The richest in America. American millionaires. Michael Bloomberg is America's richest mayor

Money is a necessary part of everyday life. Some people don't have much money and some people have a lot. However, even among those who have a lot of money, there are "rich" and "poor". Forbes magazine annually publishes ratings of people whose fortunes are measured in billions of dollars. So in 2017, he published the top 400 richest businessmen in America, who not only run a profitable business, but also employ thousands of people. These businessmen are role models for the younger generation. And that's who entered the top ten.

10. Sergey Brin

Status - 43.4 billion dollars.

Russian American Sergey Mikhailovich Brin is a philanthropist, scientist and entrepreneur who, together with Larry Page (also included in the ranking of the richest American businessmen), created a search engine called Google. He is the president and parent company of Google. Brin has several awards, including being recognized as one of the top innovators in the top 100 people under the age of 35.

9. Larry Page

Status - 44.6 billion dollars.

Page's computer engineering studies began at Stanford University, where he met Sergey Brin. Two brilliant students made a real revolution in the world of search engines, creating Google, in which "nothing was lost." They launched it in 1998, and these days Google is the most popular search engine, accounting for about 70% of search queries from all over the world.

8. Michael Bloomberg

Net worth - 46.8 billion dollars.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist who served three full terms as Mayor of the City of New York (from 2002 to 2013). Michael Bloomberg is the man who, in the words of the Americans, "made himself." His mother was a secretary and his father was an accountant. Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University and paid his tuition by taking out loans and working as a parking attendant.

Bloomberg is now known as the CEO of the private media company that bears his name and a very, very wealthy man.

7. Charles G. Koch

Brother of David Koch, American business magnate, businessman and political donor. He is the chairman and co-owner of Koch Industries, one of the largest private companies in the US.

Both brothers own 42% of the shares.

6. David Koch

Status - 48.5 billion dollars.

In sixth place in the ranking of the richest people in America in 2017 is expectedly another of the Koch brothers - David. He was born into a wealthy family and is making every effort to ensure that the family asset - the company Koch Industries - and then remained "afloat".

In addition, David Koch is a political figure and has been recognized as one of the most vocal supporters of the Tea Party Movement. The thesis of this movement, voiced in the 2010 congressional elections, is simple - "you need to stop the changes started by the Democrats." Not surprisingly, both Koch brothers spend a lot of money on donations to the US Republican Party.

5. Larry Ellison

His wealth is 59 billion dollars.

The top five in the top 10 richest American entrepreneurs according to Forbes is headed by the head of the board of directors and the founder of Oracle Corporation.

In 1977, Ellison, along with two Ampex colleagues, created SDL, later renamed Oracle. His goal was to create a successful database provider for users. And the idea was crowned with unprecedented success, because Oracle was the first commercial database in the IT market.

The company's business did not always go smoothly, in 1990 it suffered serious losses and its capitalization level collapsed by 80%. However, Oracle managed to regain lost positions, and by 2017 its capitalization reached $200 billion. The capitalization of Ellison himself is a little more modest, but he has enough for a sandwich with black caviar.

4. Mark Zuckerberg

Capital - 71 59 billion dollars.

Mark Zuckerberg is considered one of the youngest and richest entrepreneurs in America. He is one of the founders and developers of the social network Facebook, which is used by about 2 billion people. Zuckerberg has been on the rich and famous business list since 2010. At the same time, he is one of the people who generously donate to good deeds, proving that not all rich people can be called misers. For example, in 2016, Zuckerberg sold $300 million worth of shares and donated the proceeds to charitable causes.

3. Warren Buffett

Owns 78 billion dollars.

Warren Edward Buffett was born in Omaha on August 30, 1930 and showed an interest in business and investing from a young age, enrolling at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1947.

Buffett earned his first serious capital of 10 thousand dollars thanks to the idea to put pinball machines in hairdressers. And the main investment company of the business mogul was Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett acquired its shares in 1965. Since then, Berkshire Hathaway has evolved from a textile manufacturer into a huge holding company that brings together many different companies in different industries.

Buffett is famous not only for his successful investments, but also for the greatest act of charity in history. In 2010, he donated half of his money (about $37 billion at the time) to several charities. The lion's share of the proceeds went to a charitable foundation run by Bill and Melinda Gates.

2. Jeff Bezos

Status - 81.5 billion dollars.

One of those entrepreneurs who are creating the technological future of the world. Amazon, run by Bezos, pioneered the use of robotic sorters, successfully tested drone deliveries in the UK, and turned obscure e-books into a mass-consumer product thanks to the Amazon Kindle reader.

