Forbes released its world’s billionaires list, topped by Louis Vuitton boss Bernard Arnault
Bernard Arnault, the Chairman and CEO of LMHV Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (known as LVMH), again tops the annual ranking of the world’s richest people according to Forbes, RIA Novosti reports
According to the edition, Arnault’s fortune is estimated at $233bn against $211bn a year earlier. American entrepreneur Elon Musk – whose fortune climbed to $195bn (compared to $180bn a year earlier) – is still in second place, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The latter had an estimated personal wealth of $194bn this year compared to $114bn a year earlier.
Mark Zuckerberg saw a meteoric rise through 2023, with his fortune increasing to $177bn (from $64.4bn last year), enabling him to jump to fourth position from sixteenth. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is the entrepreneur in fifth place this year with an estimated person wealth of $141bn (against last year’s $107bn).
According to Forbes, the super-rich are collectively worth a staggering $14.2 trillion in total – $2bn more than last year and $1.1tr above the previous record, which was set in 2021. The number of global billionaires has reached a new level: there are now 2,781, up from 2,640 a year ago.
Forbes reports that the US now boasts a record 813 billionaires worth a combined $5.7 trillion, followed by China (including Hong Kong) with 473 billionaires worth $ 1.7 trillion. A total of 200 billionaires from India made the list, with the Asian country having the third largest number of ultra-wealthy individuals on the list.
