The 10 Richest People in the World

Billionaires play an outsized role in shaping the global economypoliticsand philanthropy. Forbes puts the number of billionaires in the world at 3,028 in 2025. The wealthiest among them is Elon MuskCEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

The individuals on this list belong to an even more exclusive club and wield still more power. Many are founders of technology giantswith much of their wealth still invested in the companies they started.

These billionaires canhoweverstill borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stockdeferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains in the process. Multi-billionaires can also take advantage of a panoply of tax deductions to offset reported incomeleaving some on this list paying no income tax in some years.

With so much of their wealth in publicly traded stocksthe net worth of the richest fluctuates along with the market valuations of the companies they own. Below are the 10 wealthiest people on the planetaccording to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. All figures are current as of Dec. 22025.

1. Elon Musk

• Age: 54
• Residence: United States
• Co-founder and CEO: Tesla
• Net Worth: $450 billion
• Tesla Ownership Stake: 13% ($178 billion)
• Space Exploration Technologies Ownership Stake (Private): 42% ($136 billion)
• Other Assets: The Boring Company ($3.33 billion private asset)Neuralink ($3.42 billion private asset)XAI ($29 billion private asset)

Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. He was born in South Africa and attended a university in Canada before transferring to the University of Pennsylvaniawhere he earned bachelor's degrees in physics and economics.

Two days after enrolling in a graduate physics program at Stanford UniversityMusk deferred attendance to launch Zip2one of the earliest online navigation services. He reinvested a portion of the proceeds from this startup to create X.comthe online payment system that was sold to eBay (EBAY) and ultimately became PayPal Holdings (PYPL).

In 2004Musk became a major funder of Tesla Motors (now Tesla)which led to his current position as CEO of the electric vehicle company. In addition to its line of electric automobilesTesla produces energy storage devicesautomobile accessoriesandthrough its acquisition of SolarCity in 2016solar power systems. Musk is also CEO and chief engineer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)a developer of space launch rockets.

In December 2020Tesla joined the S&P 500becoming the largest company addedand in January 2021Musk became the richest person in the world—a title that has fluctuated alongside the value of Tesla.

In April 2022Musk began a campaign to take X privatewhich culminated in a $44 billion buyout. Musk planned to fund the deal with $21 billion of his own capital. In the run-up to the buyout announcementMusk sold 9.6 million shares of Teslavalued at roughly $8.5 billion.

In July 2022Musk decided to back out of the buyout. The company filed a lawsuit against Musk to force the buyout to go through. Musk countersued the company but then reversed course and declared he was willing to buy it after all. The deal officially closed in October 2022giving him a 79% stake in the company.

Musk founded xAI in 2023. It is an artificial intelligence company with the goal of creating AI tools to advance human scientific discovery. In March 2025X (formerly Twitter) and xAI merged to form XAI holdingsof which Musk owns about 33%.

2. Larry Page

• Age: 52
• Residence: United States
• Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
• Net Worth: $270 billion
• Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($246 billion)
• Other Assets: $24.4 billion in cash

Like several of the tech billionaires on this listLarry Page embarked on his path to fame and fortune in a college dorm room. While attending Stanford University in 1995Page and his friend Sergey Brin came up with the idea of improving Internet data extraction. The duo devised a new search engine technology they dubbed Backrubafter its ability to assess links to a page.

From therePage and Brin went on to found Google in 1998with Page serving as CEO of the company until 2001and again between 2011 and 2019.

Google is the world's dominant Internet search engineaccounting for more than 92% of global search requests. In 2006the company purchased YouTubethe top platform for user-submitted videos.

After acquiring Android in 2005Google released the Android mobile phone operating system in 2008. Google reorganized in 2015becoming a subsidiary of Alphabeta holding company.

Page was among the early investors in Planetary Resourcesa space exploration and asteroid-mining company. Established in 2009the company was acquired by blockchain firm ConsenSys in 2018 amid funding problems. He has also shown an interest in flying car companiesinvesting in both Kitty Hawk and Openeralthough Kitty Hawk ceased operations in 2022.

3. Larry Ellison

• Age: 81
• Residence: United States
• Co-founderChairand CTO: Oracle (ORCL)
• Net Worth: $259 billion
• Oracle Ownership Stake: 41% ($205 billion)
• Other Assets: Tesla equity ($19.4 billion public asset)$34.6 billion in cash

Larry Ellison was born in New York City to a 19-year-old single mother. After dropping out of the University of Chicago in 1966Ellison moved to California and worked as a computer programmer. In 1973he joined the electronics company Ampexwhere he met future partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner. Three years laterEllison moved to Precision Instrumentsserving as the company’s vice president of research and development.

