Son of a horse breeder, Cyrus Poonawalla founded Serum Institute of India in 1966 and built it into the world’s largest vaccine maker (by doses). Stefan Quandt owns 23.6% of automaker BMW; his sister, Susanne Klatten, the richest woman in Germany, owns 19.1%. The son of a pharmaceuticals distributor, Dilip Shanghvi borrowed $200 from his father to start Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in 1983 to make psychiatric drugs. Susanne Klatten owns about 19% of automaker BMW; her brother, Stefan Quandt, owns nearly 24%. Thomas Frist Jr., a former Air Force flight surgeon, founded Hospital Corp. of America with his father in 1968.
- Blavatnik was born in Ukraine, emigrated to the United States, and got an MBA from Harvard University before making his investments in the Soviet Union’s natural resource industries.
- Mukesh Ambani heads Reliance Industries, India’s giant oil and gas company that was started as a small enterprise by his father.
- The first Uniqlo store opened in 1984, and now there are more than 2,000 stores in some 20 countries.
- Heir to the Aldi retail fortune, Beate Heister, is the daughter of Karl Albrecht Sr., who died in 2014 at age 94.
The video conferencing app’s value soared as employees around the world began working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among private philanthropies run by wealthy people, his Li Ka-Shing Foundation is second in size only to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. French luxury brand Chanel is owned by Alain Wertheimer, who serves as its chairman, and his younger brother Gerard. Their grandfather Pierre Wertheimer founded Les Parfums Chanel in 1924 with fragrance maker Coco Chanel.
The U.S. has a record 902 billionaires worth $6.8 trillion, followed by 516 in China worth $1.7 trillion and 205 in India worth $941 billion as of 2025. Other countries with significant numbers included Germany, Russia and Switzerland. The 500 richest people in the world, according to Bloomberg’s list, have all amassed at least $5.9 billion each or more. Who are the richest people in the world – TOP 100, Forbes list 2025 and Forbes rating 2025. In a notable shift, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has surpassed Oracle founder Larry Ellison to become the third-wealthiest individual globally.
Pang Kang chairs Foshan Haitian Flavoring & Food, one of China’s biggest suppliers of soy sauce.
Musk made headlines last year as the first individual in history to surpass a net worth of $400 billion, driven primarily by SpaceX’s staggering valuation of $350 billion. Since December 1, Musk’s wealth has increased by $91 billion, further solidifying SpaceX’s position as the most valuable private company globally. Giovanni Ferrero inherited his family’s confectionery business, launched by his grandfather in 1946. His grandfather had concocted a sweet with molasses, hazelnut oil, and cocoa that was less expensive than chocolate for customers in war-torn Italy. The company expanded into post-war Germany, where it made candy in former Nazi munitions factories.
He didn’t enjoy this job, so he quit and started his own business, Muyuan Foodstuff. This pig breeding business eventually grew into the business it is today, with revenues over $12 billion in 2021. The U.S. has the most billionaires in the world, with nearly one third of the 3,028 billionaires in the the world population, according to Forbes. In the category of wealthiest athlete, Michael Jordan and Vince McMahon have the highest net worth at over $3 billion each. The U.S. has the most billionaires with 902, followed by China and Hong Kong at 516. Indian tech magnate Azim Premji’s $11.3 billion (revenue) Wipro is among India’s largest software services providers.
Net Worth: $16.5 Billion Age: 71 Country/Territory: United Kingdom Industry: Manufacturing
- The company owns the brands Tic Tac, Kinder Joy, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and its classic Ferrero Rocher chocolates, for which it purchases roughly a third of the world’s hazelnut crop.
- The Boston-based company was founded by her grandfather, Edward Johnson II, in 1946.
- That mostly reflects a rebound in the stock price of used-car retailer Carvana, of which he is the dominant shareholder.
- Susanne Klatten owns about 19% of automaker BMW; her brother, Stefan Quandt, owns nearly 24%.
- Zhang Zhidong, also known as Tony Zhang, cofounded internet giant Tencent with fellow billionaire Pony Ma in 1998.
Lyndal Stephens Greth chaired Endeavor Energy Resources, a private oil exploration and production firm that was acquired by Diamondback Energy in 2024. Wang Chuanfu is the chairman and CEO of BYD and has led it to become one of the world’s largest EV companies. Leonid Mikhelson is the founder and chairman of natural gas producer Novatek.
