The 10 Richest People in the World

The global economy, political choices, and charitable contributions are all significantly influenced by billionaires. As of 2025, Forbes estimates that there will be 3,028 billionaires globally. The richest person on the list is Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla.
These billionaires belong to a select group that has even more clout and sway. Their fortunes are strongly linked to the stock market because many of them are pioneers in the tech sector who still own sizable shares in the businesses they started.

Many billionaires borrow against their holdings even though they haven’t sold their shares. By avoiding taxes on unrealized capital gains, this tactic helps them postpone or even completely remove those tax obligations for their heirs.
Ultra-wealthy people also use a range of legal financial tools and tax deductions to reduce their reported income. This can lead to paying little to no income tax in some years.
Their net worths fluctuate in tandem with changes in the stock market because the majority of their wealth is associated with publicly traded companies. Based on information from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, these are the top ten wealthiest people in the world. As of June 2, 2025, these rankings are up to date.

KEY:-
  1. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $379 billion.
  2. After Musk is Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta (Facebook).
 3. Other billionaires with some of the largest net worths include LVMH's Arnault, Microsoft's Bill Gates, and Oracle's Larry Ellison.
 4. Eight of the top 10 billionaires made their fortunes in technology, with Arnault and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett being the exceptions.

1. Elon Musk

• Age: 53Residence: United States
• Co-founder and CEO: Tesla
• Net Worth: $379 billion
• Tesla Ownership Stake: 13% ($142 billion)
• Space Exploration Technologies Ownership Stake (Private): 42% ($136 billion)
• Other Assets: The Boring Company ($3.33 billion private asset), Neuralink ($2.07 billion private asset), XAI ($20.1 billion private asset)

Elon Musk: Journey of the World’s Richest Man

Elon Musk holds the title of the richest man on Earth. Born in South Africa, he began his academic journey at a Canadian university before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed dual bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics.
Just two days into a graduate physics program at Stanford University, Musk decided to leave and focus on launching Zip2—an early online navigation platform. He later used part of the earnings from Zip2 to start X.com, a digital payment company that was sold to eBay and eventually became PayPal Holdings.
In 2004, Musk became a key investor in Tesla Motors (now Tesla), which paved the way for his current role as CEO of the electric car giant. Tesla not only manufactures electric vehicles but also develops energy storage products, auto accessories, and solar power systems after acquiring SolarCity in 2016. Musk also serves as CEO and chief engineer at SpaceX, a company that designs and launches space rockets.
Tesla was added to the S&P 500 index in December 2020, marking the largest-ever addition. In January 2021, Musk officially became the wealthiest individual globally—a status that has fluctuated with Tesla’s market valuation.

Many billionaires borrow against their holdings even though they haven’t sold their shares. By avoiding taxes on unrealized capital gains, this tactic helps them postpone or even completely remove those tax obligations for their heirs.
Ultra-wealthy people also use a range of legal financial tools and tax deductions to reduce their reported income. This can lead to paying little to no income tax in some years.
Their net worths fluctuate in tandem with changes in the stock market because the majority of their wealth is associated with publicly traded companies. Based on information from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, these are the top ten wealthiest people in the world. As of June 2, 2025, these rankings are up to date.Elon Musk made an attempt to buy X (formerly Twitter) in April 2022, which resulted in a $44 billion purchase. Musk intended to use $21 billion of his personal funds to fund the transaction. He sold 9.6 million Tesla shares, valued at about $8.5 billion, prior to the formal announcement.
Musk made an effort to back out of the deal by July 2022. The business responded by suing him to uphold the agreement. Musk eventually changed his mind and agreed to move forward with the acquisition after filing a countersuit. Musk now owns 79% of the business after the deal was completed in October 2022.
“Elon Musk accuses Twitter of ‘Burying’ His Side of the Fight Over Their $44 Billion Deal,” according to Yahoo! Finance.

Musk founded xAI, an artificial intelligence company, in 2023 with the goal of developing instruments to promote scientific advancement. Musk owns 33% of XAI Holdings, which was formed by the merger of X and xAI in March 2025.

