5. Mark Zuckerberg: 98.9 billions of dollars
Mark Zuckerberg is the only 30-something in this ranking. He is also the first billionaire born of new technologies, but certainly not the last. Mark Zuckerberg is of course the co-founder in 2204 of Facebook, the most used social network in the world.
Very young, Mark Zuckerberg is a brilliant student. To join Harvard, he achieved a score of 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT test. It was with his classmates that he one day decided to create what would later look like Facebook. The success is immediate. Most college students log on to it. Soon, the network will be extended to secondary schools and then to the general public.
But Facebook is quickly sued. Notably by the Winklevoss brothers, who had launched another social network a few months earlier: the Harvardconnection. Especially since they had associated Mark Zuckerberg with their project in 2003. As a computer scientist by training, he was supposed to finish the source code of the site and get it operational. But, for him, the site did not go far enough. He therefore decides in parallel to develop The Facebook. After some procedural flaws, a friendly settlement was reached in 2008. Facebook pays Mark Zuckerberg's ex-classmates over $ 65 million. In 2017, the two Winklevoos twin brothers were the first Bitcoin billionaires.
Mark Zucherberg, for his part, continues his dizzying ascent. In 2010, he was the most influential person in the world according to Time magazine. Facebook went public in 2012. After a rocky start, Mark Zuckerberg is raising the bar, with the stock worth double its initial value.
A year earlier, Facebook bought Instagram. His appetite is now limitless: Facebook bought WhatsApp and its billion users in 2014, when the social network had already launched Facebook Messenger. Exchanges of messages, photos and full social network, Facebook dominates the market head and shoulders. And even allows itself to steal most of the functions of one of its latest competitors: Snapchat, obviously not far enough to protect its assets.
Two big caveats to this unprecedented economic rise. First, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a company to which Facebook sold its users' data. Then, fake news: Facebook is regularly the subject of political, economic, cultural and social debates. Due to its enormous influence, the social network is a central piece in the information mechanism. Its responsibility is engaged: between letting any information circulate or preventing its propagation. This is the whole point of the debate. A problem that was encountered in particular during the American elections in 2016, then those of 2020. Facebook has taken many measures against fake news, in particular against Donald Trump.
4. Bill Gates: 124.3 billions of dollars
At its peak, the fortune of the boss of Microsoft reached $ 101 billion, or 147 billion today. That was in 1999. But since then Microsoft has seen competitors come along, and the businessman has slowly turned into a patron.
In 2006, he decided to devote 95% of his fortune to a foundation that bears his name. Education, health, man is a philanthropist. But this donation is also a way of detaching oneself from the influence of the States since this money is tax-exempt. Bill Gates wants to be able to act alone, without state pressure. His foundation now has more budget than the World Health Organization.
But how does he manage to remain one of the richest men in the world? The native of Seattle, passed through Harvard, too, is simply smarter than the others. In 1990, alongside Microsoft, Bill Gates created a holding company in order to invest and insure his back. Little known to the general public, it remains very profitable, while the founder of Microsoft now only holds 1.3% of his company's shares. Cascade Investment has been in the business of reinvesting Microsoft's cash since 1995.
At its peak, the fortune of the boss of Microsoft reached $ 101 billion, or 147 billion today. That was in 1999. But since then Microsoft has seen competitors come along, and the businessman has slowly turned into a boss.
In 2006, he decided to devote 95% of his fortune to a foundation that bears his name. Education, health, man is a philanthropist. But this donation is also a way of detaching oneself from the influence of the States since this money is tax-exempt. Bill Gates wants to be able to act alone, without state pressure. His foundation now has more budget than the World Health Organization.
But how does he manage to remain one of the richest men in the world? The native of Seattle, passed through Harvard, too, is simply smarter than the others. In 1990, alongside Microsoft, Bill Gates created a holding company in order to invest and insure his back. Little known to the general public, it remains very profitable, while the founder of Microsoft now only holds 1.3% of his company's shares. Cascade Investment has been in the business of reinvesting Microsoft's cash since 1995.
3. Bernard Arnault: 155,1 billions of dollars
Bernard Arnault is the richest European in the world. Born in Roubaix, France in 1949, he is the owner of the luxury group LVMH. This brand merges the two groups Moët Hennessy (Champagnes Moët & Chandon, Ruinart, Mercier, Canard-Duchêne and cognac Hennessy) and Louis Vuitton (Louis Vuitton, Givenvhy, Champagne Veuve Clicquot) which it acquired in 1987 following the crash of 'October.