Bezos' strategy is to continuously improve Amazon's capabilities, as he says customers stay loyal to one company or another until they are offered a better service.

1. Bill Gates

Capital - 89 billion dollars.

The leader of the list of American entrepreneurs with the largest capital is the world famous business tycoon, investor and philanthropist William Henry Gates III.

The richest man in the world is an example for young and ambitious IT people. In 1974, together with a school friend Paul Allen, he founded a software company - Microsoft (in the first version of the name - Micro-Soft). And Gates' mother was her first sales manager.

After 7 years, Microsoft turned into a corporation from a company. It was in its bowels that Windows was developed - the most popular OS in the world.

In 2017, Microsoft's capitalization is over $600 billion.

Half of the world's super-rich people now live in the US. However, in terms of the number of billionaires per capita, the United States is traditionally inferior to Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore. In the history of the United States, there have been times both favorable and unfavorable for the emergence of millionaires. Bradford De Long, professor of economics at the University of California, believes that there were periods in the history of the United States in which it was almost impossible to acquire a millionth fortune. So, for example, it was before 1870 and in the period from 1929 to the 1980s. In other periods (between 1870 and 1927, as well as in the last two decades), the American economy provided opportunities for relatively quick enrichment.

According to De Long, in 1900, 45% of the national wealth was concentrated in the hands of 1% of the US population. This is the highest concentration of capital in US history. After that, this share began to decrease, primarily due to the creation of a more advanced tax system, a social insurance system, the conduct of state policy in the field of wages, etc.

In 1900 there were 22 billionaires in the USA. Nine billions of dollars were made in the construction of railroads. Three fortunes were inherited. Five were made on the basis of financial transactions. Also "gold veins" of that time were retail, real estate, timber industry, steel industry and urban transport. It was the era of classic “wild capitalism”, when the rules of the game were set by its participants themselves, and all possible methods, including criminal ones, were used in the competitive struggle.

By the mid-1920s, there were slightly more billionaires in the United States - about 30. Money was brought in by the steel, oil, mining, food, chemical industries, finance, railways, etc. 6% of the billions were acquired through the development of fundamentally new industries - photography and the automotive industry. The American economy at that time could in many ways be considered oligarchic. The influence of billionaires on the state of the economy has been enormous. They were able to attack not only real, but also potential competitors through municipal and state authorities. The situation changed after an unprecedented economic collapse - the "Great Depression" that erupted in 1929. Public opinion in the United States quickly named the three "Bs" responsible for what happened - Bankers, Brokers, Businessmen. By the time the crisis began, 1% of Americans had ultra-high incomes, 42% - ultra-low. In 1929, about 100 large corporations controlled half of America's corporate finances. The depression led the state to establish tougher and more honest business rules and reform the financial market. As a result, the crisis was overcome, and the number of billionaires in the United States decreased significantly.

In 1957, only 16 Americans had billions of dollars. A third of the fortunes were obtained through the production of aluminum, a fifth - through oil. A quarter is inherited. Since the 1980s, the number of billionaires in the US has exploded. In 1982, there were 23 of them, in 1989 - already 132. In 1996, 196 billionaires lived in the United States (three of them worked at Microsoft). It is curious that for the first time in the history of the United States, a third of the billions of dollars was inherited. The number of sectors of the economy in which billionaires operated has increased significantly. For the first time, it has been proven in practice that big money can be made in the media, electronics, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, cosmetics, insurance, etc. markets.

The unprecedented stock market boom of the past decade led to an increase in the number of billionaires in the late 1990s and a decrease in the 2000s. For example, according to Forbes magazine, in 2001 there were 538 billionaires in the world. In 2002, their number decreased to 497, in 2003 - to 476. The average wealth of a billionaire decreased from $3.2 billion to $3.1 billion. The wealth of the world's super-rich people decreased by $1.54 trillion. in 2002 to $1.4 trillion. in 2003. However, this capital exceeds the size of the gross domestic product of all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa combined and the income of about half of humanity. If in the mid-1990s, American billionaires accounted for about a third of the total, then in 2003 they took almost half of the rating lines (222 out of 476). Among the 11 richest people in the world, whose fortune exceeds $20 billion, there are only two non-Americans. In the 2003 ranking, Europe is represented by 134 billionaires, and Russia by 17 (9 in 2002).

Oligarchs of America

There have been many millionaires in US history. But only a few of them became legendary figures, whose lives still attract historians and writers. Curiously, most of America's legendary super-rich began their ascent to wealth and fame from the bottom. Some of them (for example, Astor and Soros) were born and raised in Europe, others (for example, Carnegie and Getty) lived a significant part of their lives outside the United States.