In 1977Ellison founded Software Development Laboratories alongside Oates and Miner. Two years laterthe company released Oraclethe first commercial relational database program to use Structured Query Language. The database program proved so popular that SDL changed its name to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. Ellison gave up the CEO role at Oracle in 2014 after 37 years. He joined Tesla's board in December 2018 and stepped down in June 2022.

Oracle is the world's second-largest software companyproviding a wide variety of cloud computing programs as well as Java and Linux code and the Oracle Exadata computing platform. Oracle has acquired numerous large companies over its historysuch as Sun Microsystems and Cerner.

Ellison has focused his philanthropy on medical research. In 2016he gave $200 million to the University of Southern California for a new cancer research center. Ellison backed the Oracle Team USA sailing teamwhich won the America's Cup racing series in 2010 and 2013.

In September 2025it was announced that TikTokthe Chinese-owned appwould sell its U.S. assets to a consortium of U.S. investorsof which Ellison will be one. Oracle will play an outsized role in the business once it is soldprimarily auditing TikTok's algorithm. Oracle and TikTok already have a relationship regarding data security.

4. Jeff Bezos

• Age: 61
• Residence: United States
• Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon (AMZN)
• Net Worth: $256 billion
• Amazon Ownership Stake: 8.6% ($206 billion)
• Other Assets: Blue Origin ($17 billion private asset)The Washington Post ($250 million private asset)Koru ($500 million private asset)and $31.6 billion in cash

In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in a garage in Seattleshortly after he resigned from the hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw. He had originally pitched the idea of an online bookstore to his former bossDavid E. Shawwho wasn’t interested.

Though Amazon originally started out selling booksit has since morphed into a one-stop shop for everything under the sun and is expected to overtake Walmart as the world’s largest retailer by 2024. Amazon's pattern of constant diversification is evident in some of its unexpected expansionswhich include acquiring Whole Foods in 2017 and entering the pharmacy business the same year.

Bezos owned as much as 16% of Amazon in 2019 before transferring 4% to his former wifeMacKenzie Scottas part of their divorce proceedings. In 2020Amazon’s share price jumped 76% on the heightened demand for online shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 52021Bezos stepped down as CEO of the e-commerce giantbecoming its executive chair.

Bezos originally took Amazon public in 1997 and went on to become the first man since Bill Gates in 1999 to achieve a net worth of more than $100 billion. Bezos’ other projects include aerospace company Blue OriginThe Washington Post (which he purchased in 2013)and the 10,000-year clock—also known as the Long Now.

On July 202021Bezoshis brother Markaviation pioneer Wally Funkand Dutch student Oliver Daemen completed Blue Origin's first successful crewed flightreaching an altitude of more than 66 miles before landing safely. Bezos' wealth peaked at $213 billion in the same month.

In 2023he paid $500 million for the superyachtKoru.

5. Sergey Brin

• Age: 52
• Residence: United States
• Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
• Net Worth: $251 billion
• Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($226 billion)
• Other Assets: $24.5 billion in cash

Sergey Brin was born in MoscowRussiaand moved to the U.S. with his family when he was six in 1979. After co-founding Google with Larry Page in 1998Brin became Google's president of technology when Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001. He held the same post at the Alphabet holding company after it was established in 2015stepping down in 2019 when Sundar Pichai took over as CEO.

In addition to its dominant Internet search engineGoogle offers a suite of online tools and services known as Google Workspacewhich includes GmailGoogle DriveGoogle CalendarGoogle MeetGoogle ChatGoogle DocsGoogle SheetsGoogle Slidesand more. Google also offers a variety of electronic devicesincluding Pixel smartphonescomputersand tabletsNest smart home devicesand the Stadia gaming platform.

Brin has donated millions of dollars to Parkinson’s disease researchpartnering with The Michael J. Fox Foundation.

6. Mark Zuckerberg

• Age: 41
• Residence: United States
• CEO and Chair: Meta Platforms (META)
• Net Worth: $226 billion
• Meta Platforms Ownership Stake: 13% ($220 billion)
• Other Assets: $6.85 billion in cash

Mark Zuckerberg first developed Facebook (now Meta) alongside fellow students Eduardo SaverinDustin Moskovitzand Chris Hughes while attending Harvard University in 2004. As Facebook began to be used at other universitiesZuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to focus entirely on his growing business. TodayZuckerberg is the CEO and chair of Meta.

Facebook is the world's largest social networking service. As the website is free to usemost of the company's revenue is generated through advertising.