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2. Mark Zuckerberg

• Age: 41 Residence: United States
• CEO and Chair: Meta Platforms (META)
• Net Worth: $229 billion
• Meta Platforms Ownership Stake: 13% ($222 billion)
• Other Assets: $6.68 billion in cash

Mark Zuckerberg: The Visionary Behind Facebook (Now Meta)

While attending Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook, which is now known as Meta, in 2004. To launch the platform, he worked with classmates Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin. Zuckerberg made the audacious choice to leave Harvard and give Facebook his whole attention as its popularity spread to other colleges. He is currently Meta’s chairman and CEO.

The biggest social networking site in the world right now is Facebook. Despite being free for users, Meta is a strong player in the digital marketing industry because it mainly makes money from advertising.

Meta’s Expanding Portfolio and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

The well-known photo-sharing app Instagram, the cross-platform messaging service WhatsApp, the virtual reality headset manufacturer Oculus, which Meta purchased in 2014, and Workplace, its business collaboration tool, are just a few of the well-known brands that Meta owns.

Both Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are co-CEOs of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which was established in 2015. Enhancing education quality and access, improving housing affordability, reforming the criminal justice and immigration systems, and eventually curing all diseases are the main social issues that their philanthropic mission centers on using technology to address.

3. Jeff Bezos

• Age: 61 Residence: United States
• Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon (AMZN)
• Net Worth: $226 billion
• Amazon Ownership Stake: 8.6% ($186 billion)
• Other Assets: Blue Origin ($15 billion private asset), The Washington Post ($250 million private asset), Koru ($500 million private asset), and $24.3 billion in cash

The Rise of Amazon: How Jeff Bezos Built an Empire

After quitting his position at the dominant hedge fund D.E. Shaw, Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com in a Seattle garage in 1994. His then-boss, David E. Shaw, had initially rejected his proposal for an online bookstore.

Amazon started out only as a book-selling website but quickly developed into a worldwide marketplace that sells almost anything. By 2024, it is expected to overtake Walmart as the biggest retailer globally. Unexpected actions taken by Amazon as part of its unrelenting growth include the 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods and its entry into the pharmaceutical sector.

Bezos owned 16% of Amazon by 2019, but after their divorce, he gave his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, 4% of the company. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a 76% increase in Amazon’s stock price in 2020. Bezos became executive chairman of the e-commerce giant after resigning as CEO on July 5, 2021.

With a net worth of over $100 billion, Jeff Bezos became the richest man in the world since Bill Gates in 1999 after he first took Amazon public in 1997. In addition to Amazon, Bezos has started a number of well-known businesses, such as the aerospace firm Blue Origin, the 2013 acquisition of The Washington Post, and the ambitious 10,000-year clock, also called the Long Now.

Together with his brother Mark, aviation icon Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen, Bezos accomplished Blue Origin’s first manned spaceflight on July 20, 2021, reaching a height of more than 66 miles before making a safe return. In that month, his net worth reached a peak of $213 billion.

In 2023, Bezos also purchased the luxury superyacht Koru for $500 million.

4. Larry Ellison

• Age: 80
• Residence: United States
• Co-founder, Chair, and CTO: Oracle (ORCL)
• Net Worth: $191 billion
• Oracle Ownership Stake: 41% ($144 billion)
• Other Assets: Tesla equity ($15.6 billion public asset), $30.3 billion in cash

Larry Ellison: From New York Roots to Oracle Pioneer

Larry Ellison was born in New York City to a 19-year-old single mother, and his early years were difficult. After leaving the University of Chicago in 1966, he relocated to California and started working as a computer programmer. Ellison met future business partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner when he joined the electronics company Ampex in 1973. He rose to the position of vice president of research and development at Precision Instruments three years later.

Ellison, Oates, and Miner co-founded Software Development Laboratories in 1977. They introduced Oracle, the first relational database program to be sold commercially that used Structured Query Language (SQL), in 1979. Due to the program’s immense success, SDL changed its name to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. Ellison resigned as CEO of Oracle in 2014 after 37 years in that position. Later, in December 2018, he became a member of Tesla’s board, but he left in June 2022.