Most of the legendary American millionaires are extremely controversial figures. They were both honest and dishonest people, boundless generosity did not prevent them from periodically showing pathological greed, and declarations of respect for the law did not prevent them from changing laws and breaking them.

Bill Gates (born 1955). Founder and permanent manager of Microsoft (software, Internet, telecommunications, etc.). The richest man in the world for several years, despite being compared to that. that his wealth has decreased by 60% compared to 1998. Now Gates' fortune, most of which is Microsoft stock, is estimated at $ 40 billion. He entered the prestigious Harvard University, but left it. In 1999, Gates published the book Business@Speed ​​of Thought. Windows software is installed on approximately 90% of the world's computers. In 1999, US authorities began to prosecute Microsoft under the Antitrust Act. In total, Bill Gates has donated more than $24 billion to various projects in the field of medicine and education.

George Soros (born 1930). Operates in the field of finance and securities trading. He has the unofficial titles of "Mozart of the Stock Exchange" and "The Man Who Crashed the Pound Sterling". Soros is also called the man whose speculation contributed to the destabilization of the economies of Asia and Latin America. Several times Soros' predictions about the future of currencies and securities came true, but in the early 2000s, the assets of his companies decreased by 20% compared to the early 1990s. He is influenced by the ideas of the philosopher Karl Propper, the creator of the concept of an open society. Soros also supports the anti-globalization movement and is actively involved in charity work. For a long time, his Open Society Foundation actively supported various scientific and humanitarian programs in the former USSR. Founder of the Central European University in Budapest. Author of several books, including "Discovering the Soviet System", "Alchemy of Finance", "Crisis of World Capitalism", "Open Society: Reforming World Capitalism".

Warren Buffett (born 1930). The owner of the unofficial title "Genius of the stock exchange" and "The largest investor in the modern stock market." He is best known as the head of investment company Berkshire Hathaway. As an illustration of Buffett's genius, the following calculation is usually cited: if a person invested $10,000 in Berkshire Hathaway stock in 1965 (the year Buffett bought it), then now his fortune would be $51 million. If investments were evenly distributed among the shares listed in the Standard & Poor stock index (takes into account stocks of the largest US companies), the investor would receive $497.4 thousand. Buffett somehow revealed the secret of his extraordinary stock exchange success: “Investing should be in things that will always be popular in the market: people will always buy bread , milk and potatoes. Buffett leads an extremely modest lifestyle. For 40 years, he has lived in the same house, drives his own car, buys suits in cheap clothing stores and rarely visits expensive restaurants.

Paul Getty (1892-1976). Transformed a small family oil company into one of the world's largest oil firms, the Getty Oil Company. Managed the work of more than 200 concerns. In 1975, his personal fortune was estimated at $ 3 billion. The founder of the large Getty Museum, which contains one of the world's best collections of ancient and medieval art.

Jay P Morgan (1837-1913). He worked in the field of finance, railways, steel production. Founder of companies such as AT&T (dominated the US telephone market for decades), General Electric (originally a manufacturer of electrical and electrical equipment) and U.S. Steel (the world's largest steel company) and JP Morgan. He had a reputation as a tough, unprincipled businessman and "pirate". However, Morgan has repeatedly stated that he prefers to replace unbridled competition with financial stability. He is now considered one of the founders of the modern US economy. Gathered a huge collection of works of art. In 1920, it was estimated at $60 million - now its value could be several billion dollars.

Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877). Railroad tycoon. Actively engaged in maritime transport, finance, trade. He built several important railways. In most cases, he resolved business conflicts by civilized methods, but did not disdain to use bribery and blackmail. Donated $1 million to the Vanderbilt University he founded.

Jay Gould (1836-1892). Railroad tycoon. He created a fortune based on speculation in the shares of railway companies, for which he used unscrupulous and cruel methods. Gould has been implicated in numerous corruption scandals. Among the people to whom he gave bribes were members of the US President's family. Founder of Western Union, which became the largest telegraph company in the world. Gould himself called himself "the most hated American of the late 19th century."

His struggle with Vanderbilt for control of one of the railroads entered the annals of the business. The railroad, which Gould controlled and which Vanderbilt wanted to acquire, was constantly attacked by gangs hired by Vanderbilt. Gould fought off their attacks with artillery pieces and even created a special military flotilla to guard the bridges. After Wapderbilt succeeded in buying up a controlling stake in the disputed road on the stock exchange, Gould issued fake shares and kept the property in his hands.

