Tech Billionaires are positioned on the top of the list of the richest people of the world, their worth combined is far ahead of best performing industries, retail, fashion, investment or finance. Technology is the industry with the second largest number of billionaires in the world after Finance and Investments.
Forbes discovered that there are 365 billionaires with their fortune in technology. It is a fast growing industry especially after the arrival of Coronavirus in the world. The time is not much far when it will be the industry with the largest number of billionaires in the world. Here are the top 10 tech Billionaires according to Forbes.
1. ELON MUSK
Country: South Africa
Net Worth: $306.5 billion
The biggest source of income for this billionaires is Tesla, now a self driving project. Musk became the biggest funder in Tesla in 2004 which helped him to become the co-founder and now the CEO of the firm. His other projects include PayPal, an online payment method and nowadays popular SpaceX which is working on making space explorations affordable and also will help to provide high-speed internet.
2. JEFF BEZOS
Country: USA
Net Worth: $192.9 Billion
He is the founder of Amazon which is the world’s largest retailer and along with that own other projects like Blue Origin and the Washington Post which he bought in 2013.
Amazon is the “Earth’s most customer-centric company”. It’s share prices were on fleek especially during the lockdown period as online shopping gained importance. But on July 5, 2021 Bezos stepped down from the CEO post of the company and became the Executive.
3. BERNARD ARNAULT& FAMILY
Country: France
Net Worth: 191.3 billion
He is the chief executive and chairman of the world’s largest luxury good company, Louis Vuitton SE. In January 2021 LVMH acquired American jeweler Tiffany &Co for $15.8 billion which is the biggest luxury brand acquisition ever. In 2019 the brand spent $3.2 billion for luxury hospitality group, Belmond, which owns or manages 46 hotels, trains and river cruises.
4. BILL GATES
Country: USA
Net Worth: $138 billion
The first person in the world to cross $100 billion in Forbes magazine was Bill Gates. He is the co- founder of Microsoft, the largest software company in the world. William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation owned by Gates were merged to form the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in which he spent billions to fight polio and malaria. Along with this, he spent $50 million in 2014 to help fight Ebola.As of 2021, the foundation has pledged more than $1.8 billion to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. LARRY ELLISON
Country: USA
Net Worth: $130.8 billion
Ellison is a leading figure in software development. He founded software development laboratories in 1977 which in turn after 2 year found Oracle, the first commercial relational database program to utilize Structured Query Language. Oracle is recognized as the second-largest software company in the world and provides a vast variety of cloud computing programs as well as other software, such as Java and Linux, and the Oracle Exadata computing platform.
6. LARRY PAGE
Country: USA
Net Worth: $124.2 billion
The largest internet search engine of the world, Google was founded by him and his Friend Sergey Brin. He was also the CEO of Google till 2001. Google expanded by acquiring YouTube and also the Andriod operating system. Along with this, he is also a founding investor of a space exploration and asteroid mining company named Planetary Resources.
7. SERGEY BRIN
Country: USA
Net Worth: $119.7 billion
The friends stayed together and got rich together. He was the co-founder of Google and served as the co-president with Page till 2001. He was also the founder of Alphabet, the parent company if Google. Brin acted as the holding company’s president till 2019 when Sundar Pichai took over as CEO.
8. MARK ZUCKERBERG
Country: USA
Net Worth: $117.4 billion
Everyone knows Facebook, Instagram and whatsapp, our entertainment and communication sources are the sources of income for Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook is the world largest social networking website enabling users to connect with others, make a profile and lighten their mood. During lockdown these social media websites became centre of information and entertainment for all.
Zuckerberg with his wife started the Chan Zuckerberg initiative in 2015 which seeks to leverage technology to fix societal ills like improving education, racial equity and many more.
9. STEVE BALLMER
Country: USA
Net Worth: $105 billion
Ballmer served as the CEO of Microsoft, the world’s largest software development company till 2014. He is a shareholder I’m Redmond, company setup in Washington which makes the Windows operating system, the Xbox game console and Surface tablet computers. Ballmer is also the owner of L.A. Clippers basketball team. His investments in all these are what led him to such heights. He also set up a philanthropic organization with his wife which gave about $54 million for Coronavirus relief projects.
10. WARREN BUFFETT
Country: USA
Net Worth: 104.7 billion
The chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett us popularly known as “Oracle of Omaha”. Berkshire Hathaway owns more than 60 companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen making him one of the most successful investors of the world. Along with this, he is great by heart. He has donated more than 99% of his wealth. In 2010, he and Bill Gates launched campaign Giving Pledge motivating billionaires to donate at least half of their wealth to charitable institutions.
As we can see, most billionaires are USA-based which is also one reason of US hegemony in the world but this does not mean other countries should get their morale down. Mostly other countries are still growing and will prove a lot better in the coming years. Talking about billionaires, they, in most cases started with nothing but just great ideas and the dedication to achieve.
