American business magazine Forbes has released the 37th edition of its annual billionaires ranking, positioning French business magnate Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault at the top, with a stunning net worth of $211 billion. Arnault, the founder and CEO of the world's largest brand of luxury goods - ‘LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’ is the only billionaire in the list to have a net worth of over $200 billion.
Trailing not too far behind, the second position is held by Tesla CEO Elon Musk with a substantial net worth of $180 billion. Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani also features among the top 10 billionaires, with a net worth of $83.4 billion at the 9th spot.
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The Forbes list reveals that nearly half of all billionaires are poorer than they were a year ago. Falling stocks, wounded unicorns and rising interest rates were cited as some of the reasons for this. Globally, the list comprises 2,640 ten-figure fortunes, down from 2,668 in 2022.
Amazon's Jeff Bezoz, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates are also in the top 10 list.
World's top 10 billionaires' in 2023 list:
{{/usCountry}}Amazon's Jeff Bezoz, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates are also in the top 10 list.
World's top 10 billionaires' in 2023 list:
{{/usCountry}}| Rank | Wealth | Name |
| 1 | $211 billion | Bernard Arnault |
| 2 | $180 billion | Elon Musk |
| 3 | $114 billion | Jeff Bezos |
| 4 | $107 billion | Larry Ellison |
| 5 | $106 billion | Warren Buffett |
| 6 | $104 billion | Bill Gates |
| 7 | $94.5 billion | Michael Bloomberg |
| 8 | $93 billion | Carlos Slim Helu & Family |
| 9 | $83.4 billion | Mukesh Ambani |
| 10 | $80.7 billion | Steve Ballmer |
Arnault oversees the LVMH empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. The 74-year-old featured at the third spot in 2022, with $158 billion net worth.
Musk topped the list for the first time in 2022 but stood at the second spot this year, following his acquisition of Twitter in October last year, which helped sink Tesla shares. Musk owns an estimated 74% of the company, now branded as X.
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company, stood at the third spot this year, followed by Larry Ellison, the most successful investors of all time Warren Buffett, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, co founder of media company Bloomberg LP - Michael Bloomberg among others.
Ambani, the founder and chairman of Reliance Industries, is the only Indian in the top ten list. Reliance, which has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom and retail, was founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani, a yarn trader, in 1966.