February 22, 2024

The Richest People in the World in 2024

The New Diplomat

Writer

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By Niccolo Conte

The combined wealth of the 10 richest individuals in the world amounts to $1.44 trillion.

Using data from Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, we provide a snapshot of the richest people in the world as of February 2024.

Bernard Arnault Ahead of Elon Musk

Bernard Arnault overtook Elon Musk as the richest person in 2024 due to a 21% decline in Musk’s wealth, from $245.3 billion to $194.6 billion.

The billionaire chairman and CEO of the global luxury goods company LVMH runs dozens of luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Sephora, and Tiffany & Co. The French businessman also has investments in businesses such as Netflix and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.

Rank	Name	Net Worth	Source	Country
1	Bernard Arnault & family	$212.1B	LVMH	France
2	Elon Musk	$194.6B	Tesla, SpaceX	United States
3	Jeff Bezos	$192.4B	Amazon	United States
4	Mark Zuckerberg	$161.8B	Facebook	United States
5	Larry Ellison	$144.0B	Oracle	United States
6	Warren Buffett	$128.7B	Berkshire Hathaway	United States
7	Bill Gates	$123.1B	Microsoft	United States
8	Larry Page	$120.3B	Google	United States
9	Steve Ballmer	$119.2B	Microsoft	United States
10	Sergey Brin	$115.4B	Google	United States

The cumulative net worth of the top five richest individuals grew 4% in 2023, to $904.9 billion.

Among women, the richest person, L’Oréal’s Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, saw her fortune grow by $1.2 billion in 2023.

In China, Zhong Shanshan, the chairman and founder of bottled water and beverage producer Nongfu Spring, remains the country’s richest person with a net worth of $60.5 billion.

In India, the list is topped by Mukesh Ambani. The chairman of Reliance Industries, which has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, retail, and financial services, has a $102.1 billion fortune.

How Fortunes Have Changed

Just as in 2023, Mark Zuckerberg saw the most significant growth in his fortune among the top 10 richest individuals. The Facebook co-founder’s net worth surged by over $45 billion by February 2024 compared to November 2023, after Meta’s latest results far exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, sending its shares up.

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