The life of the rich has always aroused interest. How these people managed to make such large fortunes, how much they earn, what they invest in and what they spend their money on. Recently, a certain trend has emerged among the owners of the largest monetary fortunes. The highest positions in the ranking of the richest people in the world in 2018 were occupied by talented entrepreneurs and businessmen who achieved their wealth on their own, and did not inherit it.
10. Larry Ellison
Born in New York, raised in a family of foster parents. At a young age, Larry showed a talent for programming. In this discipline, he not only quickly mastered new knowledge, but also put forward his own bold ideas. Working for a small company, Amtex, Larry developed a very user-friendly, reliable and feature-rich database. And in the 70s of the last century, with the former head of the company, Robert Miner, he founded the company - Oracle, which grew into a giant corporation in ten years. Ellison's fortune is now estimated at $58.5 billion. He owns an Italian Marchetti fighter jet, several huge luxury yachts, his own island, Lanai, in Hawaii, and numerous posh houses and estates.
9. David Koch
The name of David Koch, one of the most influential businessmen of our time, politician and philanthropist, is associated with the name of his brother Charles and the Koch Industries company founded by their father. From the inheritance received, the brothers created one of the most powerful concerns in the world, many times exceeding its initial capital. Now the state of David Koch is estimated at 60 billion dollars. He is actively involved in political life, financially supports various scientific research, education and the arts, and also allocates significant funds to charity. David Koch currently resides in New York City, Manhattan. He also owns a luxurious mansion in Aspen (Colorado), where thousands of guests come to receive a hospitable host.
8. Charles Koch
David's older brother, owner and CEO of Koch Industries Corporation. Having inherited his father's business with his brother, and then expanding it thousands of times compared to the initial indicators, he is one of the richest people in the world with a fortune of 60 billion dollars. Charles has written several books detailing his own business strategy and is also active in various charitable causes. In particular, he founded a foundation to support the economic, social and humanitarian branches of science, naming it after himself. The businessman is also actively involved in the political life of the country. Being one of the richest people on the planet, Charles Koch leads a relatively modest lifestyle that does not correspond to his high social status.
7. Carlos Slim Elu
A Mexican businessman with Lebanese roots, who managed to enter the top ranking of the richest people on the planet. Carlos received his business acumen and talent for doing business from his father, having earned his first million at the age of 17. Now his fortune, based on the communications industry, is estimated at 67.1 billion dollars. Thanks to the policy pursued by Slim's company, more than 30 million new subscribers have gained access to mobile communications. The billionaire's house is located in the most prestigious area of Mexico. However, his main real estate, several luxurious mansions and high-rise buildings are located in the United States. The businessman is actively involved in charity work, donating significant amounts to fight poverty and educational programs for children.
6. Amancio Ortega
A Spanish entrepreneur who founded the largest company Inditex, which owns nearly 7,000 stores located in more than 80 countries around the world. He has made major investments in real estate in America and Europe, the gas industry and the tourism industry. The life of Amancio Ortega is a vivid example of how one can achieve outstanding results with one's own talent, hard work and perseverance. Coming from a working-class family, the future billionaire began his career at the age of 13 as a messenger in a clothing store. Currently, the businessman's fortune is estimated at 70 billion dollars. He owns a skyscraper in Madrid, several luxury hotels, a 54-story condominium in Miami, an ultra-long range jet, a luxury yacht, and a stake in the Spanish Football League.
5. Mark Zuckerberg
American businessman, creator of the popular social network Facebook and at the same time the head of Facebook Ink. In the list of the first richest people on the planet, he is the youngest representative. And in 2010, the popular American magazine "Time" recognized Zuckenberg as the person of the year. Mark discovered his extraordinary abilities for programming back in his school years. Today, his fortune is an impressive figure - more than 70 billion dollars. The businessman is a member of many charitable foundations, as well as the Giving Oath group. All members of this philanthropic organization undertake to donate half of their income to charitable causes. He owns several houses and townhouses, as well as a beach on one of the Hawaiian Islands. A businessman does not put wealth at the forefront, considering his main task to help people.
