold a staggering amount of wealth. But you may ask, who really is the richest person in the world? To help answer that question, check out the list below for the top 10 richest men in the world.((Forbes – Meet The Members Of The Three-Comma Club))

#10: Larry Ellison

Lawrence Joseph Ellison was born in New York City on August 17, 1944, but grew up in Chicago. Larry Ellison is the 10th richest person in the world with a net worth of $58.5 billion. He earned his wealth as the co-founder, executive chairman and CTO of Oracle Corporation, a software company. Similar to many other members of this list, Ellison is a college drop-out. However, unlike some others, he is a double college drop out from both the University of Chicago and Urbana-Champaign.((MINYANVILLE – CEOs Gone Wild: Larry Ellison)) This goes to show that going to college doesn’t always equate to getting really rich.

#9: David Koch

David Hamilton Koch is was born in Wichita, Kansas on May 3, 1940. He is an American businessman, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. He is  the 9th richest person in the world with a net worth of $60 billion. Along with his broth Charles Koch, he is co-owner of Koch Industries, a multi national organization involved in many different sectors. In addition, he is also the executive vice president of the company. He is a graduate from MIT earning a Bachelor of Arts/Science as well as a Master of Science from the university.

#8: Charles Koch

Charles de Ganahl Koch was born in Wichita, Kansas on November 1, 1935. He is an American businessman, and philanthropist. Additionally, he is the brother of David Koch. Currently, he is the 8th richest person in the world with a net worth of $60 billion. Along with his brother is is co-owner of Koch Industries. In addition, he also holds the positions of chairman and CEO of the company since 1967. In addition to business success, and like his brother he also holds a Bachelor of Arts/Science and a Master of Science from the Massachusets Institute of Technology.((TIME – David and Charles Koch)) Needless to say, both of these brothers are quite smart.

#7: Carlos Slim Helu

Carlos Slim Helu was born on January 28, 1940, in Mexico City. He is a Mexican engineer, investor, and philanthropist. He holds a Bachelor of Arts/Science from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.((Investopedia – Where Does Carlos Slim Keep His Money?))((Evan Car Michael – Carlos Slim))((Business Insider – Meet The Secretive Spanish Billionaire Whose Net Worth Rose The Most In 2012UNCLE SLIM: THE WORLD’S RICHEST MAN))

He is the 7th wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $67.1 billion. In addition, he is also the richest person in Latin America. He built his fortune from his holdings of a great number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso. His group includes companies that are involved in education, healthcare, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, media, energy, hospitality, entertainment, high-technology, retail, sports and financial services. In addition, he also holds 40% of the shares in Mexican Stock Exchange. This roughly translates to the 6% of the Mexican Gross Domestic Product.

#6: Amancio Ortega

Amancio Ortega Gaona was born in Busdongo de Arbas, Leon, Spain on March 28, 1936. He is a Spanish business tycoon and is the founder and former chairman of the Inditex fashion group. This group is mostly known for its clothing and accessories through its Zara retail shops. He is the 6th wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $70 billion.

In addition, he is the second richest man in Europe after Bernard Arnault, another man on this list. Ortega owns 59.29% of the Inditex group. In addition to Zara, the groups also includes many other famous brands such as Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Zara Home, Kiddy’s Class, Tempe, Stradivarius, Pull and Bear, and Bershka. In addition to his investments in the fashion industry, he is also the owner of the Spanish football team Deportivo La Coruna.((Business Insider – Meet The Secretive Spanish Billionaire Whose Net Worth Rose The Most In 2012))

#5: Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born in White Plains, New York on May 14, 1984. He is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is most famous as being co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Facebook. Zuckerberg is the 5th richest person in the world with a net worth of $71 billion. In addition, he also holds the position as Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 years old. Unlike many other members of the list, Mark Zuckerberg is a relatively new member to the richest person in the world club.

In fact, Zuckerberg only launched Facebook on February 4, 2004, from his Harvard dormitory room. It began as a “Harvard thing”. However, similar to many other billionaires on this list (like Bill Gates), Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard University.((Yahoo! Finance – Facebook Surges and Mark Zuckerberg Pockets $3.8 Billion))

Later, Zuckerberg started adding more schools to the list. Finally, in 2012, Facebook reached a billion users. At the same time, Zuckerberg made the company public with him as the majority share holder. This quickly put him on the list of the richest person in the world. Like many other members of the richest person in the world such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg is part of the “The Giving Pledge”. In this pledge, which he signed on December 9, 2010, he promised to donate at least 50% of his wealth over the course of his life.