John Rockefeller (1839-1937). Oil King. He also worked in finance, industry and trade. Founder of the largest US oil company Standard Oil and one of the world's largest steel producers - United States Steel Corporation. In 1911 he became a victim of the law: the US Supreme Court decided to divide Standard Oil into 39 small companies in order to end the monopoly in the oil sector (Rockefeller controlled 90% of the US oil market). It is considered the ancestor of the "intellectual business style". He was the first oligarch to publish his own autobiography.

Rockefeller constantly spent 10% of his income on charity - throughout his life he donated more than $ 500 million to the needs of education, medicine, religion and culture. He turned philanthropy on a business footing and hired employees for the first time to manage the funds allocated to him for charitable purposes. In 1913, one of the largest charitable foundations in the world, the Rockefeller Foundation, was created, which is still active today. Rockefeller also founded the University of Chicago and funded its work for a long time.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Carnegie's main commercial interests lay in steel production, coal and iron mining, railroads, and finance. Carnegie tried to conduct an "ethical" business and claimed that he always acted strictly within the law. At the same time, he fought fiercely with the unions. Carnegie was the first to formulate one of the axioms of modern business: the need to build up production capacity long before the demand for a given product appears, which subsequently makes it possible to offer the product at lower prices than competitors.

Carnegie is considered the father of modern American philanthropy. In 1889, he published an essay entitled "Wealth Preaching", in which he argued that rich people have a duty to help the poor. Carnegie was a supporter of the ideas of the British philosopher Herbert Spencer and tried to apply the ideas of neo-Darwinism to modern politics. In particular, he tried to introduce the ideas of peacekeeping and international arbitration into politics. One of the most famous "think tanks" in the United States - the Carnegie Endowment for the International Peace, as well as the "Palace of Peace" (now the International Court of Justice in The Hague) were founded by Andrew Carnegie. In addition, he opened more than 2.8 thousand free libraries in the United States. Carnegie was also involved in foreign policy - he advocated the peaceful resolution of international conflicts.

John Astor (1763-1848). He made a fortune in the fur trade. The first US businessman to establish trade with China. He founded the library that became the basis for the creation of the New York Public Library. His son William invested in the hotel business. Some of the enterprises founded by him still exist: these are the hotel chains Astor Hotel and Waldorf - Astoria.

According to Forbes magazine, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Astor and Gates are the richest Americans in US history. This conclusion was made on the basis of a comparison of their capital with the size of the US gross domestic product of their era.

When it comes to American millionaires, people usually think of Bill Gates, sports stars or show business. But these celebrities are rare exceptions. There are far more millionaires in the US than famous people. In 1996, out of 100 million American families, approximately 3.5 million owned more than $1 million in wealth. According to experts, by 2005 this figure will reach 5.6 million. On average, their wealth is about 3.7 million dollars per capita of a millionaire population. Those who have more than 10 million dollars, only 6%.

The typical American millionaire differs little in terms of his income from the middle class. On average, he earns 247 thousand dollars a year. Of course, there are those who earn a million, but they are less than 5% of the sample.

The first rule of any millionaire: work for yourself, love yourself (sneeze at everyone) - and success awaits you in life. In America, only 20% of the total population works for themselves, that is, not for hire. And among this twenty, two-thirds are millionaires. Most millionaires consider themselves entrepreneurs. Their business is usually very boring - something like manufacturing welding equipment, repairing roads, or a network of car parks.

The rest are highly qualified private practitioners such as doctors, lawyers, auditors and lawyers. They work a lot, 7-8 hours a day, without a smoke break on national holidays.

At first glance, they get a little - well, can an income of 247 thousand dollars be considered a millionaire? You can, if you have a frugal wife who knows how to budget down to one cent and annually saves almost 15% of family income. A wife may or may not work, because half of the millionaire's wives stay at home, while the other half works, most often as teachers. Most millionaires (97%) are homeowners, meaning they live in their own homes. They have domestic cars, not the first freshness, modest clothes, because they prefer to invest a fifth of their income in their business and the same in securities. Do not bypass the millionaires and the pension fund, guaranteeing a well-fed old age. So by the age of 57 (the average age of an American millionaire), you can accumulate a fortune of 1.6 million (average) and more. Want to try? You have a trump card for this: you are from Russia.