4. Bernard Arnault
The name of this talented person is closely associated with fashion and luxury. Having created a huge empire Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which controls the famous fashion brands Kenzo, Celine, Givenchy, Berluti, Loewe, Guerlain and others, the Fred jewelry company, as well as several elite alcohol brands, Bernard Arno is not only the wealthiest person in France and Europe, but also one of the richest people on the planet. His fortune is estimated at 72 billion dollars. However, he is not going to stop there and is actively buying up new shares of companies. The billionaire also owns several media outlets of his own. He is involved in philanthropy, supporting talent in the arts and business. The Arno family owns a unique collection of Renaissance paintings.
3. Warren Buffett
The largest American businessman and one of the most influential people in the world, whose total fortune has exceeded a fantastic mark - 84 billion dollars. The main part of the businessman's income is a stake in the Berkshire Hathaway holding company. Entrepreneurs donate huge sums of money earned to help people. In 2010, he donated $37 billion of his wealth to charitable foundations, becoming the biggest benefactor in human history. In ordinary life and everyday life, Buffett is modest and unpretentious. He still lives in an old two-story house, bought back in 1957, and dresses in ordinary stores. The billionaire avoids luxury. His only expensive hobby is jet planes.
2. Bill Gates
The name of the legendary founder of Microsoft, the world's largest software company and developer of the Windows operating system, is known to everyone. For many years, it was he who headed the list of the richest people on the planet. Gates is currently worth over $93 billion. His estate on the shores of Lake Washington, consisting of three interconnected pavilions, with a swimming pool and a trout lake, is equipped with a huge amount of modern technology. No wonder many contemporaries call it the “House of the Future”. The billionaire donates huge sums to charity. Together with his wife, they organized a charitable foundation aimed at the development of education, medicine and the fight against poverty, to which they donated more than 28 billion.
1. Jeff Bezos
The list of the richest people on the planet this year was headed by the founder of the Internet company Amazon Jeff Bezos with an incredible figure of $ 131 billion! Such an impressive success of the American entrepreneur is due to the rapid growth of the shares of the company he manages, which last year rose in price by 60% at once. Recently, the wealthiest person on the planet admitted that it is much more difficult for him to spend money than to earn it. Bezos owns five luxurious mansions in several states, three luxury apartments in New York, The Washington Post daily, and a private space company with plans to develop space tourism in the near future. The businessman and his wife donate tens of millions of dollars to scientific research.
Someone turns millions and billions, but it's not you yet? To be honest, what do you think when you hear success stories about Her or Him, in which everything goes fantastically well: the first million years at 25, the most expensive car, a luxurious house, several active businesses that inspire assets .... The success stories of rich people, in fact, are too diverse to be “combed” with one brush and taken in a stereotyped way.
It can often seem that rich people became rich without lifting a finger - after all, such a successful person already had mountains of gold, green rustling banknotes donated by their parents, and not taking advantage of all this is a sin.
So that nothing seems, and finally understand the reality for yourself - that you can sit in the soft leather interior of a car, or open a bottle of the most expensive wine on your own terrace, and all this without reference to ready-made soil, we will simply demonstrate 10 real stories of becoming the richest people in the world from virtually nothing. From scratch, without support and golden diapers.
By the way, not all the biographies of the rich people of the world, which we will now tell about, are familiar to you. If you were guided only by Forbes ratings, there will be an opening. Why not expand your own boundaries?
10. Michael Rubin opens the top ten richest people on the planet. The future billionaire and founder of Kynetic sold seeds to his neighbors as a child. At the age of 10, the enterprising boy was already hiring 5 guys to remove snow from neighbors' lawns for a fee. At the age of 14, Michael already had his own store, and at 23, under his leadership, there was a company with a turnover of $ 50 million. Michael's fortune is estimated at 2.3 billion dollars. Almost always strong personalities begin in this way: with the manifestation of an entrepreneurial vein from an early age.
9. Oprah Winfrey will be the only woman in our ranking of the richest people in the world. Yes, not in the first place, but if it were a rating of diligence and dedication, she could be safely given the championship. Now she is 62 years old and her path to success has nothing to do with the story of Cinderella. She can answer questions about how rich people became rich based on personal experience: she plowed and achieved everything herself. Oprah Winfrey was born into a poor family. Mother was a maid and father was a miner.
For the first 6 years of her life, Oprah lived with her grandmother in the wilderness. The American TV presenter herself admitted in an interview that she was raped at the age of 9 and became pregnant at 14. The child died shortly after birth. At the age of 17, Oprah began working as a reporter, and in 1986 she created her own program, The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2011, she launched her own TV channel, OWN. The state of the TV presenter is estimated at 3.2 billion dollars.
