Billionaires do battle on Forbes’ rich list

The 36th Annual World’s Billionaires list saw Musk pip Bezos to the post, while musician and makeup mogul Rihanna made her debut. 

Tight at the top 

A peek through the looking glass at the very top of the world’s money pyramid is always grimly fascinating. If you’re struggling to picture what a billion dollars looks like, then picture this: The length of 1,000,000,000 one-dollar bills could wrap around the earth nearly four times. And frankly, who would be surprised if Elon Musk made that his next whacky adventure? 

Musk himself tops this year’s list for the first time, seeing off Jeff Bezos and claiming the title as the richest person on earth, with a net worth of $219 billion. Other challengers filling out the top 10 include some familiar faces in Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.  

Another fun fact: two of the top 10 wealthiest people are called Larry (Page and Ellison). So, if you’re counting on your offspring bankrolling you into an early retirement, you know what to call them.   

Feeling the pinch?

It’s not all good news for the world’s richest, though. The list is host to 87 fewer billionaires than in 2021, with 34 Russians failing to make the grade this time around. Plus, a government crackdown on tech companies in China has led to 87 fewer billionaires there.  

There are, of course, some newcomers to compensate for those drop-offs. One of them is 34-year-old Rihanna, whose stakes in the Fenty Beauty cosmetics line and the Savage X Fenty lingerie business have made her Barbados’ first billionaire. Clearly, she’s been putting in the work (work, work, work, work). 

While the wealth of billionaires has fallen by $400 billion, down to a modest $12.7 trillion, it seems there’s still plenty of money to be made by the world’s richest.