It is not high income that distinguishes a mere mortal millionaire, but low expenses. All millionaires live far below their means. They spend roughly 7% of their money a year. They are extremely frugal and successfully invest their earnings. Most millionaires' wives are even more stingy than they are. They methodically plan the family budget and do not spend money on all sorts of stupid things like jewelry or charity. Ordinary Americans are ready to give up to 2% of their own profits to charity. Millionaires donate much less to charity than other rich people. On average, high-tech business sharks are willing to give up 6% of their net income in the name of charity. Of the wealthy, techies with incomes between $300,000 and $3 million a year are the most generous in this regard, donating up to 8% of their net income. It turned out that the leaders of the "new economy" companies are more tight-fisted in charity than businessmen in other industries. Their tight-fistedness is due either to their background - most dot-com moguls come from the lower or middle class - or to the volatility of hi-tech stocks in the market. As you know, the leaders of the "new economy" keep up to 60% of their savings in shares of high-tech companies. In their own words, hi-tech millionaires think about their children and the financial security and stability of the family. So, about 70% of respondents admitted that they save money for reasons of financial security, 62% just want to live comfortably, and 56% are going to spend their income on their own children, providing them with a kind of springboard for life. Traditional economy millionaires are more balanced and up to date than most hi-tech tycoons, getting rich too quickly in a few years by the age of 30.

The working week of a millionaire is 45-55 hours. The hardest working, happiest in family life and most greedy in America are rich people who earn money in the production of computers, software, and also in the field of telecommunications. As it turned out, only 15% of techies are going to quit at retirement age, 29% are going to work part-time, and 37% of those surveyed do not want to retire at all, while 40% of the wealthy in the traditional economy do not want to remain in retirement when they reach retirement age. your workplace.

Moderation and accuracy are another component of the success of American millionaires. Millionaires always know to the last penny (or rather, cent) what is happening with their money - that's why these "goons" have so much money. They are sure to save money for a rainy day. Most millionaires have never spent more than $400 on a suit, more than $140 on shoes, or more than $250 on a watch. They drive cars costing no more than 25 thousand, they prefer the Ford 150, the most popular car in the United States. Who then buys expensive clothes and drives expensive cars? Most often these are middle managers, lawyers, doctors, employees of large corporations with an average annual income of 50 to 200 thousand dollars. They could be millionaires, but they never will be, precisely because they buy $2,000 suits, $600 boots, and $5,000 watches. American millionaires live much more modestly than the new Russians - in houses with an average cost of 320 thousand "green".

Millionaires in the United States become gradually. The average age of an American millionaire is 57 years old. He is married all his life to one woman and has been living in the same house for 20 years (not in the most fashionable area). He has three children. His wife is most often a housewife or a teacher.

Eighty percent of American millionaires became rich in the first generation. They didn't inherit more than $10,000, and often their parents didn't have a cent to their name.

Millionaires are generally fairly well educated, with only one in five not graduating from college. But academic degrees are quite rare. However, American researchers note that they have not found any relationship between IQ, GPA and economic success. Why did yesterday's "triples" today turn out to be richer than those who are clearly more gifted than them? The secret is quite simple: not possessing brilliant natural abilities, future millionaires choose their business according to their strength. What they lack in analytical skills, they make up for in creativity and practical insight. Focusing on their chosen goal, they give themselves completely to achieving it, taking calculated risks and working for three. One notable example is Donald Sonner, head of Tennessee-based Southern Bloomer Manufacturing. Using recycled rags, the 64-year-old entrepreneur produces underwear for prison inmates, as well as rags for cleaning weapons. It would seem that God knows what. However, this business made Sonner a millionaire at the age of 24. But he did not graduate from universities and studied in high school for only a year.

But millionaires believe that education is vital for their children and grandchildren. This is one of the few items of expenditure that they do not skimp on.

In principle, millionaires are not inclined to provide their children with everything they need. On the contrary, they are trying to ensure that their sons gain financial independence. As for daughters, here the heart of steel millionaires can tremble - dowries and expensive gifts for daughters also make up a significant part of their expenses.

According to the same statistics, more than half of American millionaires never received a single dollar in inheritance, the same number went to college at their own expense. Only 20% received 10 percent or more of their wealth as a gift or inheritance, but managed to increase it. So out of 4,047 American millionaires, 84% are self-made, that is, as they say, they are "nouveau riche who have reached the millionaire fortune without taking advantage of the inheritance received."