Oracle: A Leading Force in Global Software and Cloud Innovation

In addition to its well-known Java and Linux platforms, Oracle is the second-largest software provider in the world, providing a wide range of cloud computing solutions. The Oracle Exadata computer system is also powered by the company. Oracle has increased its power over the years by acquiring significant companies, such as Sun Microsystems and Cerner, a leader in healthcare IT.

Co-founder of Oracle Larry Ellison has focused a large portion of his charitable contributions on furthering medical research. He gave the University of Southern California $200 million in 2016 to build a state-of-the-art cancer research facility. In addition to technology, Ellison helped Oracle Team USA win the coveted America’s Cup in 2010 and 2013 by supporting them in competitive sailing.

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5. Bill Gates

• Age: 69
• Residence: United States
• Co-founder: Microsoft (MSFT)
• Net Worth: $175 billion
• MicrosoftOwnership Stake: 1% ($29.8 billion)
• Other Assets: Billions in multiple other companies held through a holding company, Cascade Investment, and $83 billion in cash

In 1975, while attending Harvard University, Bill Gates started working with Paul Allen, a friend from his youth, to develop software for early microcomputers. In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to co-found Microsoft with Allen after their project was successful.

Microsoft is currently the biggest software company in the world. It creates personal computers, sells video game consoles and accessories, and provides email services through Exchange Server. The business has increased its investments in cloud computing technologies dramatically in recent years.

Bill Gates’s Board Roles and Wealth Holdings

In 2008, Bill Gates left his position as CEO of Microsoft to become the chair of the board. In 2004, he had previously joined Berkshire Hathaway’s board. He formally resigned from both boards on March 13, 2020.

Cascade Investment LLC, a private investment company that owns a variety of stock assets, is in charge of managing the majority of Gates’ wealth.

6. Steve Ballmer

• Age: 69
• Residence: United States
• Owner: Los Angeles Clippers
• Net Worth: $159 billion
• Microsoft Ownership Stake: 4% ($147 billion)
• Other Assets: Los Angeles Clippers ($5.68 billion private asset), The Forum ($400 million private asset), Intuit Dome ($2 billion private asset), $4.38 billion in cash

After being convinced to drop out of Stanford University’s MBA program by Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980. Ballmer started out at Microsoft as the 30th employee and advanced through the ranks fast. He took over as CEO of the company in 2000 after Bill Gates resigned in 2014. Leading Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype in 2011 was one of his most significant actions as CEO.

Ballmer is currently Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder, holding about 4% of the company. Shortly after leaving his position as CEO, he made news in 2014 when he paid $2 billion to acquire the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA.

Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates: From Harvard Roommates to Business Tension

In addition to having a similar love of technology, Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates used to live on the same floor of the Harvard University residence hall. Later, when Ballmer pushed Microsoft into the hardware market while serving as CEO, their close, almost brotherly bond became problematic. This included significant actions such as the introduction of the Windows mobile phone and the Surface tablet, which were said to have caused animosity between the two lifelong friends.

7. Warren Buffett

• Age: 94
• Residence: United States
• CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
• Net Worth: $158 billion
• Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 37.4% ($156 billion)49
• Other Assets: $1.65 billion in cash

The most well-known living value investor, Warren Buffett, reported income from his childhood paper route on his first tax return in 1944 when he was just 14 years old. He started buying stock in the faltering textile company Berkshire Hathaway in 1962, and by 1965, he had taken over as the company’s largest shareholder. Buffett broadened Berkshire’s focus by 1967 to include important investments like insurance.

Known as the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett is renowned for his buy-and-hold approach to investing, which has allowed him to amass enormous wealth by purchasing undervalued companies. Berkshire Hathaway has concentrated on making investments in large, established businesses in recent years. Its varied portfolio now includes full ownership of companies in consumer goods, railroads, energy, and insurance.

Buffett is a notable Bitcoin skeptic.

A significant amount of Warren Buffett’s wealth has been donated to charitable causes. He gave $41 billion between 2006 and 2020, mostly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and nonprofits his children founded. Buffett and Bill Gates co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010, which urged billionaires to give the majority of their fortune to charitable causes.

