1. Elon Musk
Net worth: $251.3 billion
Source: Tesla, SpaceX, X (Twitter)
Age: 52
Residence: Austin, Texas
Citizenship: U.S.
Musk is CEO of electric car company Tesla, rocket firm SpaceX and social media company X, formerly known as Twitter.
2. Bernard Arnault
Net worth: $200.7 billion
Source: LVMH/ luxury goods
Age: 74
Residence: Paris
Citizenship: France
Bernard Arnault, CEO and chairman of LVMH, built the largest luxury goods company in the world with some 70 fashion and cosmetics brands. Among its most notable: Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Moet & Chandon and Sephora.
3. Jeff Bezos
Net worth: $168.4 billion
Source: Amazon
Age: 59
Residence: Medina, Washington
Citizenship: U.S.
Jeff Bezos created e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 and ran it as CEO until July 2021 (he remains chairman); that same month he went to space on a rocket built by private rocket company Blue Origin, which he founded and has funded with billions of dollars. His fortune rose by $5.8 billion during December 2023 as the result of an uptick in Amazon shares.
4. Larry Ellison
Net worth: $135.3 billion
Source: Oracle
Age: 79
Residence: Woodside, California
Citizenship: U.S.
Larry Ellison cofounded software firm Oracle in 1977 and ran it as CEO until 2014; he now serves as chairman and Chief Technology Officer of the company.
5. Mark Zuckerberg
Net worth: $125.3 billion
Source: Facebook/Meta
Age: 39
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Citizenship: U.S.
Zuckerberg cofounded Facebook—now called Meta Platforms—when he was a student at Harvard University in 2004. It has grown to be the world’s largest social network, with 3.88 billion monthly users.
6. Bill Gates
Net worth: $119.6 billion
Source: Microsoft, investments
Age: 68
Residence: Medina, Washington
Citizenship: U.S.
As a teenager, Gates became passionate about computer programming. He dropped out of Harvard to cofound software firm Microsoft with his high school friend Paul Allen in 1975, creating one of the first software programs available for the nascent personal computer industry. He was CEO of the company for 25 years and remained chairman until 2014.
7. Warren Buffett
Net worth: $118.6 billion
Source: Berkshire Hathaway
Age: 93
Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
Citizenship: U.S.
Known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time. He runs investing conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, which owns dozens of companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen. The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age 13.
8. Larry Page
Net worth: $117.2 billion
Source: Google
Age: 50
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Citizenship: U.S.
Page cofounded search engine Google with fellow Stanford PhD student Sergey Brin in 1998 and served as CEO until 2001 and from 2011 to 2015. He now serves as a board member of Google’s parent Alphabet and continues to be a controlling shareholder.
9. Sergey Brin
Net worth: $112.4 billion
Source: Google
Age: 50
Residence: Los Altos, California
Citizenship: U.S.
Sergey Brin stepped down as president of Alphabet, parent company of Google, in December 2019 but remains a controlling shareholder and a board member. He cofounded Google with Larry Page in 1998 after the two met at Stanford University while studying for advanced degrees in computer science.
10. Steve Ballmer
Net worth: $112.2 billion
Source: Microsoft, investments
Age: 67
Residence: Hunts Point, Washington
Citizenship: U.S.
Ballmer, a classmate of Bill Gates’ at Harvard University, joined Microsoft as employee number 30 in 1980 after dropping out of the MBA program at Stanford University. He ran Microsoft as its CEO from 2000 to 2014.