Jeff Bezos has overtaken Elon Musk as the world’s richest person, marking the first time in more than nine months that the Tesla CEO has been knocked from the top spot.
Musk was dethroned from the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index after Tesla shares dropped by 7.2 per cent on Monday, bringing his net worth to $197.7 billion, set against Bezos’ $200.3 billion.
Bezos, 60, has not come first in Bloomberg’s ranking since 2021.
While Amazon shares have more than doubled since late 2022 and are closing in on a record high, Tesla is down around 50 per cent from its 2021 peak.
Most of Bezos’s fortune comes from his 9 per cent stake in Amazon, where he is the biggest shareholder, despite selling 50 million shares worth around $8.5 billion in February.
Bezos first stepped ahead of Microsoft Inc. co-founder Bill Gates as the world’s richest person in 2017.
But a huge rally in Tesla shares left Bezos and Musk vying for first position for most of 2021.
Late in 2021, Bezos dropped far behind, and this is the first time he has reclaimed his position since then.
Here looks at the other mega rich people on the list.
Most of Bezos’s fortune comes from his 9 per cent stake in Amazon, where he is the biggest shareholder, despite selling 50 million shares worth around $8.5 billion in February
Musk was dethroned from the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index after Tesla shares dropped by 7.2 per cent on Monday, bringing his net worth to $197.7 billion, set against Bezos’ $200.3 billion
(3) Bernard Arnault $197B
Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and his wife Helene Mercier
Bernard Arnault is the Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury products group.
Born in Roubaix, France on March 5, 1949, he started his career as an engineer with the Ferret-Savinel construction company and was promoted to various executive management positions before taking the role of Chairman in 1978.
Arnault, 75, stayed there until 1984, when he implemented the reorganization the Financière Agache holding company.
In 1989, he became the majority shareholder of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, where he has been Chairman and CEO since then. Arnault is married with five children.
(4) Mark Zuckerberg $179B
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. Zuckerberg is the founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, which he first founded as Facebook in 2004
Mark Zuckerberg is the founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, which he first founded as Facebook in 2004. He is in control of the overall direction and product strategy for the company.
Zuckerberg was born in White Plains, New York and studied computer science at Harvard University before moving to Palo Alto, California in 2004.
In October 2021, Facebook became Meta.
Zuckerberg is also the co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) with his wife Priscilla, which they started in 2015 to help solve some of society’s most pressing issues, including improving education and tackling disease.
(5) Bill Gates $150B
Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft Corporation in 1975 with Paul Allen.
The company went on to become the world leader in business and personal software and services.
In 2008, Gates made the switch to focus full-time on work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which they still co-chair after their marriage ended in 2021.
As part of the divorce settlement, he transferred at least $6 billion worth of shares in public companies to Melinda.
As of March 2020, when Gates left the Microsoft board, he owned around 1.3 per cent of the company’s shares.
He is one of the largest owners of farmland in the US and has made investments in scores of companies including Republic Services and Deere & Co.
He has also donated more than $59 billion to the Gates Foundation.
Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft Corporation in 1975 with Paul Allen
(6) Steve Ballmer $143B
Steve Ballmer is the former CEO of Microsoft, heading the company from 2000 to 2014.
Ballmer ran Microsoft as CEO following the first dot-com crash. He joined the company in 1980 after quitting Stanford’s MBA program.
He sought to bridge the gap with Google in search capabilities and Apple with mobile phones.
In 2014, he retired from Microsoft and purchased the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion, which is now worth $4.65 billion, according to Forbes.
In 2022, Ballmer and his wife Connie donated some $425 million to the University of Oregon to form an institute for the behavioral and mental health needs of children in the state.
Steve Ballmer is the former CEO of Microsoft, heading the company from 2000 to 2014
(7) Warren Buffett $133B
US businessman and philanthropist Warren Buffett is chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which owns dozens of companies including Dairy Queen and Duracell.
Buffett and his late wife Susan raised three children: Susie, Howard, and Peter.
He is now married to Astrid Menks Buffett, and lives and works in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
Buffet first bought stock aged 11 and first filed taxes at age 13, before going on to become one of the most successful investors of all time.
He has promised to donate more than 99 per cent of his fortune.
US businessman and philanthropist Warren Buffett is chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which owns dozens of companies including Dairy Queen and Duracell
(8) Larry Ellison $129B
Larry Ellison is the founder and largest shareholder of database company Oracle.
The company’s reported revenue was $50 billion in the year to May 31, 2023.
Ellison owns more than 40 per cent of the company, as well as a stake in Tesla, a sailing team, and the Indian Wells tennis event.
He quit the Oracle CEO role in 2014 after 37 years in charge.
In 2020, Ellison, who also has a large real estate portfolio, moved to the island of Lanai in Hawaii, which he bought almost all of in 2012 for $300 million.
Ellison was on Tesla’s board from December 2018 to August 2022 and he still holds around 15 million shares in the company.
Larry Ellison is the founder and largest shareholder of database company Oracle
(9) Larry Page $122B
Larry Page quit as CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet in 2019 but he is still a board member and a controlling shareholder.
He cofounded Google in 1998 with Sergey Brin, who was also a Stanford Ph.D. student.
They both invented Google’s PageRank algorithm for its search engine.
Page was CEO until 2001, when he was succeeded by Eric Schmidt. From 2011 until 2015, he became CEO of Alphabet.
Alphabet had a reported revenue of $307.4 billion in 2023.
Larry Page cofounded Google in 1998 with Sergey Brin, who was also a Stanford Ph.D. student
(10) Sergey Brin $116B
Sergey Brin is a co-founder of Alphabet. The group’s divisions include Android, Gmail and YouTube.
He moved to the US from the Soviet Union aged six.
Google went public in 2004 and started trading as Alphabet in 2015.
Brin left his position as president of Alphabet in December 2019, but he is still a board member and a controlling shareholder.
Sergey Brin left his position as president of Alphabet in December 2019, but he is still a board member and a controlling shareholder