Four of the top five in the list of the world richest people on the planet unsurprisingly are from the technology sector amid the top 5 gaining over $200 billion YTD, according to data retrieved from Bloomberg Billionaires Index data.
Jef Bezos
- Top on the list, is Jeff Bezos, the CEO, and founder of Amazon.
- He is presently valued at about $182 billion, showing a gain of a whopping $67 billion.
- Coming from strong gains from his online retail company now worth over $1.5 trillion, Amazon is the world’s largest retail cyber company site in terms of market value.
Elon Musk
- Tech whiz kid, Elon Musk who recently overtook the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, is ranked 2nd. He is now estimated to be worth about $147 billion, showing a yearly gain not seen in modern history, of about $119 billion.
- He founded and leads top tech companies like Tesla, Space, and Neuralink, which has shown admirable strides in the tech ecosystem.
- Tesla Stock surprisingly has returned about 800% within a year alone to investors and now has a market capitalization that stands at $608 billion (bigger than Africa’s largest economy).
- He is within the striking distance of the present world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos.
Bill Gates
- In the third position is another popular tech founder, Bill Gates, the founder of the most valuable software company, Microsoft.
- Bill Gates made his wealth when he simplified the computer operating system by creating Microsoft Windows, the leading operating system in personal computers globally today.
- For many years Gates had been the world’s richest man. He now has a wealth fortune of $129 billion with a yearly gain of about $15.7 billion.
Bernard Arnault
- Europe’s top entrepreneur and French celebrated fashion icon, Bernard Arnault is fourth on the list with a fortune now estimated to be worth $110 billion with a yearly gain of $4.6 billion.
- He is the only billionaire on the top 5 that isn’t from the tech ecosystem.
- The french-born billionaire got extremely wealthy through his flair for investing in leading luxury brand chains.
- Most of his wealth comes from his controlling stake of LVMH he controls through his holding known as Christian Dior.
Mark Zuckerberg
- Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg is fifth on the list, with a fortune estimated to be worth $105 billion with a yearly gain of about $27 billion.
- He owns the biggest online social medial company, popularly referred to as Facebook, and other household tech brands including Instagram and WhatsApp.
Bottom line: Through stock holdings, and investments prevailing in the world’s biggest companies, their founders, major shareholders unsurprisingly made the list amid an era that has seen the wealth of the middle class erode globally. As job and social mobility go remote, tech brands are better positioned to gain in the near term, thereby printing more gains to their owners as seen above.