The latest list of world's top 5 richest people might surprise you.

World's top 5 Richest People

            2022 was not a good year for economy because of political instability at international level, Russia-Ukraine war, the aftershocks of COVID, and much more. As a result, many businesses tycoons and industrialists had to face their net worth declining. But at the same time, some were able to grow their businesses to a point where they got recognized worldwide for the first time. 2022 definitely shuffled the list of world's richest people, so here is the latest list of world's top five richest people (as of Jan. 5, 2023).

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

1) Bernard Arnault and family:

               Bernard Arnault is a 73 years old French business magnate, and investor which has a net worth of $172 Billion. He surpassed Elon Musk on Dec. 13, 2922 to hold the first place in the list of world's richest people. He is the co-founder and CEO of LVMH corporation, world's largest luxury goods company. It controls 60 famous subsidiaries including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Sephora, Tiffany & Co., etc. Most of his wealth comes from his massive stakes in Christian Dior SE, the holding company controlling 41.2% of LVMH.

             Arnault was an engineer by training, but he showed up his business skills after taking charge of his father's construction firm Ferret-Savinel in 1971. He converted this construction firm into a real-estate company named Ferinel in 1979. After working as Ferinel chairman for six years, he acquired a luxury goods maker company Financie`re Agache. He eventually sold all the holdings in 1984 except Christian Dior and Le Bon Marche. In 1987, he was invited to invest in LVMH where he became the highest shareholder and CEO of the company two years later.

2) Elon Musk:

              Elon Musk is currently the second richest man in the world with a net worth of $126 Billion. He was born in South Africa, and he earned his bachelor's degree in physics and economics from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1995, just two days after enrolling in a graduate physics program at Stanford University, Elon Musk stopped his attendance at the university to launch Zip2, one of the earliest online navigation services. He reinvested a portion of the profit from Zip2 to create X.com, an online payment system. Later, he sold X.com to eBay and it ultimately became PayPal Holdings.

             In 2004, Musk became a major founder of an automobile company Tesla Motors (now called Tesla). He is still working the CEO of Tesla, which has contributed a lot to make Musk one of the richest in the world. In 2020, Tesla share prices increased by a whopping 740% which increased Musk's wealth exponentially. In January 2021, Musk became the richest man in the world, a title he held till last month.

           All was well for Musk until the year 2022 when he lost more than $130 Billion in a single year. The major reason is a decrease in Tesla's share price over the year. Musk also sold a lot of Tesla shares last year to pay for Twitter, but this has proved to be a poor decision so far. Tesla's shares are continuously decreasing their value and it is still to be seen what Musk does to save the struggling company.

3) Gautam Adani:

             Gautam Adani is new to the list of top 5 as his net worth dramatically increased during previous year. In March 2022, he surpassed Mukesh Ambani to become Asia's richest person. He is currently the third richest person in the world and has a net worth of $117 Billion. Gautam Adani is the first Asian to rank so high on Bloomberg's wealth index. He is also the highest earning person of 2022 with $44 Billion added to his wealth in this year. The $44 Billion increase in his net worth has put him ahead of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to hold third spot in the list.

            Gautam Adani was born in Gujarat, India on 24 June, 1962. His father was a small textile merchant. He took admission for a bachelor's degree in commerce at Gujarat University, but he was dropped out after the second year but his interest in business led him to become a diamond merchant. He established Adani Exports in 1988 which is now known as Adani Enterprises.

          60 years old Gautam Adani now owns numerous companies in  India including Adani Enterprises, Adani Transmissions, and Adani Power. He also owns about 65% of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, 37% of Adani Total Gas and 61% of Adani Green Energy. Recently, he acquired a Swiss cement manufacturer company Holcim Ltd, for $10.5 Billion.He has also announced to invest $70 Billion in Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) which has already become world's largest solar energy producer. Considering the pace at which his net worth is increasing, Financial Express has guessed that he will leave Elon Musk behind in just 5 weeks. (You can also read that article by clicking here.)

4) Warren Buffett:

           Warren Buffett currently holds fourth position on richest people list and his net worth is $109 Billion. He is an American business magnate and investor. He is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway which owns businesses in insurance, energy generation and distribution, rail transportation, manufacturing, and retailing. The company also holds almost 9% shares of Coca-Cola.

          Buffett, born in Omaha, always had an interest in business. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1949 when he was 19 years old. He created Buffett Partnership Ltd. in 1956 and this firm eventually acquired Berkshire Hathaway, a textile manufacturing firm. He eventually converted a textile company into a diversified holding company. He has been the chairman and the largest shareholder of the company since 1970. Buffett is a philanthropist who has pledged to give away 99% of his wealth to philanthropic causes. He, along with Bill Gates, founded The Giving Pledge in 2010. Here the billionaires pledge to give away half of their fortunes for charity.

5) Bill Gates:

           Bill Gates is currently ranked as the fifth richest person of the world with a net worth of $108 Billion. Gates is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Microsoft, a multinational technology corporation.

           Bill Gates worked alongside his childhood friend Paul Allen to develop a new software for original microcomputers in 1975, while he was attending Harvard University. During his junior year, he was dropped out of Harvard and then he founded Microsoft with his friend Allen. Microsoft is today the largest software company in the world.

           Gates shifted from Microsoft's CEO to the role of board chair in 2008. He also joined Berkshire Hathaway in 2004, but he stepped down from both boards in 2020. He also founded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. This organization operates all around the world for social welfare.

        We hope you liked our article. If you did, make sure you keep visiting 'World Articles'. Click here to find out more of these interesting articles and recent global news. Thanks for visiting us.