Meta is also host to several other brandsincluding photo-sharing app Instagramwhich it acquired in 2012; cross-platform mobile messaging service WhatsApp; virtual-reality headset producer Oculusboth acquired in 2014and Workplaceits enterprise-connectivity platform.

Zuckerberg and his wifePriscilla Chanfounded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2015with each of them serving as co-CEOs. Their charity seeks to leverage technology to fix societal illssuch as improving the access and quality of educationreforming both the criminal justice system and the U.S. immigration systemimproving housing affordabilityand eventually eradicating all diseases.

7. Bernard Arnault

• Age: 76
• Residence: France
• CEO and Chair: LVMH (LVMUY)
• Net Worth: $203 billion
• LVMH Ownership Stake: 48% ($179 billion)
• Other Assets: $25 billion in cash

French national Bernard Arnault is the chairman and CEO of LVMHthe world’s largest luxury goods company. LVMH brands include Louis VuittonHennessyMarc Jacobsand Sephora.

Most of Arnault's wealth comes from his massive stake in LVMH. His shares in LVMH are held through entities associated with Financiere Agachethe investment firm that manages his fortune.

An engineer by trainingArnault first showed his business acumen while working for his father’s construction firmFerret-Savineltaking charge of the company in 1971. He converted Ferret-Savinel to a real estate company named Férinel Inc. in 1979.

Arnault remained Férinel's chair for another six yearsuntil he acquired and reorganized luxury goods maker Financière Agache in 1984eventually selling all its holdings other than Christian Dior and Le Bon Marché. He was invited to invest in LVMH in 1987 and became the majority shareholderchair of the boardand CEO of the company two years later.

8. Steve Ballmer

• Age: 69
• Residence: United States
• Owner: Los Angeles Clippers
• Net Worth: $169 billion
• Microsoft Ownership Stake: 4% ($155 billion)
• Other Assets: Los Angeles Clippers ($6.72 billion private asset)The Forum ($400 million private asset)Intuit Dome ($2 billion private asset)$4.63 billion in cash

Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 after Bill Gates convinced him to drop out of Stanford University's MBA program. He was Microsoft's 30th employee. Ballmer went on to succeed Gates as Microsoft CEO in 2000. He held the position until stepping down in 2014. Ballmer oversaw Microsoft's 2011 purchase of Skype for $8.5 billion.

Ballmer owns an estimated 4% of Microsoftmaking him the software giant's largest individual shareholder. In 2014shortly after stepping down as Microsoft CEOBallmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion.

Ballmer lived in the same dorm and on the same floor as Bill Gates when the two attended Harvard University. Their brotherly relationship became strained when Ballmer started pushing the tech company into hardwaresuch as the Surface tablet and the Windows mobile phoneduring his tenure as CEO.

9. Jensen Huang

• Age: 62
• Residence: United States
• CEO: NVIDIA (NVDA)
• Net Worth: $156 billion
• NVIDIA Ownership Stake: 3.5% ($153 billion)
• Other Assets: $3 billion in cash

Huang is the President and Chief Executive of NVIDIAone of the largest and most prominent tech firmsfocused on building processors and AI tech. Huang co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem.

Huang owns approximately 3.5% of NVIDIA shareswhich is where his fortune is derived from.

10. Warren Buffett

• Age: 95
• Residence: United States
• CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
• Net Worth: $151 billion
• Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 36.4% ($149 billion)
• Other Assets: $1.88 billion in cash

The most famous living value investor, Warren Buffettfiled his first tax return in 1944 at age 14declaring earnings from his boyhood paper route. He first bought shares in a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway in 1962becoming the majority shareholder by 1965. Buffett expanded the company's holdings to insurance and other investments in 1967.

Widely known as the Oracle of OmahaBuffett is a buy-and-hold investor who built his fortune by acquiring undervalued companies. More recentlyBerkshire Hathaway has invested in largewell-known companies. Its portfolio of wholly owned subsidiaries includes interests in insuranceenergy distributionand railroadsas well as consumer products.

Buffett is a notable Bitcoin skeptic.

Buffett has dedicated much of his wealth to philanthropy. Between 2006 and 2020he gave away $41 billion—mostly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his children’s charities. Buffett launched the Giving Pledge alongside Bill Gates in 2010.Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett still serves as CEObut in 2026his successorGregory Abelwill take over as CEO.

The Bottom Line

If you want to get a little closer to making the richest billionaires rankingsyou might need to become a technological innovator or a luxury retail mastermind. Or you could keep it simple and focus on value investing.

It also wouldn’t hurt to have been born into wealth; howeverthe greatest fortunes on this list started as good ideas that people with creativitydriveand connections used to build some of the world's largest companies.