8. This guy doesn't make tens of billions like some of the top rankings do, but he does have something in store: almost $10 billion in hard-earned capital. He owns a 7.6% stake in Facebook. Dustin Moskowitz was born into a Jewish family in Washington DC. The father worked as a psychiatrist, but more information about Dustin's family was not disclosed.
7. In the honorable seventh place of our TOP-10 richest people, Canadian-American engineer Elon Musk. He is 12 years older than Dustin Moskowitz. Elon Musk's net worth is $12.3 billion. He founded SpaceX and X.com. The latter, after merging with Confinity, was called PayPal and was sold for $1.5 billion. Musk was born in South Africa. True, the father was a businessman, and the mother was a famous model, so it is difficult to call the family poor. But there is a downside to the coin - Elon was often beaten at school, and this, of course, left a significant mark on the level of self-esteem.
At 12, Elon made his first video game and sold it for $500. It was the first independent earnings on the way to billions. If you look at what such children do from an early age, you can predict future success for them. And success "overtook" Elon.
6. Meet Li Ka-shing, the richest and most powerful man in Hong Kong and Asia. While Forbes was estimating Hong Kong's Superman net worth at $25.5 billion, it has grown to $34. And this is 2015 data. We think Li still did well in 2016. In narrow circles, this enterprising Hong Konger is called "Superman" and is now 87 years old.
Li Ka-shing is the chairman of the boards of Cheung Kong Group and Hutchison Whampoa, which have a capitalization of about 15% of the Hong Kong stock market. Among the stories of rich people who started from scratch, his is one of the most difficult. For understanding: Lee was born in the family of the most ordinary teacher.
From the fifth grade, Kashin began selling watch straps, and a little later he got a job at a plastic watch factory. 16 hours of work in a factory and after attending an evening school - this is how the Hong Kong guy Li Ka-shing began his journey to the first million. Having gained experience in the factory, he began to trade in plastic flowers himself, and soon headed his own company.
5. The stories of rich people who started from scratch are not the same. Like the story of Sergey Brin, who also falls into our ranking of the richest people in the world in fifth place. Sergey is nothing at all - 42 years old and he is a co-founder of Google. Sergei was born into a Jewish family of mathematicians who moved to the United States in 1979, and the future billionaire was only 5 years old. In 2016, according to Forbes magazine, the fortune of an American entrepreneur with Russian roots was estimated at almost $35 billion.
4. You probably heard about this guy too. Larry Page is an American billionaire who, together with Sergey Brin, created the first search engine, which eventually grew into the most powerful tool for finding any information - Google. Larry was born into a professorial family, and while getting an education at the prestigious Stanford University, he met Brin. The joint launch of Google, as we see, has become a gold mine for the guys. Now the state of Larry Page is estimated at $ 32.3 billion, and this is the 17th place in the Forbes rating, however, in 2014. We dare to assume that in 2 years a couple of billions have increased.
Biographies of the richest people in the world: TOP-3. Who is in the lead?
3. Another example of crazy success without any seemingly chance of it from birth is American businessman Sheldon Adelson. Sheldon is one of the twenty richest people according to Forbes magazine. Adelson once again proves that the richest people on the planet are not those who were born and immediately fell into golden diapers. The son of a taxi driver, a newspaper salesman at the age of 12, a court reporter and even a toiletry salesman. Sheldon got a lot. The future American billionaire was born into a Jewish family. And by the way, he is recognized as the richest Jew.
According to the most recent figures that have been announced, Sheldon Adelson's net worth is $38 billion. Not bad, right? The billionaire receives the main income from his investments in real estate: the construction of casinos, hotels, shops, expo centers, etc.
2. We only write "Mark", and you already understand who we are talking about. And yes, you are not mistaken. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the social network Facebook, also enters the TOP 10 richest people in the world. In May, Mark's wealth was updated (talking about money), and the capital amounted to $ 51.6 billion. But the guy is only 32 years old! By the way, like many on the list, he is of Jewish origin. Father is a dentist, mother is a psychiatrist. Mark has 3 sisters. How much do you think doctors could provide for 4 children? While still a schoolboy, Mark developed a network version of the game "Risk", and while studying at Harvard - an internal social network, which he himself did not bring to mind, but the guys came to the rescue: Dustin Moskowitz, Eduardo Saverin and others.
