The richest man in the world. The richest people in the world

Illustration: Michael Witte

They account for 13% of the $2,208 billion owned by the top 100 billionaires. The minimum entry threshold for this elite club is $39 billion, up 28% from last year.

1. JEFF BEZOS
$112 billion, USA

The richest man on the planet, the head of Amazon, became the first billionaire with a net worth of over $100 billion. Shares of the e-commerce giant rose by 59% in 12 months, adding almost $39.2 billion to Bezos' fortune - a record increase. He also owns the Washington Post and the aerospace company Blue Origin.

2. BILL GATES
$90 billion, USA
Gates has lost first place in the ranking of the richest for only the sixth time in the past 22 years. Over the past year, the Microsoft co-founder's fortune has increased by $4 billion, but he is far from Bezos's epic leap.

3. WARREN BUFFET
$84 billion, USA
In January, the 87-year-old billionaire appointed two senior Berkshire Hathaway employees to vice chair positions, the first step in a plan to take over the company. For now, however, Buffett, who says he's feeling great, continues to manage Berkshire, whose shares are up 16% since the start of last year.

4. BERNARD ARNO
$72 billion, France
The record income of the empire of premium brands LVMH and the purchase of almost 100% of the fashion house Christian Dior allowed Arnault to increase his fortune by $ 30.5 billion.

5. MARK ZUCKERBERG
$71 billion, USA
The head of Facebook is now under scrutiny because of the role the world's largest social network played in meddling in the US election from Russia. Nevertheless, the value of the company's shares increased by 31%, which added $15 billion to Zuckerberg's fortune.

6. AMANCIO ORTEGA
$70 billion, Spain
Much of Ortega's fortune is tied to Inditex, which runs brands like Zara. The company's shares sank, reducing it by $1.3 billion.

7. CARLOS SLIM HELU
$67.1 billion, Mexico

Slim's net worth increased by $12.6 billion compared to last year, mainly due to the fact that the shares of his telecommunications company América Móvil rose by 39%.

8. CHARLES KOCH
$60 billion, USA
In November, Koch Industries, with a turnover of $ 100 billion, announced the launch of the venture arm of Koch Disruptive Technologies, led by Charles Koch's son Chase. The company has already become a lead investor in an Israeli medical device startup with a $150 million investment.

8. DAVID KOCH
$60 billion, USA
The executive vice president of Koch Industries and his brother Charles made all the headlines in November when their holding's investment arm invested $650 million to buy failing publisher Time magazine. The total amount of the transaction, where Meredith Corp. acted as the main investor, amounted to $2.8 billion.

10. Larry Ellison
$58.5 billion, USA
In the cloud computing market, Oracle competes with Salesforce and Amazon, but despite this, the company's shares rose by 13%. Ellison, who owns a quarter of the shares, is $6.3 billion richer.

11. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
$50 billion, USA
The former mayor of New York continues to run his company, Bloomberg LP, which provides financial information and develops a media platform. He supports a pro-gun control organization that has launched new initiatives to protect students since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

12. LARRY PAGE
$48.8 billion, USA
The Google co-founder and CEO of parent company Alphabet is said to be in talks with Saudi Arabia to build a technology hub in the kingdom. Page's fortune has increased by $8.1 billion over the past year.

13. SERGEY BRIN
$47.5 billion, USA

Page's Google partner is the richest immigrant in America. He is now president of Alphabet and reportedly uses the company's air fleet for both personal travel and the delivery of humanitarian aid to remote areas of the planet.

14. JIM WALTON
$46.4 billion, USA
The youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton was a member of the company's board of directors until 2016. He now manages the family bank Arvest.

15. Samuel Robson Walton
$46.2 billion, USA
Sam Walton's eldest son was chairman of Walmart for 23 years. Today, Samuel Robson is one of three family members still involved with the company. He and Stuart Walton, Jim Walton's son, are members of the board of directors, while his son-in-law, Gregory Penner, is chairman.

16. Alice Walton
$46 billion, USA
The only daughter of Sam Walton is not involved in the management of the family business, but she owns many shares of Walmart, which makes her the richest woman in the world.

