List of the 10 Richest People in the World

List of the 10 Richest People in the World

(1)Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III, KBE (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian, and co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation along with Paul Allen.

In 1975, Gates and Allen launched Microsoft, which became the world's largest PC software company. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014.

Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000, but he remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect for himself.

In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[8] He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 and assumed a new post as technology adviser to support the newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. He has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive. This opinion has been upheld by numerous court rulings.[11] Later in his career, Gates pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors. He donated large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was established in 2000.

Since 1987, Gates has been included in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people, an index of the wealthiest documented individuals, excluding and ranking against those with wealth that is not able to be completely ascertained.

From 1995 to 2017, he held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world all but four of those years, and held it consistently from March 2014–July 2017, with an estimated net worth of US$89.9 billion as of October 2017.[1] However, on July 27, 2017, and since October 27, 2017, he has been surpassed by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who had an estimated net worth of US$90.6 billion at the time.[14]

In 2009, Gates and Warren Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires pledge to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropy.[15] The foundation works to save lives and improve global health, and is working with Rotary International to eliminate polio.[16] As of February 11, 2018, Gates had a net worth of $89.5 billion, making him the second richest person in the world, behind Bezos.

(2)Warren Buffett

Warren Edward Buffett  born August 30, 1930)is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist who serves as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is considered one of the most successful investors in the world[3][4] and has a net worth of $84.1 billion as of February 11, 2018, making him the third wealthiest person in the United States and in the world.[5]

Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed an interest in business and investing in his youth, eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring and graduating from University of Nebraska–Lincoln at the age of 19. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing which was pioneered by Benjamin Graham. He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. He created the Buffett Partnership after meeting Charlie Munger, and his firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway and assumed its name to create a diversified holding company.

Buffett has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970, and he has been referred to as the "Wizard", "Oracle", or "Sage" of Omaha by global media outlets. He is noted for his adherence to value investing and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.

Buffett is a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He founded The Giving Pledge in 2009 with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes. He is also active contributing to political causes, having endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election he has publicly opposed the policies, actions, and statements of the current U.S. president, Donald Trump.

(3)Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos born January 12, 1964) is an American technology and retail entrepreneur, investor, electrical engineer, computer scientist, and philanthropist, best known as the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Amazon, the world's largest online shopping retailer.

Born in Albuquerque and raised in Houston, Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. He went on to work on Wall Street in a variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. He founded Amazon.com in late 1994. The company began as an Internet merchant of books and expanded to a wide variety of products and services, most recently video and audio streaming. It is currently the world's largest Internet sales online company, as well as the world's largest provider of cloud infrastructure services via its Amazon Web Services arm. A number of his other business investments are managed through Bezos Expeditions.

Bezos diversified his business interests by founding aerospace company Blue Origin in 2000 and purchasing The Washington Post newspaper in 2013 for $250 million in cash. Blue Origin started test flights to space in 2015 and plans for commercial suborbital human spaceflight beginning in 2018.

On July 27, 2017, he became the world's wealthiest person with an estimated net worth of just over $90 billion according to Forbes Magazine.[8] His net worth surpassed $100 billion for the first time on November 24, 2017, after Amazon's share price increased by more than 2.5%.As of February 12, 2018, he is worth $115.3 billion, and is contended to be on track to become the wealthiest person in modern history.

(4)Amancio Ortega

Amancio Ortega Gaona (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈmanθjo orˈteɣa ɣaˈona], born 28 March 1936) is a Spanish business tycoon. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories retail shops. As of January 2018, Ortega had a net worth of $77.6 billion, making him the wealthiest person in Europe following the death of IKEAfounder Ingvar Kamprad, and the fourth wealthiest in the world.[2]

Ortega is also the wealthiest retailer in the world.

(5)Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (/ˈzʌkərbɜːrɡ/; born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of Facebook, and currently operates as its chairman and chief executive officer. His net worth is estimated to be US $69.3 billion as of February 9, 2018.

Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard University dormitory room on February 4, 2004 with college roommates and fellow Harvard students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. The group then introduced Facebook to other college campuses. Facebook expanded rapidly, reaching one billion users by 2012. During this time, Zuckerberg became involved in various legal disputes brought by his friends and cofounders, who claimed they were due a share of the company based upon their involvement during its development phase.

Since 2010, Time magazine has named Zuckerberg among the 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world as a part of its Person of the Year award. In December 2016, Zuckerberg was ranked 10th on Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People.

(6)Carlos Slim

Carlos Slim Helú born January 28, 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist.[2][3] From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world. He derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Group Carso. As of January 2018, he is the seventh-richest person in the world according to Forbes' listing of The World's Billionaires with a net worth estimated at $70.7 billion.[1]

His conglomerate includes education, health care, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, media, energy, hospitality, entertainment, high-technology, retail, sports, and financial services. He accounts for 40% of the listings on the Mexican Stock Exchange, while his net worth is equivalent to about 6 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product.

(7)Larry Ellison

Lawrence "Larry" Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who is co-founder, executive chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle Corporation. As of January 2018, he was listed by Forbes magazine as the fifth-wealthiest person in the United States and as the eighth-wealthiest in the world, with a fortune of $62.4 billion.

