Bloomberg Billionaires Index
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| List of The World's Top 500 billionaires, ranked in order of net worth | |
 | |
| Publication details | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Bloomberg L.P. |
| First published | March 11, 2012 |
| Latest update | April 17, 2024 |
| Current list details | |
| Wealthiest | Bernard Arnault[1] |
| Net worth (1st) |  US$227.8 billion(as of April 2, 2024[update])[1] |
| Number of billionaires |  500 |
| Total list net worth value |  US$8.5 trillion(as of September 25, 2021[update])[2] |
| New members | 0 |
| Bloomberg Billionaires Index: The Daily Ranking Of The World's Top 500 Richest | |
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, launched in March 2012, is a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people based on their net worth.[3][4][5] It features a profile of each billionaire, and includes a tool that allows users to compare the fortunes of multiple billionaires. The index is updated every day at the close of trading in New York.[6]
Rankings[edit]
The rankings are updated only on every trading day after the closing bell of every trading day based on New York's time.
| Icon | Description |
|---|---|
| | Has not changed from the previous trading day. |
| | Has increased from the previous trading day. |
| | Has decreased from the previous trading day. |
| No. | Name | Net worth (USD) | Age | Nationality | Source(s) of wealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bernard Arnault | $227.8 billion | 75 |  France | LVMH |
| 2 | Jeff Bezos | $203.3 billion | 60 |  United States | Amazon Blue Origin |
| 3 | Elon Musk | $181.8 billion | 52 |  South Africa Canada United States | Tesla SpaceX |
| 4 | Mark Zuckerberg | $176.7 billion | 39 | United States | Meta Platforms |
| 5 | Bill Gates | $153.2 billion | 68 | United States | Microsoft |
| 6 | Steve Ballmer | $145.7 billion | 68 | United States | Microsoft |
| 7 | Larry Page | $139.4 billion | 51 | United States New Zealand | Alphabet Inc. |
| 8 | Warren Buffett | $138.1 billion | 93 | United States | Berkshire Hathaway |
| 9 | Larry Ellison | $137.3 billion | 79 | United States | Oracle Corporation |
| 10 | Sergey Brin | $132.4 billion | 50 | United States | Alphabet Inc. |
Launch and background[edit]
Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's billionaires published by Bloomberg News since March 2012. It tracks the 500 wealthiest people in the world.[4] The ranking was designed to provide a more transparent and accountable presentation of the world's biggest personal fortunes.[7] At first, the index only tracked the 20 richest people in the world, and then expanded to 100, 200, 400 and later 500 in October 2016.[8]
At its launch in 2012, Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim was in the top spot, with an estimated $65.8 billion net worth.[4] Beginning in May 2013, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was the world's top billionaire. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Spanish fashion retailer Amancio Ortega both saw a large increase in their respective net worths during 2016 and 2017 and challenged Gates for the number one spot. Bezos eventually surpassed him in 2018 and by 2021 was surpassed furthermore by Elon Musk, who was considered the richest person on Earth until mid-December 2022 when Tesla's share price fell and Bernard Arnault became the wealthiest person in the world. On May 31, 2023, Elon Musk once again became the wealthiest man on Earth as Tesla's share price rose, while the share price of LVMH, which influenced Bernard Arnault's wealth, fell due to a decline in LVMH's sales.[9]
The Index reports on hidden wealth and has uncovered more than 400 hidden billionaires since its founding.[10] Bloomberg Billionaires founding editor Matthew Miller said in 2013 that hidden billionaires are identified by "making sure that we have accounted for all the companies in closely-held assets around the world."[11] Some of the billionaires the index has uncovered includes JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon,[12] In-N-Out Burger president Lynsi Torres,[13] Ferrari Motors heir Piero Ferrari[14] and the chairman of BIEL Crystal Manufactory Yeung Kin-Man.[15]
While reporting on hidden billionaires, the index provides coverage of and attempts to put in perspective the wealth of the world's richest people, such as the late Queen Elizabeth II[16] and former U.S. President Donald Trump.[17]
Methodology[edit]
The index offers a dynamic look at the wealth controlled by the world's richest people while trying to offer a new perspective on how the media views and tracks the movement of that wealth.[4] The index "is built to change daily depending on stock fluctuations and economic/company news."[18]
To calculate individuals' wealth, the index relies on a mixture of public and private data, tracking stock prices and publicly disclosed holdings as well as calculated values for private companies using derived or reported information that is valued using live comparisons to public competitors.[5]
The valuations are converted to U.S. dollars at current exchange rates and do not include assumptions about personal debt.[5][18]
Journalists have noted that the detailed methodology used for the index is more transparent than the "somewhat vaguer" calculation behind other lists.[19] "The Bloomberg listers say their estimates may be more accurate than the competition's because they have better data and reporting (from Bloomberg terminals and its reporting staff)."[20]
Data visualization[edit]
The full index is available online on the Bloomberg Terminal for free.[21] There are tools to compare the fortunes of multiple billionaires, track the billionaires whose assets change the most, and analyze the one-year performance of individual billionaires or billionaires grouped by industry, region or nation.[22][23]
Each billionaire's profile includes explanations of asset valuations and more details about each fortune.[8]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Bernard Arnault". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ "World's Richest Face Tax Blow After 40% Wealth Surge to $8.5Trillion". Bloomberg. September 25, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Bloomberg. June 2, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Halzack, Sarah (March 5, 2012). "Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, a new daily list of the world's richest people". Washington Post. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ a b c Roose, Kevin (March 12, 2012). "The Billionaire List Wars". DealBook. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ "Bloomberg Greedy Demons of Earth – Compare Fortunes". Bloomberg. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ Guilford, Gwynn. "Forbes and Bloomberg share a fascination with billionaires, but don't agree on much beyond that". Quartz. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index expands to 500". Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ "Elon Musk Again World's Richest Person as Arnault's LVMH Sinks". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
- ^ Copeland, Libby; Copeland, Libby (April 26, 2017). "How ranking the world's wealthy became a business". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ "'Bloomberg Markets' Magazine Reveals Hidden Billionaires". NPR.org. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ "Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase, joins the billionaires' club". Star Tribune. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
- ^ "Lynsi Torres, In-N-Out Burger's Elusive Billionaire". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ "This Ferrari heir is about to become a billionaire". Business Insider. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index - Yeung Kin-Man". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ "How wealthy is the Queen? Not as rich as you think". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
- ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index - Donald Trump". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
- ^ a b "Bloomberg Has A New Billionaire Rankings List That Should Kill Every Other Billionaire Rankings Lists Out There". Business Insider. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
- ^ Guilford, Gwynn. "Forbes and Bloomberg share a fascination with billionaires, but don't agree on much beyond that". Quartz. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
- ^ Frank, Robert (March 5, 2012). "A Better Billionaire's List". WSJ. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
- ^ "On the Trail With Bloomberg's Billionaire Hunters - Digiday". Digiday. October 3, 2013. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
- ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index expands to 500". Retrieved August 15, 2017.
- ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index - Compare Returns". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