17. MA HUATEN
$45.3 billion, China
Ma became Asia's richest man for the first time thanks in part to the success of his company Tencent's WeChat messenger, with almost 1 billion active users. Tencent also has stakes in Tesla, Snap (Snapchat's parent company) and streaming music service Spotify.

18. FRANCOISE BETANCOUR-MYERS
$42.2 billion, France

Her mother, L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, died in September 2017, leaving her fortune to Bettencourt-Myers and her family.

19. MUKESH AMBANI
$40.1 billion, India
The Indian mogul returned to the top 20 for the first time since 2012.

20. JACK MA
$39 billion, China
In 2017, Ma propelled e-commerce giant Alibaba to new heights by partnering with the Olympics for the first time and signing a streaming deal with Disney. Alibaba shares surged 76%, propelling Ma into the top 20 for the first time.

Reading time: 6 min.

In 2017, Bloomberg announced its annual ranking of the 500 richest people in the world. We will focus only on the top ten. So, richest people in the world according to the Big Rating magazine.

Ingvar Kamprad

The Swedish businessman's fortune is estimated at $42.8 billion. Over the past year, Kamprad has become richer by a billion dollars. As you know, he is the founder of IKEA. At the moment, Ingvar is at a pretty decent age - 90 years old. He divorced his first wife back in 1960, after ten years of marriage, married a second time in 1963, but his wife died in 2011. Now he has four children.

Larry Ellison

An American businessman has capital in $45.4 billion. He has risen quite well this year - his fortune has increased by $ 1.8 billion. He is one of the co-owners of the Oracle corporation, which is engaged in the production and release of computer hardware and software. At the moment, Ellison is 72 years old. During his turbulent life, he managed to marry and divorce as many as four times. There are two children left from the second marriage.

David Koch

Today, his condition is estimated at $47.8 billion. David increased his net worth over the past year by $8.2 billion. Now he is 76 years old and he is still married, from which he has three children.

Charles Koch

Brother of David Koch, who is also a co-owner of Koch Industries Corporation. The company has a different range of activities - from oil to polymeric materials. Like his brother, he enriched himself by 8.2 billion dollars in a year. He is married and has two children. His condition is estimated at $47.8 billion.

Carlos Slim

The sixth line of today's rating is occupied by a Mexican businessman, who dropped down from the third place in the rating. Today its budget is estimated at 53.3 billion dollars, because last year he increased his fortune by 3.3 billion dollars.
It should be noted that Slim is very versatile in terms of business projects. He owns various companies, ranging from construction to telecommunications.
At the moment he is 77 years old. He is not married, having been widowed in 1999. Six children remained from the marriage.

Mark Zuckerberg

The fifth line of the ranking is occupied by the youngest billionaire. Despite his young years, compared to his closest competitors (only 32 years old), he managed to earn $59.3 billion in past years. This year, he raised his fortune by $14.7 billion. Surprisingly, the founder of the world's largest social network Facebook leads a very modest lifestyle. He is married and had a daughter in 2015.

Amancio Ortega

The Spanish entrepreneur is steadily moving forward and takes the fourth place in the ranking, with a result of $68.9 billion. This year was successful and brought him 1.9 billion dollars. Ortega has an extensive business and is the owner of Inditex, which owns several large-scale ready-to-wear retail chains. One of them is Zara.

The Spanish billionaire is now 81 years old and has not been very lucky in marriages. His first marriage broke up and in 2001 he married again. Now he has three children (two from his first marriage and one from his second).

Jeff Bezos

The third position was quickly taken by the owner of the largest company Amazon. He is moving towards the top spot at an incredible rate, as his internet company brought him $28.1 billion this year - an incredible result. Bezos was engaged in trade, but recently he has become more actively investing in various projects from the field of new technologies. In general, he is still quite young and is now 53 years old. Has a wife and three children. Today he has $82.1 billion.

