Interesting billionaires statistics as the US dominates 2023 world’s billionaire list

The impact of wounded unicorns, rising interest rates and falling stocks in 2023 have cascaded down to the world’s richest people as further elaborated in this billionaires statistics article.

The combined worth of the world billionaires has also seen a $500 billion drop from $12.7 trillion to $12.2 trillion in March this year. Generally speaking, almost half of the world’s wealthiest people including Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault have become poorer compared to their financial standing at the same time last year.

Key Takeaways from the 2023 billionaires statistics

• Out of the 2,640 billionaires in 2023, The United States boasts of 735 billionaires.
• The collective worth of all the billionaires in the US is $4.5 trillion.
• China (including Macau and Hong Kong) has 562 billionaires worth a collective $2 trillion.
• India comes in third with 169 billionaires worth $675 billion.
• African richest man, Aliko Dangote, is at position 142 with a net worth of $13.6 billion.

Top ten richest people in the world

1.      Bernard Arnault: worth $223.3 billion

Bernard Arnault is the world’s richest person and he is the first French person to hold this position.

Arnault is the head of the French luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), which seems to be doing well in the midst of financial turmoil around the globe. Interestingly, his wealth has increased by $65.3 billion from $158 billion at the same time in 2022 while a majority of billionaires see their wealth shrink.

LVMH, which has 75 fashion and cosmetics brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora, holds a significant share within the European luxury space as the demand for European luxury goods remains high demand, as previously reported by Invezz, despite the economic challenges posed by high inflation and war in Eastern Europe. To be specific, Asian buyers are desperate to own European brands with Americans being the largest market (with a 30% market share) for these goods.

Besides Amazon, Arnault’s holding company Agache backs venture capital firm Aglaé Ventures, which has investments in TikTok parent company ByteDance and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX).

2.      Elon Musk: worth $193 billion

Elon Musk has cofounded six companies, including electric car maker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), space exploration company SpaceX, and tunnelling startup Boring Company.

He recently acquired Twitter for $44 billion, which is largely considered a pricey acquisition that helped sink Tesla shares making Musk cede the first position of world billionaires to Bernard Arnault. Elon Musk was worth $219 billion at the same time in 2022 making him the wealthiest man at that time.

Elon Musk is probably the most popular world billionaire and he frequently vents his opinions on various topics including cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. Musk recently said that the Great Depression is coming in an extended interview held with Tucker Carlson.

3.      Jeff Bezos: worth $142.9 billion

Jeff Bezos is known for co-founding the e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) in 1994 out of his Seattle garage. He is also the founder of the space exploration company Blue Origin which competes with SpaceX among other players in the United States. He is also the owner of The Washington Post.

Bezos was the richest person in the world in 2021 amid stiff competition from Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault who first became the richest person in May 2021 after dethroning Bezos.

Bezos stepped down as the CEO at Amazon to become executive chairman in 2021 but retained a 10% stake in the company. He remains the largest individual shareholder at Amazon as captured in our recent Amazon statistics post.

He and his wife MacKenzie divorced in 2019 after 25 years of marriage and transferred a quarter of his then 16% Amazon stake to her.

In 2022, Bezos donated $400 million worth of stock to nonprofits, although it is not clear which organization received the shares.

He owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing rockets; he briefly flew to space in one in July 2021.

4.      Larry Ellison: worth $129.7 billion

Larry Ellison is chairman, chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder of software giant Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), of which he owns about 35%.

Ellison was the CEO at Oracle for 37 years before giving up the position in 2014. He was also on Tesla’s board from December 2018 to August 2022 and currently owns 15 million shares at the electric car company.

In 2020, he moved permanently to the Hawaiian island Lanai, a majority of which he bought in 2012 for $300 million.

5.      Warren Buffett: worth $111.6 billion

Warren Buffett has been in the circles of the world’s richest individuals for quite a while attracting the name the “Oracle of Omaha,” as one of the most successful investors of all time.

Buffett runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns several companies, including restaurant chain Dairy Queen, insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell, and Alleghany Corporation (NYSE: Y) which was acquired in 2021 for $11.60 billion.

Warren was worth $118 billion at the same time in 2022; meaning his wealth has dropped by $6.4 billion.

6.      Bill Gates: worth $114.7 billion

Gates co-founded Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT), which announced $18.3 billion in earnings in its Q3, 2022 earning report, with Paul Allen (d. 2018) in 1975.

