The world’s richest people 2015
Rank: #1
Net Worth: $79.2 billion (+ $3.2 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: Untied States
Net Worth: $79.2 billion (+ $3.2 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: Untied States
Bill Gates is once again the richest person on the planet, a title he's held for 16 out of the last 21 years. He recaptured the top spot in March 2014 after a four-year run by Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu as No. 1. Early on, the stellar performance of Microsoft, which he cofounded in 1975, boosted his net worth, but he's been steadily selling his shares in the software company for at least 15 years. He unloaded one third of his remaining stake over the 12 months through February 2015. That included a gift of shares worth $1.5 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in November 2014, which brought his lifetime giving up to $30.7 billion. Gates, who spends most of his time focused on philanthropy, laid out some decisive goals for the foundation in his annual January letter. While continuing to work on improving U.S. education and global health, the foundation is also committed to getting Africa to feed itself and wants to help spread mobile banking, which it believes can help transform the lives of the poor.
Carlos Slim Helu & family
Rank: 2
Net worth: $77.1 billion (+$5.1 b vs. 2014)
Citizenship: Mexico
Rank: 2
Net worth: $77.1 billion (+$5.1 b vs. 2014)
Citizenship: Mexico
Carlos Slim Helu remains the world's number two richest person despite changes in the Mexican telecom landscape, where he has prospered greatly over the past two decades. A new anti-monopoly law is driving some of the shifts In June 2014, he spent $5.6 billion to buy out AT&T's 8.3% stake in pan-Latin American wireless carrier America Movil -- by far Slim's most valuable asset. He and his children own a majority of the company. AT&T then became an America Movil competitor in Mexico, when it purchased wireless carrier Grupo Iusacell from Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego in January 2015. Outside of telecom, Slim took private his listed real estate company, Innmeubles Carso, paying minority shareholders $450 million in December 2014. A month later, he became the largest shareholder of The New York Times, with a nearly 17% stake, by exercising warrants to buy more shares. Slim also holds a controlling interest in industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso, financial venture Grupo Financiero Inbursa and infrastructure development and operating company Ideal.
Warren Buffett
Rank: 3
Net worth: $72.7 billion ( +$14.5 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 3
Net worth: $72.7 billion ( +$14.5 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Warren Buffett is wealthier than ever thanks to the stellar performance of his diversified holding company, Berkshire Hathaway. Its coveted Class A stock, which is the most expensive of any public U.S. company's, eclipsed $200,000 per share for the first time in August 2014. Buffett moved to No. 3 on FORBES' 2015 list of the world's richest, up from the fourth position in 2014. With dozens of subsidiaries, including in railroads, insurance and energy, Berkshire Hathaway posted $182 billion in 2013 revenue and $19.5 billion in net income. Still inking big deals, Berkshire Hathaway bought battery maker Duracell from Procter & Gamble in November 2014 for $4.7 billion. A generous philanthropist, Buffett bested his own giving record in July 2014, giving away Berkshire shares worth $2.8 billion, primarily to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation but also to his children's foundations, bringing his lifetime giving to nearly $23 billion. Buffett says his best investment ever was buying Benjamin Graham's book The Intelligent Investor in 1949. He later studied under Graham before moving home to Nebraska and acquiring a struggling textiles company in 1962, Berkshire Hathaway. In early February 2015, it was the fourth most valuable public company in the U.S., with a market capitalization of $355 billion.
Amancio Ortega
Rank: 4
Net worth: $64.5 billion (+$500 million vs. 2014)
Citizenship: Spain
Rank: 4
Net worth: $64.5 billion (+$500 million vs. 2014)
Citizenship: Spain
Spaniard Amancio Ortega grew up the son of a railway worker and is now the world's richest retailer. He cofounded Zara in 1975 with lingerie and bathrobes he and his former wife Rosalia Mera made in their living room. By the mid-1980s, he had taken Zara all over Spain and was ready to expand overseas. As his empire grew, Ortega caught the retail establishment by surprise, limiting advertising, expanding aggressively and controlling much of his own supply chain. Louis Vuitton fashion director Daniel Piette once called Inditex "possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world." Ortega powered through the Spanish financial crisis, personally gaining $45 billion from 2009 to 2014 as his shares of Inditex defied the rest of the Spanish stock market. In the last decade he has taken billions in Inditex dividends and reinvested the money into real estate in marquee cities, including Madrid, Barcelona, London, Chicago, Miami and New York.
Larry Ellison
Rank: 5
Net worth: $54.3 billion (+$6.3 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 5
Net worth: $54.3 billion (+$6.3 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Larry Ellison is arguably the first Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur to live large and fast. He never met his biological father and was raised in a middle-class Chicago home by his great aunt. After building databases for the CIA, Ellison founded database software firm Oracle in 1977 and has overseen its tremendous growth--revenues in fiscal 2014 grew to $38.3 billion. In September 2014, Ellison shocked the business world by announcing plans to step down as CEO; he is staying on as Oracle's chairman and chief technology officer. A sailing fanatic, he's the main backer of America's Cup winner Oracle Team USA. Ellison has continued to gobble up properties on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which he bought for a reported $300 million in 2012, and is said to own every hotel room on the island. His daughter Megan Ellison has found success as a film producer; her Annapurna Pictures produced hits like Zero Dark Thirty and American Hustle.
