2017 was a great year for the economy, but who is finishing out the year on top? Forbes keeps a real-time list of the world’s richest people. Among the current top ten are a lot of familiar names: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and the Koch brothers to name a few.
Just missing the top 10 are Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as Michael Bloomberg. With a net worth of $45.9 billion, Alice Walton of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) currently sits at #16, making her the richest woman in the world.
This year, four of the top ten wealthiest people in the world are tech billionaires who amassed their fortunes from a single company that they built or helped build. Two or three (depending on your definition) are retailers.
Four countries are represented on our list. But the biggest upset comes in the United States. For 24 years, Bill Gates has topped Forbes’s list of the 400 Richest People In America. As of this writing, his streak has ended. For the first time in decades, another U.S. citizen has a higher net worth than Bill Gates.
Here are the Top 10 richest people as we head into 2018:
#9: David Koch (tie)
Net Worth: $50.6B
Country: United States
David Koch is the executive vice president of Koch Industries, Inc. He shares majority control of the company with his brother Charles. Since buying out their two brothers in 1983, each owns 42% of the business.
David Koch oversees Koch’s chemical technology group. In 1980, David Koch ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party’s ticket.
#9: Charles Koch (tie)
Net Worth: $50.6B
Country: United States
Charles Koch ties with his brother on the list of 2017’s richest people. Charles Koch is the chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, America’s second-largest private company.
Koch Industries is a conglomerate with $100 billion in revenues from diversified sources such as pipelines, chemicals and Dixie Cups. The Kochs’ father, Fred Koch, who improved a method of refining heavy oil into gasoline, originally started the business.
#8: Larry Ellison
Net Worth: $58B
Country: United States
Larry Ellison is the CTO, co-founder, and former CEO of Oracle Corporation(NYSE:ORCL). Oracle is a multinational technology company specializing in database software and cloud technology.
Ellison founded Oracle in 1977 to tap into the growing need for management databases. He served as CEO until 2014.
#7: Carlos Slim Helu
Net Worth: $64.6B
Country: Mexico
Carlos Slim Helo is the owner of Grupo Carso, a Mexican global conglomerate, now chaired by his son, Carlos Slim Domit. He and his family control America Movil, Latin America’s biggest mobile telcom firm.
Slim is the richest man in Mexico and was the richest person in the world from 2010-2013.
#6: Bernard Arnault
Net Worth: $65.1B
Country: France
Bernard Arnault is the Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, the world’s largest luxury-goods company.
Arnault is also an arts patron and collector. He is currently working with the City of Paris to create a new cultural institution dedicated to artists and live performances.
#5: Mark Zuckerberg
Net Worth: $71.1B
Country: United States
Mark Zuckerberg is the Cofounder, Chairman and CEO of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). Zuckerberg founded Facebook at 19, while he was a student at Harvard. At 33 years old, Zuckerberg is the youngest person on this list.
In 2015, he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stake to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which seeks to advance human potential and promote equality in health, education, scientific research and energy.
#4: Amancio Ortega
Net Worth: $76B
Country: Spain
Amancio Ortega is the majority shareholder and co-founder of Inditex SA, a Galicia-based multinational clothing company. Ortega and his ex-wife Rosalia Mera began making clothes in their home and eventually opened their first store, Zara, which is still the flagship store of Inditex.
Ortega is the richest man in Europe and typically earns more than $400 million in dividends alone each year.
#3: Warren Buffett
Net Worth: $85.1B
Country: United States
Warren Buffett is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), a conglomerate which owns more than 60 companies. Geico, Duracell, and Dairy Queen are just a few examples.
Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time, but he has committed to giving more than 99% of his fortune to charity. In 2010 he and Bill Gates launched The Giving Pledge, which asked billionaires to donate half their wealth to charitable causes.
#2: Bill Gates
Net Worth: $90.8B
Country: United States
Bill Gates is co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Gates has topped the Forbes list of Richest Americans for 24 years in a row, apparently ending in 2017. For the first time in decades, a different American tops the list of the world’s richest people.
With his wife, Melinda, Gates currently chairs the word’s largest private charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. In 2016, Gates launched Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investment fund looking to invest in cheap and reliable clean energy. He was joined by other investors, including Number 1 on this list.
#1: Jeff Bezos
Net Worth: $98.3B
Country: United States
The CEO and Founder of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Jeff Bezos ends 2017 as the richest person in the world.
The 55-year-old owns nearly 17% of the retail giant, Amazon, which saw tremendous growth in 2017.
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as a way to sell books online and later branched out into other retail sectors. Today, Amazon also provides streaming media and cloud infrastructure services and produces its own streaming content and consumer electronics.
Bezos also founded Blue Origin and is the owner of the Washington Post.
As of this writing, Regina Borsellino did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
