The World's Billionaires 2018

Capitalism’s global conquest continues as entrepreneurs around the globe mint fortunes in everything from cryptocurrencies to telecom to bridal dresses. Forbes has pinned down a record 2,208 billionaires from 72 countries and territories including the first ever from Hungary and Zimbabwe. This elite group is worth $9.1 trillion, up 18% since last year. Their average net worth is a record $4.1 billion. Americans lead the way with a record 585 billionaires, followed by mainland China with 373. Centi-billionaire Jeff Bezos secures the list’s top spot for the first time, becoming the only person to appear in the Forbes ranks with a 12-figure fortune. Bezos’s fortune leapt more than $39 billion, the list’s biggest one-year gain ever. He moves ahead of Bill Gates, who is now number 2. It is the biggest gap between no. 1 and 2 since 2001. Bernard Arnault, with a fortune of $72 billion, reclaims the title of richest European for the first time since 2012. There are 259 newcomers including the first ever cryptocurrency billionaires; two Canadians whose toy company is behind Hatchimals and PAW Patrol; two Americans who founded online retailer Wayfair; and a 35-year-old heiress who runs In-N-Out Burger. Even in such a strong year, 121 dropped out due to falling fortunes or political headwinds, including all 10 Saudi Arabians. Click here for more on Forbes methodology, credits and acknowledgments.

THE 2018 LIST

#1 Jeff Bezos ($112B)

• Amazon's chief Jeff Bezos is the first person to top $100 billion as number one on the Forbes list of the World's Billionaires.
• He owns 16% of e-commerce colossus Amazon, which he founded in a garage in Seattle in 1994.
• Bezos attended Princeton and worked at a hedge fund before quitting to sell books online.
• His other passion is space travel: His aerospace company, Blue Origin, is developing a reusable rocket that Bezos says will carry passengers.
• Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million.

#2 Bill Gates ($90B)

• With his wife Melinda, Bill Gates chairs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable foundation.
• The foundation works to save lives and improve global health, and is working with Rotary International to eliminate polio.
• Gates has sold or given away much of his stake in Microsoft -- he owns just over 1% of shares -- and invested in a mix of stocks and other assets.
• He remains a board member of Microsoft, the software firm he founded with Paul Allen in 1975.
• In late 2016, Gates announced the launch of a $1 billion Breakthrough Energy investment fund with about 20 other people.

#3 Warren Buffet ($84B)

• Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time.
• He runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.
• The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age 13.
• He has committed to giving more than 99% of his fortune to charity. So far he has given away nearly $32 billion, much of it to the Gates Foundation.
• With friend Bill Gates he launched The Giving Pledge in 2010, asking billionaires to donate half their wealth to charitable causes.

#4 Bernard Arnault & Familly ($72B)

• One of the world's ultimate taste-makers, Bernard Arnault oversees an empire of 70 brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.
• Record results at LVMH and a megadeal to buy out nearly all of Christian Dior helped boost Arnault's fortune by $30.5 billion in one year.
• Arts patron is the visionary behind the $135 million Frank Gehry-designed Foundation Louis Vuitton museum in Paris' Bois de Boulogne, opened in 2014.

#5 Mark Zuckerberg ($71B)

• Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, has seen his net worth soar as the social network's stock price has skyrocketed.
• In April 2018, he testified before Congress after it was revealed that Facebook shared users' data with political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
• Zuckerberg started Facebook at Harvard in 2004 at the age of 19 for students to match names with faces in class.
• He took Facebook public in May 2012 and still owns nearly 17% of the stock.
• Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stake over their lifetimes.