Charles Koch
Rank: 6
Net worth: $42.9 billion (+$2.9 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: Unites States
Rank: 6
Net worth: $42.9 billion (+$2.9 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: Unites States
Charles and David Koch's spheres of influence span business, philanthropy and politics. The lightning-rod capitalist brothers continue to add to their empire, plunking down more than $5 billion on acquisitions in 2014. Charles has been chair of Koch Industries since 1967, overseeing massive growth of what is now the second-biggest private company in America, behind commodities giant Cargill. Their reach extends from oil pipelines, refineries and manufacturers of building materials to paper towels and even Dixie Cups. They were relative pikers in the 2014 midterm elections, spending about $2.5 million each on Republican races, but the Washington Post reported that they have exhorted their conservative compatriots to raise almost $1 billion for the 2016 presidential election. The Kochs are also active philanthropists. In mid-2014, a $25 million gift from Koch Industries and the Charles Koch Foundation to the United Negro College Fund sparked discussion across the political spectrum.
David Koch
Rank: 6
Net worth: $42.9 billion (+$2.9 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 6
Net worth: $42.9 billion (+$2.9 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: United States
New York City's richest resident David Koch shares control of $115 billion (sales) Koch Industries with his older brother Charles. America's second largest private company, Koch Industries has interests in oil pipelines, refineries, building materials, paper towels and Dixie cups, and made more than $5 billion in acquisitions in 2014 including inkmaker Flint Group for a reported $3 billion and PetroLogistics for $2.1 billion. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York dedicated the David H. Koch Plaza in September 2014, part of a $65 million renovation he funded. Koch Industries poured more than $3 million into the 2014 midterm elections. Audio recordings leaked from not-so-secret Koch-organized meetings in June 2014 revealed Republicans including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) laying out their strategy for thwarting Obama's legislative agenda if the Republicans gained control of the Senate in 2014, which did indeed happen. The Kochs are also active philanthropists. In mid-2014, a $25 million gift from Koch Industries and the Charles Koch Foundation to the United Negro College Fund sparked discussion on the left and right.
Christy Walton & family
Rank: 8
Net worth: $41.7 billion (+$5 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 8
Net worth: $41.7 billion (+$5 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Christy Walton is the wealthiest woman the world, a title she has held for five out of the past six years. She married into what became the richest family in the world--the Waltons--and inherited her wealth when her husband John Walton, a former Green Beret and Vietnam war medic, died in an airplane crash in 2005. She is the wealthiest of the Waltons thanks to an investment John made in solar-panel maker First Solar. The bulk of her holdings are in Wal-Mart, the huge retailer founded by her father-in-law Sam Walton and his brother James in 1962. Christy received $470 million in Wal-Mart dividends after taxes in 2014. She leads a very private life in Jackson, Wyoming, but in 2013 had a rare bit of publicity when she was given an award by the Imagen Foundation for producing the film Bless Me, Ultima, based on the book by Rudolfo Anaya, who is considered the father of Chicano literature. Her son successfully battled cancer when he was just 3 years old and she herself fought a case of pneumonia that nearly killed her, according to the Imagen Foundation.
Jim Walton
Rank: 9
Net worth: $40.6 billion (+$5.9 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 9
Net worth: $40.6 billion (+$5.9 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Jim Walton, a board member of Wal-Mart, is the youngest child of the superstore's legendary founder Sam Walton. The company generated $473 billion in 2014 revenues from with more than 11,000 stores in 27 countries. In February 2015, Wal-Mart announced it would raise its wages in the U.S. to at least $9 an hour in 2015 and at least $10 an hour in 2016. Labor advocates had called for a jump to $15 an hour. Outside of Wal-Mart, Jim Walton is chairman and CEO of the family-founded Arvest Bank, which has branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. The bank has assets of nearly $15 billion and had net profits of nearly $130 million in 2013.
Liliane Bettencourt & family
Rank: 10
Net worth: $40.1 billion (+$5.6 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: France
Rank: 10
Net worth: $40.1 billion (+$5.6 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: France
L'Oreal grand dame Liliane Bettencourt grew even richer in 2014 thanks to a deal in which she purchased an additional 8% stake in the cosmetics empire from Nestlé, raising her and her family's chunk of L'Oreal stock to 33%. Her father, Eugene Schueller, founded L'Oreal in 1907. Bettencourt has not been involved in running the company for several years; a legal battle with her daughter Françoise Bettencourt Meyers ended in 2011 with Liliane declared unfit to manage her affairs. The elderly widow, who suffers from dementia, was replaced on the company's board by her 25-year-old grandson Jean-Victor Meyers in 2012. A trial of ten people who allegedly stole hundreds of millions of euros from Bettencourt began in January 2015. She remains the richest woman in Europe.
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