Bill Gates remains atop the list of the world's richest individuals with a personal fortune of $86 billion, following the unveiling of Forbes 31st annual rankings of the globe's billionaires. Joining Gates in the top three is investor/philanthropist Warren Buffet, with a net worth of $75.6 billion and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the biggest gainer on the list, with a net worth of $72.8 billion.
President Donald Trump comes in on the list at No. 544, with a net worth of $3.5 billion. This is a slight drop from the 2016 list where Trump's fortune was listed at $3.7 billion.
Eight of the top 10 on the list hail from the United States.
“Booming stock markets, higher commodities prices and plain old-fashioned entrepreneurship helped make this a record year in terms of wealth creation around the globe,” said Luisa Kroll and Kerry Dolan, Assistant Managing Editors of Wealth at Forbes Media, said in a press release announcing the list.
Rounding out the top five are Spanish clothing retailer Amancio Ortega ($71.3 billion), and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($56 billion)
Among the other stats revealed on the list:
- 2,043 billionaires (up from 1,810 in 2016) made the list, with an average net worth of $3.75 billion.
- The change in the total number of billionaires – up 233 since last year – was the biggest increase in 31 years.
- The total combined net worth of this year’s billionaires was $7.67 trillion, up from $6.48 trillion last year.
- 1,371 members were self-made billionaires. 238 inherited their wealth; another 434 inherited at least a portion but are still growing it.
- Notable newcomers included Vietnam's first self-made woman billionaire, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, who took her budget airline, VietJet Air, public in February 2017. Also new to the list is Japan’s first self-made woman billionaire, Yoshiko Shinohara, who started a part-time staffing firm from her one-bedroom Tokyo apartment to help women get into the workforce. She debuts thanks to a 50% surge in the stock price of her company, Temp Holdings, in the past year.
- Other notable newcomers to the list include: Australian Manny Stul, whose toy company created the popular Shopkins collectibles; American Yvon Chouinard, the founder of outdoor gear maker Patagonia; and Juan Francisco Beckmann Vidal of Mexico, who is chairman of tequila maker Jose Cuervo.