Billionaires play an outsized role in shaping the global economy, politics, and philanthropy. Forbes puts the number of billionaires in the world at 2,668 in 2022. The wealthiest among them is (LVMH) co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Bernard Arnault, who became the richest man in the world in 2022.12
The individuals on this list belong to an even more exclusive club and wield still more power. Many are founders of technology giants, with much of their wealth still invested in the companies they started.3
These billionaires can, however, still borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stock, deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains in the process. Multi-billionaires can also take advantage of a panoply of tax deductions to offset reported income, leaving some on this list paying no income tax in recent years.45
With so much of their wealth in publicly traded stocks, the net worth of the richest can fluctuate with market valuations. For example, Musk saw his net worth surge in 2021 thanks to the increase in the share price of Tesla. Tesla shares rose nearly 50% in 2021. And like a pendulum, his net worth dropped in 2022 due to falling share prices in Tesla, of which he owns 15%. Musk also had to sell many of his shares in Tesla to fund his acquisition of Twitter. As a result, in December 2022, he became the second-richest person in the world, behind Bernard Arnault
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