After observing record gains in wealth, ultra-high net worth
individuals (UHNWIs) lost a combined $10 trillion last year.
A lagging stock market knocked these fortunes against high
interest rates, energy shocks, and economic instability. But some of the
world’s billionaires have grown in this environment, posting sky-high revenues despite
of inflationary pressures.
Data driven from the list of Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, features
a snapshot of the richest people in the world in 2023.
Luxury Magnate Takes Top Spot
The world’s richest person is France’s Bernard Arnault, the
chief executive officer of LVMH.
With 75 brands, the luxury conglomerate owns Louis Vuitton,
Chanel, and Tiffany. LVMH goes back to 1985, when Arnault cut his first major
deal with the company by taking over Christian Dior, a firm that was struggling
with bankruptcy.
Jumping forward to today, and the company is seeing record
profits despite challenging market conditions. Louis Vuitton, for example, has
doubled its sales in last four years.
The table below displays the world’s 10 richest people with
data as of February 27, 2023.
|
Rank |
Name |
Source |
Net Worth Feb 2023 |
Change 2022-2023 |
|
1 |
Bernard Arnault & family |
LVMH |
$202B |
28% |
|
2 |
Elon Musk |
Tesla, SpaceX |
$191B |
-13% |
|
3 |
Jeff Bezos |
Amazon |
$117B |
-32% |
|
4 |
Larry Ellison |
Oracle |
$113B |
7% |
|
5 |
Warren Buffett |
Berkshire Hathaway |
$106B |
-10% |
|
6 |
Bill Gates |
Microsoft |
$105B |
-19% |
|
7 |
Carlos Slim Helu & family |
Telecom |
$90B |
11% |
|
8 |
Mukesh Ambani |
Diversified |
$84B |
-8% |
|
9 |
Steve Ballmer |
Microsoft |
$81B |
-11% |
|
10 |
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers & family |
L'Oréal |
$79B |
5% |
Talking about the second richest man in the world, Elon
Musk, has a net worth of $191 billion. In October, Musk took over Twitter in a
$44 billion dollar deal, which has drawn criticism from investors. Many say
it’s a distraction from Musk’s work with Tesla.
While Tesla shares have returned to normal, after roughly falling
70% in 2022, Musk’s wealth still sits about 13% lower than in March of last
year.
Third person on the list is Jeff Bezos, followed by Larry
Ellison. The latter of the two, who founded Oracle, owns 98% of the Hawaiian
island of Lanai which he bought in 2012 for $300 million.
Fifth on the list is Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire
Hathaway. In his annual letter to shareholders, he discussed how Berkshire
Hathaway reported record operating profits despite economic headwinds. The
company outperformed the S&P 500 Index by about 22% in 2022.
How Fortunes Have Changed for Millionaires
Given multiple economic situations, billionaire wealth has deviated
over the last year.
Since March 2022, only four of the top 10 richest in the
world have seen their wealth 1~rise. Two of these are European magnates, while
Carlos Slim Helu runs the largest telecom firm in Latin America. In fact, a
decade ago Slim was the richest person on the planet.
Jeff Bezos has seen his wealth decline 32%, or $54 billion,
the greatest across the top 10 richest. Amazon posted a $2.7 billion net loss
for the full year of 2022, its worst year yet.
Overall, as the tech sector saw miserable returns over the
year, the top 10 tech billionaires lost almost $500 billion in combined wealth.
Recent Transformations in Asia
Perhaps the most striking news for the world’s richest centers
around Gautam Adani, previously the richest person in Asia.
The Adani Group, which owns India’s largest ports along with
ports in Australia, Sri Lanka, and Israel, lost $100 billion in value in the period
of a few weeks. Interestingly, only a few Indian mutual funds hold significant
shares in Adani Group, indicating a lack of confidence across India’s market.
As a result, Mukesh Ambani has moved up to Asia’s top spot,
controlling an empire worth $84 billion that spans from oil and gas and
renewable energy to telecom. His conglomerate, Reliance Industries is the
largest company by market cap in India.
Infographic by: visualcapitalist
