The World’s Billionaires
The names, numbers and stories behind the 1,426 people who control the world economy.
In Pictures: The Richest People on the Planet
In Pictures: The World's Richest People
Resurgent asset prices are the driving force behind the rising wealth of the super-rich around the globe. While last year almost as many fortunes fell as rose, this year gainers outnumbered losers by 4-to-1. Many new names made the list thanks to free-spending consumers. To name a few: Diesel jeans mogul Renzo Rosso at $3 billion, retailer Bruce Nordstrom at $1.2 billion and designer Tory Burch at $1 billion.
Carlos Slim is once again the world’s richest person, followed by Bill Gates. Amancio Ortega of Spanish retailer Zara moves up to No. 3 for the first time. He is the year’s biggest gainer, adding $19.5 billion to his fortune in one year. He moves ahead of Warren Buffett, despite the fact that the U.S. investing legend added $9.5 billion to his fortune. This is the first year since 2000 that Buffett has not been among the top 3. The year’s biggest loser is Brazilian Eike Batista, whose fortune dropped by $19.4 billion, or equivalent to about $50 million a day. His rank falls from no. 7 to no. 100 in the world.
Methodology
This is our 27th year publishing the Forbes Billionaires list. Though we’ve been at it a long time, it is never an easy task. Our reporters dig deep and travel far. To compile net worths, we value individuals’ assets–including stakes in public and private companies, real estate, yachts, art and cash–and account for debt. We attempt to vet these numbers with all billionaires. Some cooperate; others don’t. We also consult an array of outside experts in various fields.
The Forbes Billionaires ranks individuals rather than large, multi-generational families who share large fortunes. So Maja Oeri, who has a disclosed stake in pharmaceutical firm Roche, makes the list, but her eight relatives who, with a nonprofit foundation, share a $16 billion fortune do not. In some cases we list siblings together if the ownership breakdown among them isn’t clear, but here, too, they must be worth a minimum of $2 billion together, or equivalent to $1 billion apiece, to make the cut. We split up these fortunes when we get better information, as we did with the Matte and Rausing families this year. Children are listed with their parents when one person is the founder and in control. Those fortunes are identified as “& family.”
We do not include royal family members or dictators who derive their fortunes entirely as a result of their position of power, nor do we include royalty who, often with large families, control the riches in trust for their nation. Over the years Forbes has valued the fortunes of these wealthy despots, dictators and royals but have listed them separately as they do not truly reflect individual, entrepreneurial wealth that could be passed down to a younger generation or truly given away.
Our estimates are a snapshot of wealth on Feb. 14, when we locked in stock prices and exchange rates from around the world. If a stock market wasn’t open on that day–as was the case with Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Shanghai and Shenzhen–the stock price is from the previous trading day.
WEALTH EDITORS: Luisa Kroll and Kerry A. Dolan
MANAGING EDITOR: Bruce Upbin
COUNTRY EDITORS: Russell Flannery, Naazneen Karmali, Tatiana Serafin
WEALTH TEAM: Elena Berezanskaya, Erin Carlyle, Scott DeCarlo, Edwin Durgy, Ricardo Geromel, Ryan Mac, Andrea Murphy, Caleb Melby, Clare O’Connor, Brian Solomon
REPORTERS
Forbes Czech Republic, Forbes Indonesia, Forbes Korea, Forbes Mexico, Forbes Poland, Forbes Russia, Forbes Ukraine, Nilgun Cavdar, Maggie Chen, Laura He, Christopher Helman, Andrea Hlinka, Sean Kilachand, Susanne Leiter, Zina Moukheiber, Suzanne Nam, Ozer Turan, Nathan Vardi
ADDITIONAL REPORTING AND EDITING
Susan Adams, Yuri Aksyonov, Frederick E. Allen, Anderson Antunes, Kelly Appleton, Forbes Argentina, Dan Bigman, Morgan Brennan, Jeff Bercovici, Steven Bertoni, Monte Burke, Emily Canal, Meghan Casserly, Ivan Castano, J.J. Colao, Boris Davidenko, Dolia Estevez, Daniel Fisher, Agustino Fontevecchia, Tomio Geron, Jenna Goudreau, Lisa H. Hata, Valery Igumenov, Daria Isakova, Jamie Lee, Neerja Pawha Jetley, John Kapetaneas, Ernesto Linares Mascaro, Elaine Mao, Nikolai Mazurin, Brian Mertens, Nina Mishchenko, Joann Muller, Lan Anh Nguyen, Mfonobong Nsehe, Parmy Olson, Dorothy Pomerantz, Susan Radlauer, Anuradha Raghunathan, Saritha Rai, Phyllis Fang Savage, Samantha Sharf, Igor Terentev, Halah Touryalai, Naoko Watanabe, Lesia Voytitskaya, Volodymyr Verbyany, Natalia Zaderey
PHOTO RESEARCH: Merrilee Santoro, Gail Toivanen
DATABASE: Dmitri Slavinsky, Louie Torres
DESIGNERS: Nina Gould, Irwin Hou
PRODUCT: Andrea Spiegel, Audrea Soong, Lauren Lee
PRODUCER: Kate Pierce
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alan Alanis, J.P. Morgan; Fernando Bolaños, Monex; Simon Bowler, Exane; Canadean; China Credit Information Service (Taipei, Taiwan); Pablo Duarte, Actinver Investment Banking; Euromonitor; Tim Gittos, Artannes Capital Ltd; Sam Hamadeh, PrivCo; David Harper, Leisure Property Services (Surrey, U.K.); Interactive Data and LionShares via FactSet Research Systems; Jones Lang LaSalle, UAE; Russell Kett, HVS London; Ross Moore, CBRE Limited
Tom Nicolopoulos, KPMG LLP – Canada; Jose Parra, Grupo Main; Dobek Pater, Africa Analysis, Centurion, South Africa; Real Capital Analytics; S&P Capital IQ; Standard & Poor’s; Trevor Ward; W Hospitality Group, Lagos, Nigeria