Buffett is still the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the age of 93. But in 2021, he declared that Gregory Abel, who manages the company’s non-insurance divisions, would probably succeed him.

8. Larry Page

• Age: 52
• Residence: United States
• Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
• Net Worth: $155 billion
• Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($134.3 billion)
• Other Assets: $21.2 billion in cash

Larry Page, like many tech billionaires, started his career in a college dorm room. In 1995, while attending Stanford University, he and Sergey Brin came up with an idea to improve the way data was taken from the Internet. They developed Backrub, a cutting-edge search engine that evaluated page links for relevancy.

This project led to the launch of Google in 1998, with Page as CEO until 2001 and again from 2011 to 2019.

Today, Google dominates online search with over 92% market share. In 2006, the company expanded its reach by acquiring YouTube, the leading video-sharing platform.

Google’s Android Journey and Larry Page’s Futuristic Investments

An important milestone in the smartphone revolution was reached in 2008 when Google formally unveiled the Android mobile operating system after acquiring Android in 2005. Google underwent a significant corporate reorganization in 2015, becoming a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., a new parent company.

Google co-founder Larry Page has always been an innovative investor. He was one of the first investors in Planetary Resources, a business that was established in 2009 with plans to mine asteroids and explore space. However, the business was purchased by blockchain technology company ConsenSys in 2018 as a result of financial difficulties. Additionally, Page supported businesses like Kitty Hawk and Opener in his foray into the futuristic flying car sector. Despite closing its doors in 2022, Kitty Hawk’s investments demonstrate his commitment to innovative thinking.

9. Bernard Arnault

• Age: 76
• Residence: France
• CEO and Chair: LVMH (LVMUY)
• Net Worth: $152 billion
• LVMH Ownership Stake: 48% ($131 billion)
• Other Assets: $21.7 billion in cash

The chairman and CEO of LVMH, the largest luxury goods conglomerate in the world, is French billionaire Bernard Arnault. Famous brands like Sephora, Hennessy, Marc Jacobs, and Louis Vuitton are part of the LVMH portfolio.

The main source of Arnault’s enormous wealth is his sizeable stake in LVMH. Entities connected to Financière Agache, the investment firm that manages his fortune, are in charge of these shares.

Bernard Arnault’s Strategic Rise in Business

Having an engineering background, Bernard Arnault showed early business acumen while working for Ferret-Savinel, his father’s construction company. He assumed control of the company in 1971 and, by 1979, changed it to Férinel Inc., a real estate company.

After six more years as Férinel’s leader, Arnault bought the upscale conglomerate Financière Agache in 1984. Only Christian Dior and Le Bon Marché remained after he streamlined its operations. He received an invitation to invest in LVMH in 1987, and by 1989, he was the company’s CEO, board chair, and largest shareholder.

10. Sergey Brin

• Age: 51
• Residence: United States
• Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
• Net Worth: $146 billion
• Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($124.4 billion)
• Other Assets: $21.3 billion in cash

Born in Moscow, Russia, Sergey Brin moved to the US with his family in 1979 when he was six years old. He and Larry Page co-founded Google in 1998, and when Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001, he became the company’s president of technology. After Alphabet was founded in 2015, Brin stayed in the same role within the company, eventually leaving in 2019 when Sundar Pichai was appointed CEO.

Google Workspace offers a wide range of digital tools and services in addition to its robust search engine. Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more are all part of this suite. Google also produces a range of tech products, including Nest smart home appliances, Pixel phones, tablets, laptops, and the Stadia cloud gaming platform.

Brin has donated millions of dollars to Parkinson’s disease research, partnering with The Michael J. Fox Foundation.77

Who Are the Top 10 Richest People in the World?

The top 10 richest people in the world as of June 2, 2025, are:

1. Elon Musk
2. Mark Zuckerberg
3. Jeff Bezos
4. Larry Ellison
5. Bill Gates
6. Steve Ballmer
7. Warren Buffett
8. Larry Page
9. Bernard Arnault
10. Sergey Brin