Parents cannot boast of a prestigious education - less than 17% of current millionaires or their wives attended private schools in their childhood - therefore they realize their dreams in offspring: every second millionaire considers it his duty to send his child to a private school. In general, the rich spend a lot of money on the education of offspring. And, alas, this dooms him to financial ruin - judging by the same statistics. A learned child later enters the market, and most often as a hired worker, even a highly paid one. A lawyer, manager of a large office or a prestigious doctor needs an appropriate apartment, a car. He cannot, like dad, walk in shabby jeans, he must dress expensively. As a result, if dad could abandon his job and support his family for 10-12 or even 15 years with the available money, then the son with his level of consumption will go bankrupt in 3 years. The American conclusion suggests itself: learning is evil.

The crisis of children in the USA is a serious problem. Already after 1-2 generations, the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants from another country is fading away, as they become Americans - citizens of a high-consumption society. It becomes not very interesting for them to work themselves, but they want to live well. Who will feed them? New immigrants, who today represent a whole army - 23 million. America cannot survive without their entrepreneurial fuse, a new outlook on life, business acumen and courage. And so it is repeated from generation to generation.

Researchers who have studied American millionaires have found that people from different countries are represented in different proportions among them than among the US population as a whole. The descendants of the British, who sailed to the Americas on the Mayflower schooner, rank fourth in terms of the ratio of the number of millionaires to the total number of this demographic group. And in the first place were the former Russians.

Get ready to be shocked: in America, every 22 out of 100 families who come from Russia have millions of dollars. We even overtook the Scots, descendants of Uncle Scrooge, who are known for their exorbitant frugality (read: stinginess).

The Russian diaspora in the United States is not so large - only 1.1% of the total population. But nevertheless, it has 6.4% of American millionaires in its ranks. In former Russian hands, $1.1 trillion is concentrated - almost 5% of America's personal capital. Moreover, according to the confessions of the Americans themselves, the former Russians achieved such a level of wealth not due to hoarding and saving, but thanks to their fantastic enterprise, which is in our blood and is transmitted at the genetic level.

1. Jeff Bezos

State:$112 billion

Change per year: + $39.2 billion

State Source: Amazon.com

Age: 54

Country: USA

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the richest person on the planet, in addition, he is the first and only billionaire in the world with a twelve-figure fortune - on November 27, 2017, it exceeded $ 100 billion for the first time. The shares of the company he created grew by 59% in 12 months, adding to his fortune almost $39.2 billion, also a record growth in capitalization.

Before starting his own business, Bezos worked at a hedge fund, from which he left in 1994 for the simple idea of ​​selling books online. Thus, Amazon was born.

In recent years, the main passion of the billionaire is space travel. His aerospace company Blue Origin is developing reusable rockets that Bezos says will carry passengers. An unusual hobby of Bezos is also connected with space: together with a team of “underwater archaeologists”, he gets parts of NASA spacecraft from the seabed.

2. Bill Gates

State:$90 billion

Change per year:+$4 billion

State Source: Microsoft

Age: 62

Country: USA

The fortune of the founder of Microsoft also grew in 12 months, but not so significantly, and for the first time in the last five years, Gates lost the palm to Jeff Bezos.

More than 40 years ago, Gates, along with Paul Allen, created the world's largest software maker, Microsoft Corporation. Gates now owns almost 3% of his home company, which is only 13% of his fortune.

Gates' other investments include investments in the Canadian National Railroad, the American engineering company Deere & Co., the recycling company Republic Services, and auto dealer AutoNation. In 2016, Gates and a team of investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, created the $1 billion investment fund Breakthrough Energy.

One of the priorities of the billionaire is the Bill and Melinda Gates charitable foundation. Its main goal is to improve the health system and overcome hunger in poor countries.

3. Warren Buffett

State:$84 billion

Change per year:+ $8.4 billion

State Source: Berkshire Hathaway

Age: 87

Country: USA

In 2017, the wealthiest and most famous investor in the world became richer by almost $8.4 billion, which helped him to take the third place in the Forbes ranking. Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's holding company, whose shares rose 16% in 2017, owns stakes in more than 60 companies, including Geico, Dairy Queen and Fruit of the Loom, among others. The billionaire invests in Wells Fargo, IBM and Coca-Cola.

Warren made his first investment at the age of 11. With the money he borrowed from his father, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred, then sold them for a higher price. True, shares bought for $38 and sold for $40 soared to $200 a little later. Life, according to Buffett, already then taught him the first lesson in investing - patience is rewarded.

Buffett and Bill Gates, with whom he loves to play bridge, founded the philanthropic campaign The Giving Pledge (“Giving Pledge”) - billionaires who join it promise to give at least 50% of their fortune to charity. Buffett himself is going to give 99%. He has already donated $28.5 billion.

