Taylor Swift also joins the list of Forbes billionaires for 2024.
Chairman and CEO of LVMH Bernard Arnault retains his ranking as the world’s richest man in 2024 with a net worth of $233 billion, according to Forbes.
Arnault, 75, is one of the most influential figures in global business and fashion, expanding LVMH’s portfolio to include iconic brands such as Christian Dior, Givenchy, Fendi, and Moët & Chandon, among others. Arnault’s strategic acquisitions and astute management propelled LVMH to an empire in the luxury goods market.
He started his series of bold acquisitions in the 1980s, purchasing a stake in the then struggling fashion house Christian Dior in 1984. The acquisition of Bulgari, Dom Pérignon, and Belmond further cemented LVMH’s dominance across various sectors of the luxury market.
In 2019, he donated 200 million euros ($217) for the restoration of the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
At No. 2 is Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk, 52, with a net worth of $195 billion. Musk is the CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc., which accelerated the transition to sustainable transportation. In October 2022, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and after studying physics and economics at the University of Pennsylvania, he co-found Zip2, a software company providing business directories and maps for newspapers. He then ventured into the financial sector, co-founding X.com, an online payment company, which later became PayPal and was acquired by eBay in 2002.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ net worth $194 billion places him at No. 3 on the Forbes list. In 1994, Bezos founded Amazon.com out of his garage in Seattle, Washington, with the initial vision of creating an online bookstore. He quickly recognized the vast potential of e-commerce and expanded Amazon’s offerings to include a wide range of products, from electronics and apparel to groceries and streaming services.
Bezos, 60, is also the founder of Blue Origin, a private aerospace company focused on space exploration and tourism. Founded in 2000, Blue Origin aims to make space travel accessible to civilians and reduce the cost of space transportation through the development of reusable rocket technology.
Forbes’ ranking of the top three billionaires for 2024 remains unchanged from 2023.
At No. 4 this year is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 39, with a net worth of $177 billion. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, 79, is No. 5 with a net worth of $141 billion.
Youngest billionaires
In a separate list, Forbes ranks the World’s Youngest Billionaires or individuals 33 and younger. Together, they are worth $110 billion.
Forbes says, “for the first time since 2009, every billionaire under 30 inherited his or her fortune—the result of some self-made entrepreneurs aging into their 30s, and a sign that the ‘great wealth transfer’ has begun.”
“These inheritances illustrate the beginning of a long-anticipated generational wealth transfer among aging populations around the world. In the United States, Baby Boomers and their elders (those born in 1964 or earlier) hold $95.9 trillion of a total $147.1 trillion of household wealth, per the Federal Reserve. Trillions are expected to change hands every year as the affluent elderly pass away and leave their fortunes to descendants.”
The youngest is 19-year-old Brazilian Livia Voigt, who owns 3.1% of WEG, which manufactures and distributes industrial machinery including electric motors, power and distribution transformers, generators and electrical components. She’s No. 14 on the list.
Livia and her sister Dora Voigt de Assis, 26, are two of seven new individuals on the list, and “two of 18 heirs among this set.”
At No. 1, is Evan Spiegel, 33, co-founder of Snapchat, with a net worth of $3.1 billion. Spiegel co-founded Snapchat during his time as a student at Stanford University. In 2011, while studying product design, he collaborated with fellow students Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown to create what would become Snapchat.
The idea stemmed from Spiegel’s belief that traditional social media platforms lacked the authenticity and spontaneity of real-life interactions. Snapchat’s defining feature, disappearing messages, offered users a novel way to communicate without the pressure of permanence.
In 2013, Spiegel famously turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook.
“In 2022, he paid off the student loan debt for the entire graduating class of the Otis College of Art and Design, where he’d taken classes during high school,” according to Forbes.
Following Spiegel at No. 2 is John Collison, 33, who founded Auctomatic, the eBay management software, with his brother Patrick, and the brothers Harj and Kulveer Taggar. They also co-founded Stripe, a payment software whose investors have included Fidelity and Ireland’s sovereign development fund.
Japanese Shunsaku Sagami, 33, is ranked No. 3. Sagami launched M&A Research Institute Holdings in 2018. “The company uses AI to advise small- and medium-scale enterprises with aging owners who have no one lined up to take over.”
At No. 4 is Jonathan Kwok, whose family made their fortune in real estate in Hong Kong. “ After their father Walter Kwok’s death in 2018 at age 68, they inherited his stakes in Sun Hung Kai Properties—the territory’s largest property developer—and Empire Group Holdings, the developer Walter started after family feuding kicked him out of the SHKP chairmanship. Jonathan now runs Empire Group Holdings with his brother and is the youngest billionaire in Hong Kong.”
No. 5 is Mark Mateschitz, 31. His source of wealth: Red Bull. Mateschitz inherited 49% of Red Bull when his father Dietrich Mateschitz, died in 2022. “Prior to his father’s death, he’d run the company’s organics division. Red Bull generated $11.6 billion in revenue last year and sold 12.1 billion cans, enough for each person on earth to pep up with 1.5 energy drinks.”
Celebrity billionaires
For the first time this year, Forbes included artist Taylor Swift, 34, with a net worth of $1.1 billion. Swift is No. 14 on the list.
“Swift became a billionaire in October in large part because of her record-breaking Eras Tour, which became the first tour in history to gross more than $1 billion. The Eras Tour grossed an estimated $1.04 billion off of its first 60 shows alone, according to estimates by Pollstar, and Swift’s tour has dates scheduled in Europe and North America through 2024.”
No. 1 on the celebrity list is Star Wars director George Lucas, with an estimated net worth of $5.5 billion. Lucas sold LucasFilm to Disney in 2012 for more than $4 billion in cash and stock.
No. 2 is director Steven Spielberg, 77, who was first named on the list in 1994. Spielberg’s net worth is $4.4 billion. “He still gets a slice of every ticket sold at Universal theme parks thanks to the Indiana Jones series.”
Basketball superstar Michael Jordan, 61, may have retired in 2003, but the man made more than $1.8 billion from brand partnerships. Jordan first became a billionaire in 2015. At No. 3, his wealth is estimated at $3.2 billion.
The Queen of Talk Show Oprah Winfrey, 70, is No. 4 with a net worth of $2.8 billion, followed by artist Jay-Z, 54, whose net worth is $2.5 billion. “His net worth does not include his wife Beyonce’s own half-billion-dollar fortune.”
For the complete list of Forbes’ 2024 Top 200 World Billionaires, click here. For the World’s Youngest Billionaires, click here. For the World’s Celebrity Billionaires, click here.
