Every year Forbes compiles a list of known richest people in the world. According to their report, Bill Gates is still occupying the top spot for 4 straight years and a total of 18 years. According to the 2017 Forbes billionaires report, the number of billionaires went up from 1,810 in 2016, to a current 2,043 billionaires. This means that 233 more money bags have joined the global billionaire’s league; making it the biggest leap ever recorded by Forbes in 31 years.
Giving the global economic hurdle in the past year, it is interesting that the number of world billionaires could increase by 13%. This makes it a record-breaking feat since this is the first time that the list has ever stretched to hit 2000 and even over.
Altogether the billionaires of the world have a summative net worth of $7.67 trillion with an 18% increase from last year’s record. Forbes considers this record-breaking as well.
Of the 195 newcomers, a majority were from Mainland China(75) while the U.S. was second with 25 brand new billionaires. On the reverse, 33 Chinese billionaires and 7 American billionaires from last year did not make it to the list this year.
The report says that 78 Forbes 2016 billionaires fell off the list while 20 of them have been reported dead.
The 2017 Forbes billionaires’ list also shows that the U.S. leads with the highest number of billionaires in the world-565; China takes the second spot with 319, followed by Germany with 101.
Moving up 2 spots from the 5th position last year, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with a 72. 8 billion recorded the highest gains in the list. He added a whopping $27.6 billion to his net worth in the last year.
Zuckerberg with an added $11.4 billion has currently moved up to the 5th position in the list of 2017 Forbes billionaires.
Amancio Ortega who was at the 2nd spot last year has been displaced by the investment guru, Warren Buffet. Ortega is now the 4th world richest. Carlos Slim, former world’s richest man is at the 6th spot.
Billionaire and president of the United States, Donald Trump was spotted at the 544th position with a tie with 19 others.
With a net worth of $39.5 billion, the richest woman in the world once again remains 94-year-old Lilian Bettencourt, owner and heiress of L’Oréal; followed by Wal-Mart’s Alice Walton with $33.8 billion. Here is a list of the top 20 2017 Forbes billionaires.
20. Sheldon Adelson (U.S.)
Net worth: $30.4 billion
Industry: Las Vegas Sands
19. Li Ka-Shing (Hong Kong)
Net worth: $31.2 billion
Industry: CK Hutchison Holdings
18. Wang Jianlin (China)
Net worth: $31.3 billion
Industry: Business – Dalian Wanda Group
17. Alice Walton (U.S.)
Net worth: $33.8 billion
Wal-Mart heir; Chairman, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
16. Jim Walton (U.S.)
Net worth: $34 billion
Wal-Mart heir; Chairman and CEO, Arvest Bank Group, Inc.
15. Rob Walton (U.S.)
Net worth: $34.1 billion
Chairman, Wal-Mart Stores
14. Liliane Bettencourt (France)
Net worth: $39.5 billion
Industry: 33 percent of L’Oréal
13. Sergey Brin (U.S.)
Net worth: $39.8 billion
Industry: Technology – Google
12. Larry Page (U.S.)
Net worth: $39.8 billion
Industry: Technology – Google
11. Bernard Arnault (France)
Net worth: $41.5 billion
Industry: Louis Vuitton
10. Michael Bloomberg (U.S.)
Net Worth: $47.5 billion
Industry: Media (Bloomberg Company)
9. David Koch (U.S.)
Net Worth: $48.3 billion
Industry: Diversified Businesses
8. Charles Koch (U.S.)
Net Worth: $48.3 billion
Industry: Diversified Businesses
7. Larry Ellison (U.S.)
Net Worth: $52.2 billion
Industry: Technology- Oracle
6. Carlos Slim (Mexico)
Net Worth: $54.5 billion
Industry: Telecommunication/Assorted Business
5. Mark Zuckerberg (U.S.)
Net Worth: $56 billion
Industry: Social Media – Facebook
4. Amancio Ortega (Spain)
Net Worth: $71.3 billion
Industry: Fashion – Zara
3. Jeff Bezos (U.S.)
Net Worth: $72.8 Billion
Industry: Amazon. Com
2. Warren Buffet (U.S.)
Net Worth: $75.6 billion
Industry: Investment – Berkshire Hathaway
1. Bill Gates (U.S.)
Net Worth: $86 billion
Industry: Microsoft
Interestingly the same billionaires who occupied the top 10 spot last year are still the top 10 billionaires for 2017. With the exception of Bill Gates who held the No. 1 position for four years in a row, and for 18 out of the past 23 years, the only difference is the change in their previous positions.
Hopes are high that Amazon founder Jeff Bezo may top the list of The World’s Billionaires for the first time when Forbes releases the 2018 ranking in March this year following a huge success that skyrocketed his net worth to over $104 billion, making him the world’s ‘temporal’ richest person.
Though numerous sources reported that he has moved past Bill Gate as the world’s richest person, Forbes admitted that Bezos’ fortune is quite taking a big leap but established that “he will have the highest-ever net worth of anyone to appear on the [2018] ranks, and by a wide margin, unless Amazon’s share price unexpectedly collapses.”