Three years earlier, the man who had taken over the family business from his father bought the Christian Dior brand. The operation is valued at 90 million French francs or 14 million euros, or the entire family fortune at the time.
Little by little, the LVMH group has become the leading luxury group in the world. Bernard Arnault, who makes acquisition after acquisition, multiplies the value of the group by 15, while turnover has increased by 500%. He owes his success to his way of managing the multinational: he leaves a great deal of decision-making power to the brands of the group which are often considered as houses with a family history. Then, the strongest brands of the group make it possible to finance those which are emerging or growing. This solidarity between brands allows for a harmonious whole.
The 90s and 2000s will take the same path: Arnault acquires, through his group, the clothing brands Kenzo and Berluti, but also the dailies La Tribune, then later the group Les Echos or Le Parisien. We can also mention some great wines (Cheval Blanc, Clos des Lambrays…) or the Gerlain perfume and Bvlgari jewelry. Bernard Arnault is not just a billionaire. He is considered one of the best business leaders in the world. It is also regularly listed in the Harvard Business Review.
However, several controversies litter his career. First when he applied for Belgian nationality in 2012. The newspaper Liberation does not hesitate to headline in "one": "Casse-toi rich con! "In reference to" Casse-toi poor con "by Nicolas Sarkozy. Looking back, it turns out that this request had nothing to do with any way of limiting inheritance taxes, which are slightly lower in Belgium. No, it is more a question of avoiding the dislocation of the group in the event of death. In 2013, almost all of the group's assets were transferred to Belgium under the “Protectinvest” foundation. The daily Liberation is punished: no more advertising of the group will appear until the end of the year: the loss is estimated at 150,000 euros.
Later in 2017, the Paradise Papers disclosure revealed that Bernard Arnault had placed assets (two yachts, a 4,300 square meter house, and investment funds) in six tax havens. A desire to optimize taxation as much as possible, "to the frontiers of legality," writes the Journal Le Monde. There again, the newspaper would have been punished to the tune of 600,000 euros, reveals the "Chained Duck", which was subsequently denied by the LVMH group. If you go looking for trouble you'll find it.
2. Elon Musk : 177,2 billions of dollars
Boosted by an exceptional 2020, Elon Musk sees his fortune continue to swell week after week. The owner of Tesla and SpaceX is now just a stone's throw from Jeff Bezos, whom he has already passed based on the ups and downs of his businesses.
Already asked about the unstoppable expansion of his fortune, Musk has repeatedly indicated that he attaches little importance to material things. Apart from his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX, he owns very few other assets. Its main objective is to bring human civilization to Mars and establish a city there. And "that involves a lot of money," he explains.
Sales of the Tesla group, however, remain far from traditional manufacturers: the manufacturer of electric cars only sold 499,550 cars in 2020, far from Volkswagen, for example, and its 11 million vehicles sold in 2019.
But Tesla is benefiting from the investor enthusiasm for electric vehicles and the fact that it has managed to make money for five consecutive quarters, which allowed it to enter the prestigious S&P 500 index last December.
1. Jeff Bezos: 190,8 billions of dollars
Very young, Jeff Bezos and his mother are abandoned by his father. She then married a certain Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who gave his name to Jeff. Graduating in 1986 from the prestigious Princeton University, he gradually took an interest in what has obsessed him for years: "I have learned that web use is increasing by 2,300% per year. I had never seen or heard of something with such rapid growth, and the idea of creating an online bookstore with millions of titles - something purely inconceivable in the physical world - really excited me ”, he tells Business Insider.
Amazon was born, named after the largest river on the planet. It's 1994. Amazon is now the world's largest online retailer, with annual sales of $ 74.4 billion (2013 figures). His group also owns companies like IMDb, Alexa Internet, and the Washington Post.
It's not the crazy love between him and Donald Trump. The president accuses him of not promoting employment in the United States and even destroying it. Donald Trump has threatened Amazon with an antitrust investigation in an attempt to intimidate Bezos and change the editorial line of the Washington Post, which is not really favorable to the American president. Between the two men, war is declared.
Jeff Bezos like Larry
Ellison or Elon Musk subscribes to transhumanism and is part of the libertarian
current. Man is obsessed with the long term. He has invested $ 42 million in a
mechanical clock that will give exact time for the next ten thousand years. He
also founded the Blue Origin company in 2000, the goal of which is to send
tourists into space.
SAISI
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