Ellison was born in New York City and grew up in Chicago. He studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and the University of Chicago without graduating before moving to California in 1966. While working at Ampex in the early 1970s, he became influenced by Edgar F. Codd's research on relational database design, which led in 1977 to the formation of what became Oracle. Oracle became a successful database vendor to mid- and low-range systems, competing with Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server, which led to Ellison being listed by Forbes as one of the richest men in the world.

Ellison has donated up to 1% of his wealth to charity and has signed The Giving Pledge. In addition to his work at Oracle, Ellison has had success in yachting, through Oracle Team USA. He is a licensed aircraft pilot who owns two military jets.

(8)Charles Koch

Charles de Ganahl Koch born November 1, 1935) is an American businessman, political donor and philanthropist. As of January 2018, he was ranked as the 11th-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $60 billion.

He is co-owner, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of Koch Industries since 1967, while his brother David Koch serves as executive vice president. Charles and David each own 42% of the conglomerate. The brothers inherited the business from their father, Fred C. Koch, then expanded the business. Originally involved exclusively in oil refining and chemicals, Koch Industries now includes process and pollution control equipment and technologies; polymers and fibers; minerals; fertilizers; commodity trading and services; forest and consumer products; and ranching. The businesses produce a wide variety of well-known brands, such as Stainmaster carpet, the Lycrabrand of spandex fiber, Quilted Northern tissue and Dixie Cup.

Koch Industries is the second-largest privately held company by revenue in the United States according to a 2010 Forbes survey. In February 2014, Koch was ranked 9th richest person in the world by Hurun Reportwith an estimated net worth of $36 billion. Previously, in October 2012 he was ranked the 6th richestperson in the world with an estimated net worth of $34 billion—according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index—and was ranked 18th on Forbes World's Billionaires list of 2011 (and 4th on the Forbes 400), with an estimated net worth of $25 billion, deriving from his 42% stake in Koch Industries. Koch has published three books detailing his business philosophy, The Science of Success,[Market Based Management, and Good Profit.

Koch supports a number of free market-oriented educational organizations, including the Institute for Humane Studies, the Ayn Rand Institute, and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He also contributes to the Republican Party and candidates, libertarian groups, and various charitable and cultural institutions. He co-founded the Washington, DC-based Cato Institute. Through the Koch Cultural Trust, founded by Charles Koch's wife, Elizabeth, the Koch family has also funded artistic projects and creative artists.

(9)David Koch

David Hamilton Koch born May 3, 1940) is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He joined the family business Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, in 1970. He became president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering in 1979, and became a co-owner of Koch Industries, with older brother Charles, in 1983. He is now an executive vice president. Koch is an influential libertarian. He was the 1980 candidate for Vice President of the United States from the United States Libertarian Party and helped finance the campaign. He founded Citizens for a Sound Economy. He and his brother Charles have donated to political advocacy groupsand to political campaigns, almost entirely Republican. As of January 2018, he was ranked as the 11th-richest person in the world, (tied with his brother Charles), with a fortune of $52 billion

Condé Nast Portfolio described him as "one of the most generous but low-key philanthropists in America".[8] Koch has contributed to several charities including Lincoln Center, Sloan Kettering, New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the Dinosaur Wing at the American Museum of Natural History.[6] The New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, home of the New York City Ballet, was renamed the David H. Koch Theater in 2008 following a gift of $100 million for the renovation of the theater. Koch is the fourth richest person in America as of 2012, and the wealthiest resident of New York City as of 2013.[9] He is a survivor of the USAir Flight 1493 crash in 1991.

(10)Michael Bloomberg

Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, author, politician, and philanthropist. As of February 9, 2018, his net worth was estimated at $50.9 billion, making him the 7th-richest person in the United States and the 10th richest person in the world. He has joined The Giving Pledge, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their wealth.

Bloomberg is the founder, CEO, and owner of Bloomberg L.P., a global financial services, mass media, and software company that bears his name, and is notable for its Bloomberg Terminal, a computer software system providing financial data widely used in the global financial services industry. He began his career at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers, before forming his own company in 1981 and spending the next twenty years as its chairman and CEO. Bloomberg also served as chairman of the board of trustees at his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, from 1996 to 2002.

Bloomberg served as the 108th Mayor of New York City, holding office for three consecutive terms, beginning with his first election in 2001. A Democratbefore seeking elective office, Bloomberg switched his party registration in 2001 to run for mayor as a Republican. He defeated opponent Mark Green in a close election held just weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He won a second term in 2005, and left the Republican Party two years later. Bloomberg campaigned to change the city's term limits law, and was elected to his third term in 2009 as an Independent candidate on the Republican ballot line.

Bloomberg was frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Presidential elections in 2008, and 2012, as well as for Governor of New York in 2010. He declined to seek either office, opting to continue serving as the Mayor of New York City.

On January 1, 2014, Bill de Blasio succeeded Bloomberg as the Mayor of New York City. After a brief stint as a full-time philanthropist, Bloomberg re-assumed the position of CEO at Bloomberg L.P. by the end of 2014. On March 7, 2016, Bloomberg announced that he would not run as a third party candidate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election despite widespread speculation that he would, and later endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for president.