Forbes business magazine published its annual list of the richest people on the planet. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the richest person in the world for the second consecutive year, after adding $3.2 billion to his personal fortune.
Magnates technology continued to dominate the ranking of billionaires, with Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin all appearing in the top 20 richest.
With the technology boom in Silicon Valley, Forbes notes that California now has 131 billionaires, “more than any other country except China and the United States.”
Top 20 richest men and women in the world in 2015
20. Sergey Brin
Fortune: $29.2 billion
Sergey Brin emigrated to the United States from Moscow with his family when he was six years old. He founded Google with Larry Page in 1998 when they were both students preparing their Ph.D. in computer science at Stanford University.
19. Larry Page
Fortune: $29.7 billion
Larry Page is the co-founder and current CEO of Google, one of the most influential companies in the world.
18. Sheldon Adelson
Fortune: $31.4 billion
Sheldon Adelson, the son of a taxi driver in the suburbs of Boston, USA. From a young age, he started several companies knowing that he had not attended college. In 1979, he started COMDEX (COMDEX), which was one of the largest IT exhibitions in the world.
Now Adelson runs Las Vegas Sands, the largest company of casinos in the world.
17. Li Ka-Shing
Fortune: $33.3 billion
The richest man in Asia, Ka-Shing serves as chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate with interests in shipping and construction. He holds a substantial portfolio.
16. Mark Zuckerberg
Fortune: $33.4 billion
Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and CEO of Facebook. The social network was created in 2004 with Harvard University fellow students.
15. Jeff Bezos
Fortune: $34.8 billion
Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon.com e-commerce giant. He studied electrical engineering and computer programming at Princeton University, then worked in several financial firms on Wall Street before founding Amazon in 1994, in Seattle.
14. Michael Bloomberg
Fortune: $35.5 billion
Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York, is the founder, CEO, and main owner of Bloomberg LP. A company related to the economy and financial information. It has 88% of the company he founded in 1981, which in 2014 had revenues of $9 billion.
13. Bernard Arnault
Fortune: $37.2 billion
Bernard Arnault owns the luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), the world’s largest luxury goods manufacturer. He debuted in the luxury industry in 1984 when he paid $15 million to buy a company that included Christian Dior (his family owned a successful construction company at the time).
The tycoon oversees an empire of 60 brands, including Dom Perignon, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Sephora – all belonging to the LVMH group, where he was CEO since 1989.
12. Samuel Robson Walton
Fortune: $39.1 billion
Robson “Rob” Walton is the eldest son of the founder of Wal-Mart Sam Walton, and chairman of the board of giant distribution since 1992.
Wal-Mart has become the largest retailer in the world with 11,000 stores and $473 billion in revenue in 2014.
11. Alice Walton
Fortune: $39.4 billion
Alice Walton is the daughter of the founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton, who created the company specialized in retail in 1962.
10. Liliane Bettencourt
Fortune: $40.1 billion
Liliane Bettencourt is the heiress to the L’Oreal fortune. His father, Eugène Schueller, founded L’Oréal, a French cosmetics industry group in 1909.
9. Jim Walton
Fortune: $40.6 billion
Jim Walton, a member of the board of Wal-Mart, is the youngest child of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart.
Apart from Wal-Mart, Jim Walton is the president and CEO of Arvest Bank, a bank founded by the Walton family.
8. Christy R. Walton
Fortune: $41.7 billion
Christy Walton inherited the fortune of her husband John T. Walton when he died in a plane crash in 2005. The father of John Walton was Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart.
7. David Koch
Fortune: $42.9 billion
David Koch (with his brother Charles) is co-owner and executive vice president of Koch Industries, one of the largest private companies in the world.
Koch Industries has interests in pipelines, refineries, building materials, paper towels, livestock, and finance. With annual revenues estimated at $ 115 billion in 2013.
6. Charles Koch
Fortune: $42.9 billion
Charles Koch is a co-owner and executive vice president of Koch Industries with his brother David Koch.
5. Larry Ellison
Fortune: $54.3 billion
Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, not even having attended university, and who has never met his biological father.
He grew up in a middle-class home in Chicago. After the database built for the CIA, Ellison founded Oracle database software company in 1977.
4. Amancio Ortega Gaona
Fortune: $64.5 billion
Amancio Ortega, son of a Spanish railway worker and is now the richest retailer in the world. He created Zara in 1975 with his wife, Rosalia Mera.
3. Warren Buffett
Fortune: $72.7 billion
Warren Buffett is the CEO and the largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate and a US investment company.
2. Carlos Slim Helu
Fortune: $77.1 billion
Carlos Slim Helu is a Mexican businessman of Lebanese origin. He became a billionaire after the economic crash 1982 when he bought a cheap investment that would later be invaluable.
1. Bill Gates
Fortune: $ 79.2 billion
Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft; he left Harvard University after the creation of the company in 1975 with his friend Paul Allen.