1. The ex-president of Inditex could not be outside our list of the TOP 10 richest people in the world. And, you know, we put it first. While many multiply their income several times, Amancio Ortega, we are sure, is not "lost". It was he who in October last year received the title of the richest man on the planet according to Forbes magazine. But in May 2016, his fortune was estimated at 72.9 billion dollars. If the name of the company Indetex does not mean anything to you, then you have heard about the Zara brand. Here Amancio is the founder of this brand as well.
Amancio's father was a railroad worker, and his mother was even "better" a servant. The family was so poor that the guy did not even finish high school, and at the age of 13 he began working as a messenger in a shirt store. Yes, did the 13-year-old guy then think that in 2015 he would lead the ranking of the richest people on the planet? We doubt. Today, the billionaire invests considerable sums in real estate in Florida, Madrid, London, as well as in banks and tourism.
This is how the ranking of the richest people in the world looks like, who started the path to their success from scratch. Are there no borders? They really don't exist. Just act, and any goal will be achieved. Who knows, maybe you will find yourself in the Forbes ranking in a couple of years.
In 2017, Bloomberg announced its annual ranking of the 500 richest people in the world. We will focus only on the top ten. So, richest people in the world according to the Big Rating magazine.
Ingvar Kamprad
The Swedish businessman's fortune is estimated at $42.8 billion. Over the past year, Kamprad has become richer by a billion dollars. As you know, he is the founder of IKEA. At the moment, Ingvar is at a pretty decent age - 90 years old. He divorced his first wife back in 1960, after ten years of marriage, married a second time in 1963, but his wife died in 2011. Now he has four children.
Larry Ellison
An American businessman has capital in $45.4 billion. He has risen quite well this year - his fortune has increased by $ 1.8 billion. He is one of the co-owners of the Oracle corporation, which is engaged in the production and release of computer hardware and software. At the moment, Ellison is 72 years old. During his turbulent life, he managed to marry and divorce as many as four times. There are two children left from the second marriage.
David Koch
Today, his condition is estimated at $47.8 billion. David increased his net worth over the past year by $8.2 billion. Now he is 76 years old and he is still married, from which he has three children.
Charles Koch
Brother of David Koch, who is also a co-owner of Koch Industries Corporation. The company has a different range of activities - from oil to polymeric materials. Like his brother, he enriched himself by 8.2 billion dollars in a year. He is married and has two children. His condition is estimated at $47.8 billion.
Carlos Slim
The sixth line of today's rating is occupied by a Mexican businessman, who dropped down from the third place in the rating. Today its budget is estimated at 53.3 billion dollars, because last year he increased his fortune by 3.3 billion dollars.
It should be noted that Slim is very versatile in terms of business projects. He owns various companies, ranging from construction to telecommunications.
At the moment he is 77 years old. He is not married, having been widowed in 1999. Six children remained from the marriage.
Mark Zuckerberg
The fifth line of the ranking is occupied by the youngest billionaire. Despite his young years, compared to his closest competitors (only 32 years old), he managed to earn $59.3 billion in past years. This year, he raised his fortune by $14.7 billion. Surprisingly, the founder of the world's largest social network Facebook leads a very modest lifestyle. He is married and had a daughter in 2015.
Amancio Ortega
The Spanish entrepreneur is steadily moving forward and takes the fourth place in the ranking, with a result of $68.9 billion. This year was successful and brought him 1.9 billion dollars. Ortega has an extensive business and is the owner of Inditex, which owns several large-scale ready-to-wear retail chains. One of them is Zara.
The Spanish billionaire is now 81 years old and has not been very lucky in marriages. His first marriage broke up and in 2001 he married again. Now he has three children (two from his first marriage and one from his second).
Jeff Bezos
The third position was quickly taken by the owner of the largest company Amazon. He is moving towards the top spot at an incredible rate, as his internet company brought him $28.1 billion this year - an incredible result. Bezos was engaged in trade, but recently he has become more actively investing in various projects from the field of new technologies. In general, he is still quite young and is now 53 years old. Has a wife and three children. Today he has $82.1 billion.
Warren Buffett
A unique person in this top, because he is exclusively engaged in investments that brought him $ 10.8 billion this year. In sum, the state of the American is estimated at about $79 billion.
Buffett is famous for his accurate market predictions. This allowed him and his clients to make profitable transactions and successfully invest money. Now he is 86 years old. His first wife died in 2004, and 2 years later he married a second time. After his first marriage, he has three children.
