The number of billionaires in the world, and their collective net worth, have dropped in 2022. The Russia/Ukraine war, the COVID pandemic and the current stock market correction all hit the world’s billionaires this year. The stock markets are down 12%-15% this year, which hurts the bigs (and the rest of us).
So, the number of billionaires and their combined wealth has declined this year, according to Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s richest people which recently came out.
While a lot of people couldn’t care less if many of the world’s billionaires took a hit this year, I always think it’s interesting to keep an eye on what’s happening with the world’s richest people. Here are the highlights of Forbes’ 36th-annual ranking of the planet’s richest people, which came out earlier this month.
There are 2,668 billionaires in the world this year – 87 fewer than a year ago. Their collective net worth fell by $400 billion to $12.7 trillion, following a record high in 2021. The most dramatic drops occurred in China, where a government crackdown on tech companies has led to 87 fewer Chinese billionaires and in Russia, where there are 34 fewer billionaires than last year following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Still, Forbes found there are more than 1,000 billionaires who are richer than they were a year ago. And 236 newcomers have become billionaires over the past year – including the first ever from smaller countries including Barbados, Bulgaria, Estonia, Uruguay and others.
America still leads the world, with 735 billionaires worth a collective $4.7 trillion, including Elon Musk, who tops the World’s Billionaires list for the first time. China (including Macau and Hong Kong) remains number two, with 607 billionaires worth a collective $2.3 trillion.
The Top 10 Richest People In The World – Musk Now #1
Here is a list of the 10 richest people in the world this year. The most notable change in the list is Elon Musk overtook Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person in the last year. Bezos, the founder of Amazon, had held the top spot for several years.
- Elon Musk ($219 billion). Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and soon-to-be owner of Twitter, is now the richest person in the world.
- Jeff Bezos ($171 billion). He founded a little company called Amazon. He also has his own aerospace company, Blue Origin.
- Bernard Arnault and family ($158 billion). Arnault of France runs LVMH, the company behind brands including Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and Christian Dior.
- Bill Gates ($129 billion). Gates co-founded software giant Microsoft.
- Warren Buffett ($118 billion). The “Oracle of Omaha” is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and made his billions through investing.
- Larry Page ($111 billion). Next time you Google anything, remember Page, who is one of its co-founders.
- Sergey Brin ($107 billion). Brin co-founded Google with Page.
- Larry Ellison ($106 billion). Ellison runs software giant Oracle.
- Steve Ballmer ($91.4 billion). Ballmer once served as CEO of Microsoft. Today, he’s owner of the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball team.
- Mukesh Ambani $(90.7 billion). Ambani of India is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, which is involved in multiple industries including petrochemicals and textiles.
Forbes said the decline in the total number of billionaires from 2,755 to 2,668 was the largest drop since the 2009 financial crisis, but followed an increase of more than 600 in 2021 when global stocks bounced back from pandemic lows.
Among those falling out of the ranking are 169 “one-year wonders” – newcomers to the list in 2021 but who have already dropped off. They include the exercise bike company Peloton’s John Foley and the dating app Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd, among others.
As noted above, 236 people joined the billionaire club for the first time in the last year, including the pop star Rihanna, the Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and the American venture capitalist Joshua Kushner.
Of the 10 former billionaires whose net worths sank the most, eight were from China. The fortunes of this year’s two biggest losers, Zhang Bangxin of TAL Education (formerly worth $13.3 billion) and Larry Xiangdong Chen of rival GSX Techedu ($10.2 billion), evaporated when the Chinese government threatened to ban profits and overseas investment in the after-school tutoring industry.
The loss of billionaires in the last year was by far the largest in China, followed by the rest of the entire world. The smallest loss was in the United States, which saw only a 10% decline.
What will be most interesting to see is how this trend plays out. Will the loss of billionaires continue, or even escalate, or will it begin to accelerate again in the next few years. It all depends on the economy, of course.
I will keep you posted, as always.
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