Warren Buffett

A unique person in this top, because he is exclusively engaged in investments that brought him $ 10.8 billion this year. In sum, the state of the American is estimated at about $79 billion.

Buffett is famous for his accurate market predictions. This allowed him and his clients to make profitable transactions and successfully invest money. Now he is 86 years old. His first wife died in 2004, and 2 years later he married a second time. After his first marriage, he has three children.

Bill Gates

It is not surprising that he has been at the top of the rankings for many years. The world-famous owner of Microsoft has made $10.6 billion this year. Bill's general condition is estimated at $85.6 billion. His company is the main supplier of various software all over the world. Now the businessman is 61 years old and he is married, from whom he has three children.

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By the age of 16, Vanderbilt was already the owner of a two-masted ship, and at the age of 18 he signed a contract with the US government to deliver goods to outposts during the Anglo-American War of 1812. By the end of the war, he had trained in shipbuilding, owned a small fleet of ships, and had a working capital of $10,000.

Over the next 10 years, Vanderbilt gained control of traffic on the Hudson River with his luxury ships and cheap fares. Then he began to expand his transport business, opening steamship lines to New York, Providence and buying the Boston railroad. By 1846 Vanderbilt was a millionaire.

In 1850, Vanderbilt became the largest shipowner in the United States and decided to focus his attention on the railroads. Already in 1863, he became the owner of the New York - Harlem Railroad (New York and Harlem Railroad). However, it didn't stop there. Vanderbilt later bought the Hudson River Railroad and the New York Central Railroad, allowing him to provide the first railroad service from New York to Chicago.

Cornelius Vanderbilt died in 1877 at the age of 83 due to health complications. In today's terms, taking into account the GDP of 1877, the fortune of Cornelius Vanderbilt is almost $ 165 billion.

9. Vasily II Bulgar-slayer

Basil II the Bulgar Slayer was the Byzantine emperor for 49 years. The son of Emperor Roman II, he was crowned co-emperor in 976. Having come to power, Basil II concentrated on expanding his power both within the Byzantine Empire and beyond. He led his troops to Asia Minor, taking possession of the lands in Georgia and Armenia.

Best known for his swift and successful military campaigns, he eventually expanded the Byzantine Empire, the largest territory in the five centuries prior to his reign. Although Vasily II's fortune exceeds $168 billion in today's money, he left no heirs. After his death, the Byzantine Empire collapsed within half a century.

8. Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus is an ancient Roman commander and politician who not only turned the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, but also amassed quite a fortune during his lifetime.

Born into the family of a wealthy consul, Marcus Licinius grew up in a luxurious lifestyle. He later married his late brother's wife, allowing him to forge an alliance between Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Rome.

It was then that he began to make his fortune through proscriptions, becoming the richest man in Rome. He also bought Sulla's citizens for next to nothing, and then resold them at a high price. He also made huge profits from buying and selling slaves who worked in the family's silver mines. At the end of his life in 53 B.C. Crassus owned a fortune of nearly $170 billion.

7. Henry Ford

Known as America's premier industrialist, Henry Ford dramatically transformed the automotive industry and virtually revolutionized America's manufacturing industry. Ford was born July 30, 1863 on the family farm in Wayne County, Michigan. When Henry was only 13 years old, his father gave him a pocket watch, which he quickly took apart and just as quickly reassembled.

This was the first of many impressive skills he demonstrated. At the age of 16, he became an apprentice machinist in Detroit. During his career, he learned how to handle and maintain steam engines. In addition, he learned accounting. In 1891, the Edison Illuminating Company offered him a job as an engineer. After only 2 years, thanks to his natural talents, he became the chief engineer of the company.

However, the Edison Electric Company was not the only thing Ford devoted his time to. In 1893, he completed the development of a horseless carriage and introduced his first model, known as the Ford Quadricycle.

After several years of trial and error, Henry Ford founded his own car company, the Ford Motor Company, and introduced the Model T. For years, the company was only 100 percent profitable. Henry Ford died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 7, 1947, but the legacy he left behind will never die.