Bill Gates
It is not surprising that he has been at the top of the rankings for many years. The world-famous owner of Microsoft has made $10.6 billion this year. Bill's general condition is estimated at $85.6 billion. His company is the main supplier of various software all over the world. Now the businessman is 61 years old and he is married, from whom he has three children.
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Every year, the authoritative Forbes magazine presents to the general public the next list of the richest people in the world. Of course, businessmen from Russia also got into the coveted list. In 2018, the publication included over 2.2 thousand people in its own rating of billionaires. It should be noted that this figure is 165 more than the same indicator of the previous year. Thus, the growth this year reached 8%.
Even more impressive is the overall net worth of the rich, over $9 trillion, up 18% year-over-year. It is noteworthy that for the first time the prestigious list included wealthy people from Hungary and Zimbabwe. In addition, for the first time ever, a man with a fortune of more than $100 billion became the leader of the list.
Traditionally, the largest number of rich people live in the United States. The list of the richest people in the world according to Forbes magazine included 585 Americans, which is more than 25% of the total. But experts suggest that soon the US representatives will be removed from the leading position in the prestigious list. Billionaires from China have come close to them. It is interesting that this year there are 50 more Chinese in the Forbes rating, and only 10 more Americans. In addition, along with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have firmly established themselves in the list (total 475 people).
The number of representatives of India in the Forbes list increased by 18 people (from 101 to 119), Canada - by 7 (from 39 to 46), Australia - by 10 (from 33 to 43), Thailand - by 10 (from 20 to 30). The Russians show an increase of 5 people. However, Russia is still ahead of the United States, China, Germany, and India. It is possible that in 2019 India will oust Germany from the top three. There are billionaires in such countries as Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Portugal, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Angola. The list also included the representative of Liechtenstein, Christoph Zeller, who is engaged in the production of dental implants.
Top 10 richest people in the world from Forbes in 2018
The list of the richest people in the world according to the authoritative Forbes magazine in 2018 includes:
- 54-year-old American Jeff Bezos, creator of the Amazon Internet Corporation ($131 billion).
- 62-year-old American Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft ($92.9 billion).
- 87-year-old American Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway ($91.4 billion).
- 33-year-old American Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social network Facebook (75.6 billion dollars).
- 78-year-old Mexican Carlos Slim, owner of the America Movil holding ($66.9 billion).
- 81-year-old Spaniard Amancio Ortega, co-owner of Inditex ($65.9 billion).
- 68-year-old Frenchman Bernard Arnault, head of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton ($65.8 billion).
- 73-year-old American Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle ($58.5 billion).
- 44-year-old American Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet ($56.8 billion).
- Sergey Brin, 44, co-founder of Google ($55.3 billion). Brin was born in the Soviet Union but emigrated to the US.
List of the richest people in Russia in the Forbes ranking of 2018
The list of the richest people in Russia according to Forbes magazine was presented in 2018:
- Vladimir Lisin is engaged in ferrous metallurgy, transport infrastructure and logistics ($19.1 billion).
- Alexey Mordashov works in the field of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, tourism, and mechanical engineering ($18.7 billion).
- Leonid Mikhelson - gas, petrochemicals ($18 billion).
- Vagit Alekperov - oil, investments ($16.4 billion).
- Gennady Timchenko - gas, oil, construction, etc. ($16 billion).
- Vladimir Potanin - non-ferrous metallurgy ($15.9 billion).
- Andrey Melnichenko - fertilizers, coal and energy industries ($15.5 billion).
- Mikhail Fridman - oil and financial sectors ($15.1 billion).
- Viktor Vekselberg - non-ferrous metals, investments ($14.4 billion).
- Alisher Usmanov - ferrous metals, telecommunications, the Internet ($12.5 billion).
Illustration: Michael Witte
They account for 13% of the $2,208 billion owned by the top 100 billionaires. The minimum entry threshold for this elite club is $39 billion, up 28% from last year.
1. JEFF BEZOS
$112 billion, USA
The richest man on the planet, the head of Amazon, became the first billionaire with a net worth of over $100 billion. Shares of the e-commerce giant rose by 59% in 12 months, adding almost $39.2 billion to Bezos' fortune - a record increase. He also owns the Washington Post and the aerospace company Blue Origin.
