1.

Jeff Bezos

– $112 billion

  • Responsible for the growth of online shopping and e-commerce,

    Jeff Bezos

    made his fortune by founding Amazon.com.
  • The 53-year-old CEO of Amazon, launched the retail giant in 1994 after leaving his New York hedge fund job.
  • Initially an online book retailer operated out of Bezos’s garage in Seattle, Amazon.com grew to become the world’s largest online shopping retailer, now worth over $430 billion, according to CNBC.
  • Bezos also owns a private space company Blue Origin and purchased The Washington

    Post

    in 2013 for $250 million.
  • Amazon bought the upscale grocery chain Whole Foods in June for an estimated $13.7 billion.
  • Bezos’s parents, Jackie and Mike Bezos, operate the Bezos Family Foundation, which supports youth education.

2.

Bill Gates

– $92.2 Billion

  • Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft, and was the richest man in the world for several years running.
  • Gates founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen, and has since become the largest PC software company worldwide.
  • Last year, Bill Gates has gained an incredible $10 billion in additional net worth!
  • This has put him at an estimated net worth of $92.2 billion overall. However, he’s recently been overtaken by the next man on this list…

3. Warren Buffett – $81.7 billion

  • After getting rejected from Harvard Business School, Warren Buffett went to Columbia instead where he studied under Benjamin Graham, who would become his mentor.
  • He later bought Berkshire Hathaway in 1969 and transformed it into a powerhouse holding company.

4. Amancio Ortega — $75.8 billion

  • Amancio Ortega is the wealthiest man in Europe, and co-founded fashion retailer Zara’s parent company Inditex in 1975.
  • His real-estate portfolio includes properties in London, New York, Madrid.

5. Bernard Arnault – $75.7 Billion

  • Bernard Arnault is the CEO of LVMH (Louis Vitton Moet Hennessey).
  • Ultimately, the company was formed from merging the two businesses together.
  • Louis Vitton is the very successful luxury fashion brand, and Moet Hennessey is the merged champagne and cognac manufacturers.
  • Bernard has been making serious movements up this list in the past year. In fact, at the beginning of 2017, he was at 14th. Now, a year later, he’s placed at 4th on the list of the 20 richest people on earth in 2018.

6.

Mark Zuckerberg

– $72.3 billion

  • Facebook CEO

    Mark Zuckerberg

    founded the website in his Harvard dorm room 13 years ago and has since become one of the richest people in the world.
  • He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have committed to give away 99% of their wealth before they die.

7. Carlos Slim – $63.5 billion

  • Carlos Slim Helu controls Latin America’s largest mobile telecom firm, América Móvil, of which he is a chairman.
  • Helu also owns stakes in various mining, real estate, and consumer goods businesses — including The New York Times. He is the richest man in Mexico.

8. Larry Ellison – $60.4 billion

  • In 1977, Larry Ellison co-founded the software company Oracle, which originally was launched with $2,000 of funding, $1,200 of which came out of Ellison’s own pocket.
  • Ellison stepped down as CEO in 2014, but continues to be involved with the company.

9. Charles Koch – $55.2 billion

  • American businessman, political donor and philanthropist Charles Koch is the fifth richest person in the world.
  • He is co-owner, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of Koch Industries, famous also for its mention in an popular American TV show

    The Newsroom.
  • He owns 42% of the shares of the conglomerate.

10. Ingvar Kamprad – $50.7 billion

  • Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA, powerhouse furniture retailer, when he was 17.
  • He moved IKEA and his family out of Sweden in the 1970s in order to avoid its taxes.