Henry Ford, remembered as America's leading businessman, left behind a solid foundation, a new method of production, and a net worth equivalent to nearly $186 billion.

6. Andrew W. Mellon

For all 82 years of his life, Andrew Mellon proved to be a jack of all trades. He was a businessman, banker, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector and, most impressively, US Secretary of the Treasury.

Mellon was born March 24, 1855 in Pittsburgh. At age 20, he began working with his father in the family banking company, T. Mellon & Sons, becoming its owner in 1882. Since then, the company has been expanding and making a profit.

Over time, he began to provide capital to large corporations. With his support came the Aluminum Company of America and the Gulf Oil Company, as well as other giant industrial enterprises in the steel, oil, construction and shipbuilding industries. He also funded the creation of the Union Steel Company, which later merged with the United States Steel Corporation. By the early 1920s, Mellon was one of the richest men in the US with a net worth of $188 billion.

5. Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII)

Osman Ali Khan was born on April 6, 1886 in Hyderabad (the territory of present-day India). In 1911, after the death of his father, he succeeded him as the Nizam of Hyderabad. During his 37-year reign, Osman pursued a policy that brought great benefits to the state.

Thanks to him, electricity, roads, railways and air traffic appeared in the country. In addition, he built the Nizamsagar reservoir and implemented numerous land irrigation projects.

Osman also personally donated vast sums of money to charitable causes and education. By the time of his death in 1967, he had 7 wives, 42 concubines and a net worth of nearly $230 billion.

4. William Henry Vanderbilt

Born on May 8, 1821 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, William Vanderbilt was one of 13 children of Cornelius Vanderbilt, ranked #10 on our list of the richest people in human history. Often dismissed by his dynamic father for his incompetence, William was sent to a farm on Staten Island.

Thanks to William, things on the farm began to improve almost immediately, it began to make a profit, and this did not go unnoticed. The 1840s proved important for William Vanderbilt. His father commissioned him to reorganize the Long Island Rail Road, and just as he had done on the farm, William turned the ailing company into a very successful business. In 1864 he was vice president of New York's key railroads, and in 1877 the senior Vanderbilt organization was turned over to William after his death.

William continued to build on his father's legacy by expanding rail lines to many cities. Unfortunately, in 1883 he was forced to retire due to deteriorating health.

William Vanderbilt died just 8 years after the death of his father. Incredibly, in his short time as president of various railroads, he doubled his family's wealth from $100 million to an incredible $200 million. Today, that would amount to a whopping $239 billion.

3. Nicholas II

Nicholas II was born on May 6, 1868. He was the last tsar of Russia, from the imperial house of the Romanovs. Alexander III Alexandrovich was the Emperor of All Russia and the father of Nicholas II. Alexander III had a strong influence on the growing up Nicholas, educating him in the spirit of religious values and the firm conviction of autocratic rule.

After the death of his father in 1894, Nicholas inherited the Russian throne and soon married Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1895, their first child, daughter Olga, was born, and the following year Nikolai was officially crowned to the Russian throne. In 1897, daughter Tatiana was born, then, in 1899, Maria, and in 1901, the fourth daughter, Anastasia.

The long-awaited boy for the royal couple was finally born in 1904. Over the next 10 years, the country was torn apart by riots and demonstrations. In 1917, Nicholas was forced to abdicate and, along with his family, was placed under house arrest.

Soon after this, a civil war began and, by decision of the Provisional Government of Nicholas II, together with his family and close associates, they were sent into exile in Tobolsk, then transported to Yekaterinburg, where they were shot in the summer of 1918. Over the 50 years of his life, Nicholas II accumulated almost $900 million, which is equivalent to today's $300 billion.

2. Andrew Carnegie

Industrialist and self-made steel magnate Andrew Carnegie was one of the richest businessmen of the 19th century. He is the founder of Carnegie Mellon University.

Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25, 1835 in a town called Dunfermline in Scotland. In 1848 his family moved to America and settled in Pennsylvania.