2. BILL GATES
$90 billion, USA
Gates has lost first place in the ranking of the richest for only the sixth time in the past 22 years. Over the past year, the Microsoft co-founder's fortune has increased by $4 billion, but he is far from Bezos's epic leap.
3. WARREN BUFFET
$84 billion, USA
In January, the 87-year-old billionaire appointed two senior Berkshire Hathaway employees to vice chair positions, the first step in a plan to take over the company. For now, however, Buffett, who says he's feeling great, continues to manage Berkshire, whose shares are up 16% since the start of last year.
4. BERNARD ARNO
$72 billion, France
The record income of the empire of premium brands LVMH and the purchase of almost 100% of the fashion house Christian Dior allowed Arnault to increase his fortune by $ 30.5 billion.
5. MARK ZUCKERBERG
$71 billion, USA
The head of Facebook is now under scrutiny because of the role the world's largest social network played in meddling in the US election from Russia. Nevertheless, the value of the company's shares increased by 31%, which added $15 billion to Zuckerberg's fortune.
6. AMANCIO ORTEGA
$70 billion, Spain
Much of Ortega's fortune is tied to Inditex, which runs brands like Zara. The company's shares sank, reducing it by $1.3 billion.
7. CARLOS SLIM HELU
$67.1 billion, Mexico
Slim's net worth increased by $12.6 billion compared to last year, mainly due to the fact that the shares of his telecommunications company América Móvil rose by 39%.
8. CHARLES KOCH
$60 billion, USA
In November, Koch Industries, with a turnover of $ 100 billion, announced the launch of the venture arm of Koch Disruptive Technologies, led by Charles Koch's son Chase. The company has already become a lead investor in an Israeli medical device startup with a $150 million investment.
8. DAVID KOCH
$60 billion, USA
The executive vice president of Koch Industries and his brother Charles made all the headlines in November when their holding's investment arm invested $650 million to buy failing publisher Time magazine. The total amount of the transaction, where Meredith Corp. acted as the main investor, amounted to $2.8 billion.
10. Larry Ellison
$58.5 billion, USA
In the cloud computing market, Oracle competes with Salesforce and Amazon, but despite this, the company's shares rose by 13%. Ellison, who owns a quarter of the shares, is $6.3 billion richer.
11. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
$50 billion, USA
The former mayor of New York continues to run his company, Bloomberg LP, which provides financial information and develops a media platform. He supports a pro-gun control organization that has launched new initiatives to protect students since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
12. LARRY PAGE
$48.8 billion, USA
The Google co-founder and CEO of parent company Alphabet is said to be in talks with Saudi Arabia to build a technology hub in the kingdom. Page's fortune has increased by $8.1 billion over the past year.
13. SERGEY BRIN
$47.5 billion, USA
Page's Google partner is the richest immigrant in America. He is now president of Alphabet and reportedly uses the company's air fleet for both personal travel and the delivery of humanitarian aid to remote areas of the planet.
14. JIM WALTON
$46.4 billion, USA
The youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton was a member of the company's board of directors until 2016. He now manages the family bank Arvest.
15. Samuel Robson Walton
$46.2 billion, USA
Sam Walton's eldest son was chairman of Walmart for 23 years. Today, Samuel Robson is one of three family members still involved with the company. He and Stuart Walton, Jim Walton's son, are members of the board of directors, while his son-in-law, Gregory Penner, is chairman.
16. Alice Walton
$46 billion, USA
The only daughter of Sam Walton is not involved in the management of the family business, but she owns many shares of Walmart, which makes her the richest woman in the world.
17. MA HUATEN
$45.3 billion, China
Ma became Asia's richest man for the first time thanks in part to the success of his company Tencent's WeChat messenger, with almost 1 billion active users. Tencent also has stakes in Tesla, Snap (Snapchat's parent company) and streaming music service Spotify.
18. FRANCOISE BETANCOUR-MYERS
$42.2 billion, France
Her mother, L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, died in September 2017, leaving her fortune to Bettencourt-Myers and her family.
19. MUKESH AMBANI
$40.1 billion, India
The Indian mogul returned to the top 20 for the first time since 2012.
20. JACK MA
$39 billion, China
In 2017, Ma propelled e-commerce giant Alibaba to new heights by partnering with the Olympics for the first time and signing a streaming deal with Disney. Alibaba shares surged 76%, propelling Ma into the top 20 for the first time.