In January 2018, a change in leadership at Berkshire became one of the biggest topics in the financial world - billionaire Warren Buffett named likely successors: Greg Abel, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and Ajit Jain, head of the insurance division, will take a place next to Charlie Munger as vice presidents of the conglomerate , estimated at $500 billion.

Buffett emphasized that this decision should not be taken as an intention to immediately leave Berkshire or evidence of any health problems. “I feel great and I love what I do,” Buffett said. “In the morning I rush to get to the office.” In the ninth decade, Buffett continues to masterfully do business - from investing in Bank of America in 2011 to developing a partnership with 3G Capital.

4. Bernard Arnault

State:$72 billion

Change per year:+ $30.5 billion

State Source: luxury items

Age: 69

Country: France

The growth in the annual revenue of the French holding allowed Arno to return to the top five richest people in the world. The world's largest luxury brand group, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, posted record sales of €42.6 billion in 2017, up 13% from 2016. The holding's net profit increased by 29%.

In April 2017, Arnault and his family announced a $13 billion deal to acquire fashion house Christian Dior and add a new brand to the LVMH portfolio. This transaction crowns years of difficult mutual participation of two companies in the capital of each other. After the completion of the transaction, the LVMH company of billionaire Bernard Arnault became the sole owner of Christian Dior.

5. Mark Zuckerberg

State:$71 billion

Change per year:+ $15 billion

State Source: Facebook

Age: 32

Country: USA

Despite the fact that the founder of Facebook has faced serious pressure on the social network amid allegations of alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election, the company's shares have risen 32% over the past year, adding another $ 15 billion to Zuckerberg's fortune.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 when he was 19 years old. For the sake of Facebook, Zuckerberg left the prestigious Harvard, but it was the social network that made him a billionaire. Last year was especially successful for Zuckerberg, however, like the previous one: the increased prices for his company's shares brought him an additional $11.4 billion.

Zuckerberg is actively involved in the management of the social network. He initiated transactions to acquire the social network Instagram, the WhatsApp messenger and the developer of virtual reality helmets Oculus VR.

7. Carlos Slim Elu

State:$67.1 billion

Change per year:+ $12.6 billion

State Source: Telecom

Age: 77

Country: Mexico

Carlos Slim Helu is still the richest man in Mexico, dropping to number seven in the Forbes world rankings. Slim and his family control America Movil, the largest telecom operator in Latin America. America Movil shares jumped 39% in 2017.

In his hands are stakes in Mexican companies in the development, real estate and mining sectors, in the field of consumer goods. He also owns 17% of The New York Times.

During the US presidential election, Slim was harshly critical of Donald Trump. After meeting him in December 2016, Slim called one of his rare press conferences calling for Mexico to unite against threats from the new US president.

8. Charles Koch

State:$60 billion

Change per year:+ $11.7 billion

State Source: Koch Industries

Age: 82

Country: USA

Charles Koch, along with his brother David, owns the family holding Koch Industries. With revenues of $100 billion, the company ranks second in the list of the largest private companies in the United States. The oil refinery, from which the history of the diversified holding began, was founded in 1940 by the father of the brothers.

In November 2017, Kochov Holding launched Koch Disruptive Technologies, a venture capital firm run by Chase Koch, son of Charles Koch. The fund has already invested $150 million in an Israeli medical device startup.

Since 1967, Charles Koch has been chairman of the board of directors at Koch Industries, and the intensive growth of the business is his merit. Charles and David Koch are among the most influential figures in American politics, philanthropy and business.

9. David Koch

State:$60 billion

Change per year:+ $11.7 billion

State Source: Koch Industries

Age: 77

Country: USA

Together with his older brother Charles Koch, David owns the family company Koch Industries, founded by their father in 1940. The diversified holding is engaged in oil refining, construction of pipelines, production of cups and paper towels, etc.

Republicans Charles and David Koch are among the party's most generous donors. The sphere of their charity is education. In mid-2014, for example, they gave a $25 million grant to a foundation that supports African American students.

In November 2017, Koch Industries, through Meredith, acquired Time, one of the world's most influential publishers, for $2.8 billion. Their investment firm, Koch Equity Development, will provide Meredith with $650 million to buy Time in exchange for a seat on Meredith's board of directors.

10. Larry Ellison

State: $58,5

Change per year:+ $6.3 billion

State Source: Oracle

Age: 73

Country: USA

The talented software developer studied at two universities, but never graduated from either of them. But at the beginning of his career, Ellison managed to work for the CIA.