He found his first job in the US in a weaving factory as a "bobbin keeper" and then went to work for the telegraph. In 1853, he took a job with the Pennsylvania Railroad as an assistant and telegrapher to Thomas Scott, the company's top official. Within 3 years, Carnegie was promoted, becoming the manager of the company.

During his time with the railroad company, he gained a wealth of experience in the industry and the business in general. However, experience is not the only thing he gained during his work. Carnegie also made numerous investments that later became the basis for his business success.

In 1865 he left the railroad industry to focus on other interests, and by 1889 Carnegie had built his business in the steel industry, founding the world's largest steel company. Carnegie Steel Corporation revolutionized the steel industry in the United States.

In 1901, Carnegie retired, selling his business to the United States Steel Corporation. The deal netted him $200 million, which would be worth about $310 billion in today's market.

1. John D. Rockefeller

John Davison Rockefeller is often referred to as the "Father of the Oil World". Born in 1839, the oil tycoon eventually became not only the founder of the Standard Oil Company, but also the first dollar billionaire in human history.

At 16, Rockefeller got a job as an assistant accountant at Hewitt & Tuttle. By the age of 20, he, along with his business partner, founded a company that traded in hay, meat, grain and other goods. By the end of their first year of operation, their company had earned nearly $450,000.

An excellent businessman, Rockefeller realized in the 1860s that this was a great time to start the oil business. In 1863, he opened his first oil refinery, which in 2 years became the largest in the region.

In 1866, William Rockefeller, John's brother, became his business partner. Together they built a second refinery in Cleveland, calling it the Standard Works. At the same time, they opened an office in New York to deal with oil exports. By 1868, Rockefeller's refinery had become the largest in the world, and in 1870 he founded the Standard Oil Company.

Thanks to the favorable economic and industrial conditions of the early 1870s, the Standard Oil Company began to prosper. Rockefeller's assertiveness in business was intense. He wanted the company to expand and increase profitability.

At the time of his death in 1937, Rockefeller's assets (16 railroad companies, 6 steel companies, 9 real estate companies, 6 shipping companies, 9 banks, 3 orange groves) accounted for 1.5% of US output. Today, his net worth would be nearly $340 billion.

On March 20, at the age of 101, David Rockefeller, the grandson of the founder of the powerful Rockefeller dynasty, died in his home. At the time of his death, his fortune was estimated at three billion dollars. Although the name of David Rockefeller has never been listed in the top of the richest people on the planet (according to Forbes, he ranked 581st), nevertheless, incredible stories are associated with his figure about how he ruled the world through a secret organization of the same rich like-minded people. In any case, the grandson of the famous Rockefeller was an influential and powerful man, as well as an ardent supporter of globalization.

We want to recall 10 more examples of incredible wealth in the history of mankind. So who had more money - John Rockefeller or Genghis Khan? The answer to this simple question can be very, very complex, since these people lived in completely different financial systems. Throughout the history of human civilization, there were rich people who owned a huge fortune. But how to compare dollars and sable skins or Central Asian dinars and modern bitcoins?

This ranking of the richest people in the world is based on the research of leading economists, historians and financiers and is an attempt to compare the wealth of various historical figures. Despite the difficulty of such a comparison, this list more or less accurately ranks the wealthiest people in history and clearly shows the extent of their economic influence.

1. Genghis Khan

Lived: 1162-1227.
Country: Mongol Empire.
Wealth: a lot of land, a lot of land.

Genghis Khan is undoubtedly one of the most successful military leaders of all time. As the leader of the Mongol Empire, which at its height stretched from China to Europe, he controlled the largest empire in history. However, despite his great military power, Genghis Khan never amassed wealth and was a very generous ruler. The key to his success is the fact that he always shared with his commanders and gave them territories comparable in area to an average European country.

Lived: 1955 - present.
Wealth: $78,900,000,000

The richest man alive, Bill Gates owns a fortune that is recalculated at least once a year. This year, Forbes estimates the net worth of the Microsoft founder at $78,900,000,000. That's eight billion more than Zara co-founder Amancio Ortega, who is listed as the second richest person in the world.