#4: Bernard Arnault & Family

Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault was born on 5 March 1949 in France. He is an investor and an art collector. In addition, Arnault holds the positions of the chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH, one of the biggest companies in the world of luxury goods. Interestingly, he didn’t study fashion, but instead went to university at the Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau and earned an engineering degree in 1971.((live – Being Bernard Arnault))((HIGHSNOBIETY – LVMH’s CEO Bernard Arnault Is Officially the Richest Person in Fashion)) Arnault is the 4th richest person in the world with a net worth of $72 billion. Furthermore, he is also the richest person in France, as well as the richest person in the fashion industry over Zara’s Amancio Ortega.

#3: Warren Buffett

Warren Edward Buffet was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 30, 1930. Buffet is an American investor and philanthropist. He gained most of his wealth as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a company that he has been the largest shareholder of since 1970. Over his career, he has earned a lot of nicknames including the “Wizard, “Oracle”, or “Sage of Omaha by various media outlets due to his money investing knowledge.

Despite his great career and massive wealth, it didn’t seem like Buffet was set for greatness. In fact, Warren Buffet had applied for admission to Harvard University but he was rejected. Instead he earned a Bachelor of Arts/Science from the University of Nebraska, and a Master of Science from Columbia University.((Biography – Warren Buffett Biography))((The College Investor – THE TOP 10 INVESTORS OF ALL TIME))((Investopedia – The Greatest Investors: Warren Buffett))((The New York Times – Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, Makes Value Strategy Seem Simple : Secrets of a High Plains Investor))((CNN – My philanthropic pledge))((BBC – US billionaires pledge 50% of their wealth to charity))

Currently, Buffet is the 3rd richest person in the world with a net worth of $84 billion. However, instead of keeping it all for himself, he joined the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pledging to give away 99% of his fortune to philanthropy.

#2: Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. He is an American investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian and founder of Microsoft Corporation. Gates is the 2nd richest person in the world with a net worth of $90 billion. Similar to Mark Zuckerberg, he does not hold any university degree and is known for being a Harvard University dropout.((Encyclopedia Britannica – Bill Gates))((CNN – Bill Gates no longer Microsoft’s biggest shareholder))((Forbes – Gates steps down as Microsoft CEO))((CNN Money – Gates to leave day-to-day role at Microsoft)) In fact, it almost seems like this is one of the most popular billionaire hobbies! Bill Gates is not a stranger to the Forbes List of Billionaires. In fact, he has been a part of it since 1987. Additionally, from March 2014 to July 2017 he held the title as the richest person in the world.

Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Through his tenure at Microsoft, he held the positions of chairman, CEO, and chief software architect. Additionally, he was the largest shareholder of the company until May 2014. However, in January 2000 he stepped down from CEO position of the company. At this time, he founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation turning most of his attention to this project. Finally, in February 2014 he stepped down as chairman of Microsoft and took the post of the technology adviser.

#1: Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 12 of 1964. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science.((The Washington Post – Jeff Bezos pronounces his name))((NBC – As Trump slumps down Forbes annual list of billionaires, Bezos rises to the top))((Fortune – Jeff Bezos Had a Record-Breaking One-Year Net Worth Jump)) He is a technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. It is men like him, that help make the United States one of the top technology countries in the world. However, Bezos is best known as the founder, chairman, and C.E.O of the online shopping site Amazon. He currently holds the position of richest person in the world with a net worth of $112 billion. With this truly staggering net worth, he also became the first person to break the $100 billion mark in the Forbes list of Billionaires.

Bezos founded Amazon in 1994. However, originally, the company started as only an online bookstore. As time passed, Amazon started to include a wider variety of products and services including audio and video streaming. In addition to Amazon, Bezos founded the aerospace company Blue Origin. The objective of this company is to make suborbital human spaceflight a reality. Additionally, in 2013, he purchased The Washington Post for $250 million.