Audentes Fortuna Iuvat or “Fortune favors the brave” is an old Latin saying. From Virgil to Ovid to Pliny, many writers from the colossal Roman Empire had used these words to great effect. Its significance hasn’t waned a bit even after two millennia. You will realize this even better if you look at the top 10 richest businessmen in the world and try to learn how they have built their upward trajectory.
The recent listing revealed by Forbes is important for a different reason. It is the first one that got published after the outbreak of Covid-19. However, don’t expect any surprises there. It seems that those at the top remained unscathed even after their nations got bulldozed by the pandemic. Only a little digging will reveal that brilliant strategies to counter initial hiccups and the ability to turn the table at the right time helped these people maintain a standard and register incremental growth.
Top 10 Richest Businessmen in the World
Jeff Bezos
- Founder & CEO – Amazon
- Net Worth: $193.4Bn
Amazon is an e-commerce platform that Bezos founded in the early ’90s. He started the company from a garage in Seattle, Washington and then went on building it one brick at a time. The company was originally a platform for books, but now it has evolved into a one-stop store for all the basic needs.
Bezos is also the first person to cross $100 billion since Gates. He has shares in companies like Blue Origin; The Washington Post, and the 10,000-year clock called the Long Now. He bought the newspaper in 2013.
Elon Musk
- Co-Founder & CEO – Tesla
- Net Worth: $171.6Bn
Elon Musk is a notable name when it comes to developing products and ensuring successful exits for them. He started his career by launching Zip2, which was one of the earliest online navigational service providers. Then he created PayPal. His third project is Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), where he is still the CEO and lead designer.
In 2004, Musk invested in Tesla, an electric vehicle company. He is also the CEO of this automobile giant. The company acquired SolarCity in 2016 to produce solar power systems. That same year he founded two companies named Neuralink and The Boring Company. Currently, he is showing a lot of interest in cryptocurrency.
Bernard Arnault
- CEO & Chairman- LVMH
- Net Worth- $155.1 billion
LVMH is the world’s largest luxury brand. It is the house of brands like Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, Sephora, and many more. However, the maximum share of Bernard Arnault’s wealth comes from his stake in Christian Dior SE.
Arnault joined the luxury brand segment in 1984 when he acquired Financière Agache. In 1987, he invested in LVMH. In 1989, he became its majority shareholder, chairman, and CEO.
Bill Gates
- Co-Founder- Microsoft Corp.
- Net Worth- $123.2Bn
The erstwhile richest businessman has now dedicated himself to doing charity projects for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is the largest private charitable foundation. He was the co-founder of Microsoft but later sold most of his shares and kept only 1% for himself. He invested that in stocks and other assets.
Through his foundation, Bill Gates has already spent billions to fight diseases like Polio and Malaria. In recent times, he has donated substantial amounts for research projects related to Ebola and Covid-19.
Mark Zuckerberg
- Co-Founder, CEO & Chairman- Facebook
- Net Worth-$98.5Bn
Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook in 2004. The social networking giant has given him substantial mileage in his career. In 2012, the company went public. Mark now has a 15% share of the company. The company later acquired Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. The company recently got entangled in several legal battles for its alleged role in divulging private data and witnessed backlash from several quarters.
Zhong Shanshan
- Founder & Chairperson- Nongfu Spring
- Net Worth- $94.8Bn
Zhong Shanshan is the founder of China’s largest beverage company Nongfu Spring. Before setting up the empire, Zhong was involved in a number of jobs like a worker in a construction site, journalist, and others. He founded his first business in 1993 and it was the health products company, Yangshengtang.
Zhong founded Nongfu Spring to manufacture bottled water but later diversified his business to include other beverage products like coffee and food products, including rice and yogurt and has now found his place among the top 10 richest businessmen in the world.
Warren Buffet
- CEO- Berkshire Hathaway
- Net Worth- $92.4Bn
Many call Warren Buffet the ‘Oracle of Omaha.’ He is a living legend when it comes to investing. In 1962, he bought some shares of Berkshire Hathaway. By 1965, he became its maximum shareholder. He then expanded the business and entered the insurance and other investment sectors. He made his fortune by investing in companies that are easy to understand.
Warren Buffet is also known for his philanthropic endeavors. He had donated around $41Bn to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Larry Page
- Co-founder and Board Member – Alphabet
- Net Worth- $91.6Bn
Larry Page, along with his friend Sergey Brin, founded BackRub to test their idea of improving data extraction capabilities. From there, they laid the foundation of Google in 1998. Google then went to acquire companies like YouTube and Android Inc. Today, on the backs of the monumental success of Google, Larry has positioned himself among the top 10 richest businessmen in the world.
Sergey Brin
- Co-founder and Board Member – Alphabet
- Net Worth- $88.8 Bn
Sergey Brin acted as co-president alongside Larry Page for Google until Eric Schmidt became CEO in 2001. Brin was also the president of the holding company Alphabet Inc. which he founded in 2015 before Sundar Pichai took over it as its CEO in 2019.
Larry Ellison
- Co-founder, CTO, and Chairman – Oracle
- Net Worth- $79.1Bn
The last name in the list of the top 10 richest businessmen in the world is Larry Ellison, who co-founded SDL in 1977. In 1979, the company released Oracle, which was the first commercial relational DB program that used a Structured Query Language. It was so popular that the company changed its name to Oracle. Ellison is also known for his charitable contributions to various research programs.
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