Lived: 1040-1093.
Country: England.
Wealth: $194,000,000,000

William the Conqueror's nephew Rufus joined his uncle in the course of the Norman Conquest. He died with a fortune of £11,000, or $194 billion in today's money.

Lived: 1839-1937.
Country: United States of America.
Wealth: $341,000,000,000

Rockefeller began investing in the oil industry in 1863, and by 1880 his Standard Oil Company controlled 90% of American oil production. As stated in Rockefeller's New York Times obituary, his net worth at the time of his death was estimated at $1.5 billion based on a 1918 federal tax return.

Lived: 1835-1919.
Country: United States of America.
Wealth: $372 billion.

Andrew Carnegie may be considered the richest American of all time. This Scottish immigrant propelled JP Morgan to a value of $480 million in 1901, equivalent to about just over 2.1% of US GDP.

Lived: 1878-1953.
Country: USSR.
Wealth: Complete control of a country with 9.6% of global GDP.

Stalin is a special figure in modern economic history: a dictator with absolute power who also controlled one of the largest economies in the world. While it is nearly impossible to separate Stalin's wealth from that of the Soviet Union, Stalin's unique combination of economic power and complete control over the USSR makes him one of the richest men of all time.

Lived: 1542-1605.
Country: India.
Wealth: An empire with 25% of the world's GDP.

An Indian emperor from the Mughal dynasty, Akbar ruled an empire that generated about one-quarter of the world's GDP. Belonging to the Indian elite imposed its own rules of conduct on Akbar, so the fame of the luxurious life of the minion of fate outlived him for a long time.

Lived: 1048-1085.
Country: China.
Wealth: Empire from 25% to 30% of global GDP.

Song Dynasty China (960-1279) was one of the most economically powerful empires of all time. According to Professor Ronald A. Edwards, a historian of the Chinese economy, China of that time produced 25 to 30% of all output at the time. The emperor had a huge set of tools to control the economy, which is why he entered our rating.

Lived: 63 BC - 14 AD
Country: Rome.
Wealth: $4.6 trillion.

It was not only Augustus Caesar who led the empire, which accounted for 25 to 30% of the world's total production. But only he managed to control the wealth equivalent to one-fifth of the total capital of the Roman Empire. With current money, this amount will be equal to 4.6 trillion dollars.

Year: 1280-1337.
Country: Mali.
Wealth: richer than anyone could describe.

Mansa Musa, king of Timbuktu, is often referred to as the richest man in history. History professor Richard Smith describes Musa's kingdom as the largest gold mining operation in world history. But how rich was Musa himself? Many remember his pilgrimage to Mecca, when his generous donations caused an economic crisis in Europe, and camel caravans, loaded to the top with gold, stretched from horizon to horizon.

Grandson of the founder of the powerful Rockefeller dynasty. At the time of his death, his fortune was estimated at three billion dollars.

Although the name of David Rockefeller has never been listed in the top of the richest people on the planet (according to Forbes, he ranked 581st), nevertheless, incredible stories are associated with his figure about how he ruled the world through a secret organization of the same rich like-minded people.

In any case, the grandson of the famous Rockefeller was an influential and powerful man, as well as an ardent supporter of globalization.

1. Genghis Khan

Lived: 1162-1227. Country: Mongol Empire. Wealth: a lot of land, a lot of land.

2. Bill Gates

Lived: 1955 - present. Country: United States of America. Wealth: $78,900,000,000

3. Alan Rufus

Lived: 1040-1093. Country: England. Wealth: $194,000,000,000

William the Conqueror's nephew Rufus joined his uncle in the course of the Norman Conquest. He died with a fortune of £11,000, or $194 billion in today's money.

4. John D. Rockefeller Sr.

Lived: 1839-1937. Country: United States of America. Wealth: $341,000,000,000

5. Andrew Carnegie

Lived: 1835-1919. Country: United States of America. Wealth: $372 billion.

Andrew Carnegie may be considered the richest American of all time. This Scottish immigrant propelled JP Morgan to a value of $480 million in 1901, equivalent to about just over 2.1% of US GDP.