Gates and Melinda Gates ended their 27 years marriage in March 2021 and Gates transferred $6.3 billion worth of shares he owned in public companies to Melinda as part of the divorce settlement.

Besides Microsoft where he still owns a 1.3% stake after stepping down from the Microsoft board, Bill Gates has invested in several other companies including Republic Services and Deere & Co.

Bill Gates is one of the largest owners of farmland in the US.

To date, he has donated more than $59 billion to the Gates Foundation, including a $20 billion gift announced in July 2022.

At the same time in 2022, Bill Gates was worth $129 billion, meaning his worth has decreased by 14.3 billion.

7.      Steve Ballmer: worth $102 billion

Steve Ballmer is a former CEO of Microsoft. He led Microsoft from 2000 to 2014 having climbed up the ladder at the company since joining the company in 1980 as an employee after dropping out of Stanford’s MBA program.

The same year he resigned from Microsoft, Ballmer bought the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion.

In 2022, Ballmer and his wife Connie donated some $425 million to the University of Oregon for an institute aimed at the mental and behavioural health needs of children in the state of Oregon.

8.      Michael Bloomberg: worth $94.5 billion

Michael Bloomberg is renowned for the financial information and media company Bloomberg LP which he cofounded in 1981. He owns 88% of the media company.

Bloomberg was the mayor of New York City for 12 years, making him one of the four individuals in the US to have served that long. He announced a run for president in November 2019 although he later dropped out in March 2020 and supported Joe Biden against Donald Trump in 2020.

Interestingly, Michael Bloomberg’s net worth has grown by 12.5 billion in the last year

9.      Carlos Slim Helu & family: worth 99 billion

Carlos Slim is the first Mexican to make it into the 2023 world billionaire’s list.

Mexico’s richest person and his family control América Móvil, which is Latin America’s biggest mobile telecom firm. In 1990, Slim bought a stake in Telmex, Mexico’s only phone company, which is now part of América Móvil.

Slim previously owned a 17% stake in The New York Times.

Besides the telecommunication industry, Slim has also invested in Mexican construction, consumer goods, mining, and real estate industries.

His net worth has increased by 17.8 billion over the past year.

10.  Mukesh Ambani: worth $89.6 billion

Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian to make it to the top 10 Forbes 2023 world billionaires list. He runs and chairs Reliance Industries (NSE: EQRELIANCE), which has interests in oil, gas, petrochemicals, telecom and retail.

Statistics on the distribution of billionaires around the world

11.  The number of world billionaires decreased by 1.04% in 2023

Over the last year, the number of world billionaires has declined by 28 from 2,668 individuals in 2022 to 2,640 individuals in March 2023.

12.  The US houses 27.84% of the world’s billionaires

Out of the 2640 billionaires around the world in 2023, the US is home to 735 billionaires, making it the country with the richest people around the world.

13.  China is home to 21.89% of total world billionaires

With 562 billionaires worth a collective $2 trillion, China has the second-largest billionaires in the world.

The number is however lower compared to last year’s 539 and a record 626 in 2021. The decline can be largely attributed to the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical tension that has driven down stock prices and hurt the economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

14.  The top ten Chinese billionaires are worth $311 billion

Collectively, the top ten Chinese are worth $311 billion, down from $322 billion in 2022 and $447 billion in 2021.

15.  Asia has more than 950 billionaires, outnumbering all other regions

As a region, Asia outnumbers all other regions including Europe and the Americas in terms of harboring the most billionaires. As of October 2022, there were about 950 billionaires in Asia according to Nikkei.

16.  Covid created 20 new ‘pandemic billionaires’ in Asia

A report by the aid organisation in 2022 revealed that by March 2021, profits from the pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and services needed for the Covid response had made 20 people new billionaires in Asia as lockdowns and economic stagnation destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of others.

Examples of the new billionaires include Li Jianquan, whose firm, Winner Medical that makes personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers, and Dai Lizhong, whose company, Sansure Biotech, makes Covid-19 tests and diagnostic kits.

Conclusion

From the above 2023 billionaires statistics, it is evident that the United States still dominates the list of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Seven out of the ten richest people in the world come from the United States. The three other positions are taken up by a Frenchman, an Indian and a Mexican.

It is also notable that six out of the ten top richest individuals have seen their wealth decline over the past year while four are counting profits.

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