As always Forbes magazine has come up with list of the multi billionaires round the globe and amazing facts about them in its famous Forbes 500. Forbes claimed that 1% of whole wealth of the planet is owned by those 500 People. Another surprising fact is that the count for billionaires on earth has been raised up to 1826, so we have 1826 billionaires in the world. Although unequal wages and ever rising gap between the rich and the poor is an undeniable cause of concern but we certainly cannot deny the ‘hard work’ these gentle people have been doing in chasing their dreams and reaching where they are today. So here’s a brush up of facts, figures and knowledge about the top 10 richest people on earth.
- Liliane Bettencourt and family
The principal shareholder of world-famous cosmetics brand L’Oreal, Liliane Bettencourt is ranked 10th in the Forbes list of richest people with a net worth of a whopping US $40.1 billion as on June 2015. This French heiress, socialite and philanthropist started her career at the age of 15 in her father’s company as a helper whose major work comprised of shampoo bottle labeling and mixing of cosmetics.
She actually inherited the L’Oreal after her father died in 1957 and handled the company with her politician husband André Bettencourt. L’Oreal went public in 1963. And Liliane and family gradually acquired major stakes in the company. Although she ended her tenure as a board member in 2012 (after which her grandson, Jean –Victor joined the board) but she still owns 31 % stakes, and extra 13-15 % of the stakes are owned by her family. Bettencourt is also the second richest woman in the world at the age of 92.
- Jim Walton
The youngest child of well-known founder of Superstore Sam Walton, Jim Walton comes 9th in the Forbes list of multi billionaires. The 67 year CEO of Arvest Bank has a net worth of U.S. $40.6 billion as per Forbes. He is also one of the board members of Wal-Mart and heads its strategic planning and finance committee.
He also is the chairperson and owner of newspaper firm Community Publishers Inc. which was founded by his father Sam Walton. He along with his siblings has always been amongst the top 10 billionaires of the world for ages. After acquiring 7th position in the list in 2013, Jim slipped to 10th position in 2014 and ended up 9th this year. Although the position he has now in the Wal-Mart came to him after his elder brother John Walton’s death in 2005.
- Christy Walton and family
After her husband’s death Christy took a great step when she decided to step in her late husband’s shoes in 2005. Like her husband she too inherited the Walton family fortune and also started philanthropic work and was considered biggest philanthropic woman from time period of 2002-2006.
As of June 2015, she and her family (not her brother in laws) have a net worth of U.S. $ 41.7billion dollars. She at age of 60, is also the position of richest woman in the world.
- David Koch
This 75 years old American businessman, political activist, philanthropist and chemical engineer, current executive vice president of Koch industries David Koch was ranked 7th by Forbes with a net worth U.S $42.9 billion. Koch industries are the second largest privately held conglomerate of United States.
Being an active political activist David Koch is also known as the candidate for Vice President of United States of America in 1980. He was thought of as an influential libertarian. He is supposed to be a low-key philanthropist and to honor his generosity, one of the foremost known ballet theaters The New York State Theater was named after him in 2008. He also is known as a survivor because he survived the crash of US Air Flight 1493 in 1991.
- Charles Koch:
Along with his brother David Koch, Chairperson and CEO of Koch industries Charles Koch is ranked 6th by Forbes although his net worth is also U.S $42.9 billion. He actually owns 42% on the conglomerate with his younger brother.
This 79 years old multi billionaire is also a famous business writer. His book the science of success has been a huge success amongst the businesses and management students of America. He also is the founder of the Market –Based Management institute, which works upon the vision and business principles of Charles Koch.
- Larry Ellison:
Yet another American in the top 10, Larry Ellison – executive chairperson and CTO of Oracle Corp took 5th place in the Forbes list of richest men of 2015 with a net worth U.S $54.3 billion. Apart from being a real good programmer, internet entrepreneur and philanthropist Ellison also interests in yachting and is a licensed aircraft pilot.
The 70 years old businessman has been in the top 10 richest men of the world since 2006, although he was third richest man in 2014 but now is placed 5th in the list as number of billionaires increased worldwide.
- Amancio Ortega:
The 79 years old Spanish businessman is the co-founder of Inditex group and currently holds the place of CEO of the company. Inditex is a well-known fashion group which is popular for their exclusive clothing and accessories line under the tag name ‘Zara’. He has a net worth U.S $64.5 billion
Ortega owns almost 60% of Inditex apart from almost 6000 Zara stores around the globe. Interestingly the Zara line started around late 80’s but no photographs of Ortega and family ever published until 1999. It is believed that he loves to keep his life away from limelight resulting in just 3 interviews ever from the businessman. He also has a book called Amancio Ortega: from Zero to Zara written on his life before, after the rise of Zara, the fashion brand.
- Warren Buffet:
Warren Edward Buffet, most successful investor of 20th century ranks third in the list of richest men of 2015. Currently he holds possession on the post of CEO, Chairperson and president of Berkshire Hathaway a real well-known multinational conglomerate which wholly owns companies like Dairy Queen, Helzberg diamonds and NetJets.
Often referred as ‘Wizard of Omaha’ buffet is widely known for his philanthropic works he pledged to give his 99% of fortune to philanthropy. Currently he has a net worth U.S $72.7 billion. Starting from selling chewing gums, weekly magazines and coca cola bottles door to door this 84 years old investor started quite young and owned 3 shares of cities service at the age of 11. His career went a little down, when we was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, which he battled successfully.
- Carlos Slim Helu and family
First Mexican ever to grab position in the top list, Carlos Slim has done it and retained the position for years. Right now he stands 2nd with a net worth U.S $ 77.1 billion. The 75 years old businessman is the CEO and Chairperson of companies like Telmex, Samsung Mexico and Grupo Carso.
Popularly known as ‘Warren buffet of Mexico’, Helu accounts 40% listings of Mexican stock exchange although, the investor has his hands in all the industries be it telecommunications, media, mining, oil, hospitality or entertainment. Helu bought his first shares at the age of 12. Later on he went to study civil engineering and started to teach algebra and linear programming to others. He was the richest man on Earth till 2010-2013.
- Bill Gates
Founder of Microsoft once again claimed the title of richest man on Earth with a net worth U.S $79.2 billion. He came to limelight in 1975, when he co-founded Microsoft in 1975 which turned out to be world’s largest PC software company, the 59 year old philanthropist, investor, computer programmer and inventor never looked back since then.
Gates has been always in the list since 1985, and ranked first for several years but came down in ranks during the financial crisis but since 2013 his income increased by $15 billion. Although he gave up his post of CEO in 2000 and his post of chairman in 2014, now he works at Microsoft on part time basis because he wanted to focus on Bill and Melinda gates foundation, which supports various programs such as philanthropic works and scientific research. He now works as technology advisor to new CEO Satya Nadella.