The world's Billionaires

           The world's Billionaires

1. Bill Gates

Cofounder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$89.6 B 

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$86 B 

• With his wife Melinda, Bill Gates chairs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable foundation.
• The foundation works to save lives and improve global health, and is working with Rotary International to eliminate polio.
• Gates has topped Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans for 24 years in a row.
• He remains a board member of Microsoft, the software firm he founded with Paul Allen in 1975.
• In late 2016, Gates announced the launch of a $1 billion Breakthrough Energy investment fund with about 20 other people.

2. Warren Buffett

CEO, Berkshire Hathaway

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$81.5 B 

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$75.6 B 

• Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time.
• He runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.
• The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age 13.
• He has committed to giving more than 99% of his fortune to charity. So far he has given nearly $32 billion.
• With friend Bill Gates he launched The Giving Pledge in 2010, asking billionaires to donate half their wealth to charitable causes.

3. Jeff Bezos

CEO and Founder, Amazon.com

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$83.1 B 

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$72.8 B 

• Amazon's chief Jeff Bezos briefly topped Forbes' ranks of the world's richest in July 2017, as his online retailer's stock surged.
• He owns nearly 17% of Amazon, which he founded in a garage in Seattle in 1994.
• Bezos attended Princeton and worked at a hedge fund before quitting to sell books online.
• His other passion is space travel: His aerospace company, Blue Origin, is developing a reusable rocket that Bezos says will carry passengers.
• Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million.

4. Amancio Ortega

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$78.2 B 

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$71.3 B 

• Ortega is the richest man in Europe and the wealthiest retailer in the world.
• A pioneer in fast fashion, he cofounded Zara parent Inditex with his ex-wife Rosalia Mera (d. 2013) in 1975.
• Ortega typically earns more than $400 million in dividends a year.
• He has invested in an ever-expanding real estate portfolio, which includes buildings in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Chicago, Miami and New York.

5. Mark Zuckerberg

Cofounder, Chairman and CEO, Facebook

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$71.7 B 

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$56 B 

• The Facebook CEO has seen his net worth soar as the social network's stock price has skyrocketed.
• A Harvard dropout, he founded Facebook in 2004 at the age of 19.
• Zuckerberg started Facebook at Harvard for students to match names with faces in class.
• He took Facebook public in May 2012 and still owns about 17% of the stock.
• Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stake over their lifetimes.

6. Carlos Slim Helu & family

Honorary Chairman, América Móvil

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$68.9 B 

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$54.5 B 

• Mexico's richest man, Carlos Slim and his family control America Movil, Latin America's biggest mobile telecom firm.
• With foreign telecom partners, Slim bought a stake in Telmex, Mexico's only phone company, in 1990.
• He also owns stakes in Mexican construction, consumer goods, mining and real estate companies and 17% of The New York Times.
• His son-in-law Fernando Romero designed the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, home to Slim's extensive, eclectic art collection.

7. Larry Ellison

CTO and Founder, Oracle

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REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$60.8 B 

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$52.2 B 

• Ellison cofounded software firm Oracle in 1977 to tap into the growing need for customer relationship management databases.
• He gave up the Oracle CEO role in 2014 but still serves as chairman of the board and chief technology officer.
• As part of Oracle's push into cloud computing, it acquired cloud-software firm Netsuite for $9.3 billion in 2016.
• Oracle moved into hardware with its 2010 acquisition of Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion.
• In 2016, Ellison pledged to give $200 million to the University of Southern California for a cancer treatment center.

8. Charles Koch

CEO, Koch Industries

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$47.7 B

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$48.3 B 

• Charles Koch has been chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, America's second largest private company, since 1967.
• The conglomerate has $100 billion in revenues from businesses including pipelines, chemicals, Dixie cups, Brawny paper towels and Stainmaster carpets.
• His father, Fred Koch, started the business in 1940 and improved a method of refining heavy oil into gasoline.
• The Kansas native owns a 42% stake in the firm, as does his brother, David; they bought their two other brothers' shares in 1983.
• Koch has funded a number of think tanks, including the libertarian Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.

9. David Koch

Executive Vice President, Koch Industries

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$47.7 B

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$48.3 B 

• David Koch shares majority control of Koch Industries, U.S's second largest private firm, with his brother Charles.
• The Kansas native lives in New York City, and oversees Koch's chemical technology group.
• Koch Industries, which has revenues of $100 billion, operates pipelines, produces fertilizer and makes Dixie cups and Quilted Northern toilet paper.
• A well-known philanthropist, David is a donor to New York's Lincoln Center and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
• David Koch ran as the Libertarian Party's vice presidential candidate in 1980 on a ticket with Ed Clark; they won 1% of the vote.

10. Michael Bloomberg

CEO, Bloomberg

REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 10/24/17

$47.8 B

2017 BILLIONAIRES NET WORTH — as of 3/20/17

$47.5 B 

• Bloomberg cofounded financial information and media company Bloomberg LP in 1981.
• He retains an 88% stake in the business, which has revenue north of $9 billion.
• He has donated more than $4 billion to gun control, climate change and other causes.
• He got his start on Wall Street in 1966 with an entry level job at investment bank Salomon Brothers. They fired him 15 years later.
• He owns at least six homes, including ones in Bermuda and London.