Rodolphe Saadé is the son of late shipping magnate Jacques Saade, who died in 2018.
Giovanni Ferrero and his brother Pietro ran the company as co-chief executives for 14 years, but Pietro died in 2011 of a heart attack at age 47. The company owns the brands Tic Tac, Kinder Joy, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and its classic Ferrero Rocher chocolates, for which it purchases roughly a third of the world’s hazelnut crop. Japan’s Tadashi Yanai is chief executive, chairman, and the biggest shareholder of Fast Retailing, parent of the popular clothing company Uniqlo. The first Uniqlo store opened in 1984, and now there are more than 2,000 stores in some 20 countries.
In 1995, Adani began operating Gujarat’s Mundra Port—India’s highest-volume commercial port. Adani now owns the nation’s biggest private port operator, its largest private producer of thermal power, and its second-largest cement manufacturer. Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle Software in 1977 and today has extensive real estate holdings, including a Hawaiian island and dozens of properties in Malibu and Lake Tahoe. Larry Page started Google with Sergey Brin, whom he met as a graduate student in computer science at Stanford University. Page is no longer chief executive of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, but, like Brin, remains a significant shareholder. He has invested in space exploration and the development of flying electric taxis, and he is a supporter of clean energy, powering his home with fuel cells and geothermal energy.
Entrepreneur He Xiangjian built Midea Group into one of the world’s largest appliance makers. Reinhold Wuerth entered his father’s wholesale screw business in 1949, at age 14, as the company’s second employee and first apprentice. Together Jude Reyes and his brother Chris run Reyes Holdings, a $40 billion (sales) food and beverage distribution company. Chris top 100 richest person in world Reyes, along with his brother Jude, co-chairs Reyes Holdings, a food and beverage distribution company with over $40 billion in revenues and nearly 30,000 employees. Andrew Beal is the founder and owner of Beal Financial Corporation, which owns Beal Bank and has assets of more than $20 billion.
Net Worth: $12.4 Billion Age: 75 Country/Territory: United States Industry: Finance & Investments
That mostly reflects a rebound in the stock price of used-car retailer Carvana, of which he is the dominant shareholder. His son, Carvana CEO Ernest Garcia III, vaulted to third place from ninth last year, with a near-doubling in personal wealth to $5.7 billion from $2.4 billion in 2024. France’s Bernard Arnault is chief executive and chairman of the luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. A college dropout, Gautami Adani has been compared to business magnates from the Gilded Age of the U.S. like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. After getting his start in diamond trading, in 1988 Adani set up a commodity trading business that would eventually become Adani Enterprises Limited, or AEL.
Net Worth: $15.9 Billion Age: 76 Country/Territory: Germany Industry: Fashion & Retail
In 2017 he co-founded Schmidt Futures to support scientific and technological innovation. In August 2020, Schmidt started a podcast series, “Reimagine with Eric Schmidt,” to look at challenges for business, government, science, and technology in the wake of the global pandemic. Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, launched a science charity called Schmidt Sciences in 2024. Larry Ellison is chairman, chief technology officer and cofounder of software giant Oracle, of which he owns roughly 40%. Jim Walton, the youngest son of Walmart’s founder, is chief executive and chairman of Arvest Bank Group, an Arkansas bank controlled by the Walton family. Jim Walton holds 44% of the bank, which has branches in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
Wang Liping is the chairman of Shanghai-listed Jiangsu Hengli Hydraulic, which makes oil cylinders, hydraulic valves and hydraulic castings. Qi Shi is the chairman of Shenzhen-listed East Money Information, which operates one of the country’s most popular financial and stock information websites. Kwong Siu-hing is the widow of Sun Hung Kai Properties cofounder Kwok Tak-seng, who died in 1990. Ann Walton-Kroenke is the daughter of Bud Walton, who helped his brother, Sam, build Walmart into a retail giant. Li Xiting is cofounder and chairman of Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics, a supplier of medical devices.
Steve Cohen, an American hedge fund manager and investor, founded the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors in 1992. SAC was successful in large part because its strategy was to pursue a high volume of aggressive trades. However, in 2014, SAC Capital pled guilty to the charge of insider trading.