In 1977, the entrepreneur founded Oracle, which made him a billionaire. In 2014, Ellison stepped down as CEO of Oracle, but retained the positions of Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Technology Development. A year later, Ellison announced that the company would focus on developing cloud technologies. And apparently, this idea has begun to pay off - over the past 12 months, Oracle shares have risen by 18%.

Ellison is a sailing enthusiast and one of the largest sponsors of sailing events in the United States. The businessman is actively involved in charity work. In 2016, he pledged $200 million to the University of Southern California to develop cancer drugs.

State:$50 billion

Change per year:+ $2.5 billion

State Source: Bloomberg L.P.

Age: 76

Country: USA

The influential businessman and former mayor of New York began his career on Wall Street in 1966. Bloomberg worked for Salomon Brothers for 15 years. After his dismissal, the future billionaire created Bloomberg LP, which provides financial information.

From 2001 to 2009, New Yorkers elected Bloomberg as their mayor. The billionaire stepped down as mayor in 2014 and returned to the leadership of his company less than a year later. Bloomberg is actively involved in charity work.

12. Larry Page

State:$48,8

Change per year:+ $8.1 billion

State Source: Google

Age: 44

Country: USA

Larry Page is the CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. It was created in October 2015 to separate the search engine's core business from other lines of business.

Page founded Google in 1998 with Stanford University student Sergey Brin. In 2017, Page's fortune increased by $8.1 billion.

According to media reports, Larry Page is personally funding two secret flying car startups: Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk.

13. Sergey Brin

State:$47.5 billion

Change per year: + $7.7 billion

State Source: Google

Age: 43

Country: USA

Brin is the president of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Previously led the Google X division that created Google's "ill-fated glasses" (one of Google's biggest failures). Brin is reportedly spending more than $100 million on the world's largest airship for both personal travel and delivering aid to remote areas.

The businessman founded Google in 1998 with Larry Page, whom they met at Stanford University.

Brin, being a native of the USSR, is the richest immigrant in the United States and an outspoken critic of Donald Trump's anti-immigration initiatives.

14. Jim Walton

State:$46.4 billion

Change per year:+ $12.6 billion

State Source: walmart

Age: 67

Country: USA

Jim Walton is the youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. He manages Arvest Bank, a family-owned bank with total assets in excess of $16 billion.

The businessman served on the board of Walmart for more than a decade before making way for his son, Stewart, in June 2016. Together, Jim and Sam Walton's other heirs own more than half of Walmart's shares.

15. S. Robson Walton

State: $46.2 billion

State Source: walmart

Age: 73

Country: USA

Sam Walton's eldest son was chairman of Walmart for 23 years. Now he is one of three family members still involved in running the company; he and Stuart Walton, Jim Walton's son, serve on the board of directors, and his son-in-law, Gregory Penner, is chairman of Walmart.

16. Alice Walton

State:$46 billion

Change per year:+ $12.2 billion

State Source: walmart

Age: 68

Country: USA

Alice Walton is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Unlike the brothers who worked at Walmart, Alice focused on art projects.

In 2011, Alice Walton opened the Crystal Bridges Museum in her family's hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. It features the work of authors such as Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell and Mark Rothko. Her personal art collection is valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

17. Ma Huateng

State:$45.3 billion

State Source: Tencent

Age: 46

Country: China

Ma Huateng is Asia's richest man thanks to his Hong Kong-listed company Tencent. Tencent boasts a wide range of popular services and products, including online payments and games, as well as the popular WeChat text and voice messaging system. WeChat has nearly 1 billion active users. Tencent also has stakes in Tesla, Snapchat and Spotify.

Huateng was born in 1971 in Guangdong. The future billionaire's first job was at China Motion Telecom Development, a provider of telecommunications services and products, where he developed software for pagers.

In 1998, Huaten, together with former classmates, founded Tencent, the first product of which was the OICQ messenger (similar to ICQ). In 2004, the holding entered an IPO. In 2007 and 2014, Time magazine named the businessman one of the most influential people in the world.

18. Francoise Bettencourt-Myers

State:$42.2 billion

State Source: L "Oreal

Age: 64

Country: France

Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers' mother, Liliane Becantour, owner of a stake in L'Oreal cosmetics company, died in September 2017, leaving her fortune to Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers and her family.

19. Mukesh Ambani

State:$40.1 billion

State Source: Reliance Industries

Age: 60

Country: India

The Indian tycoon owns assets in the oil and gas and telecommunications industries. A surge in the share price of his Reliance Industries conglomerate has propelled Ambani into the top 20 richest people in the world for the first time in five years.

20. Jack Ma

State:$39 billion

State Source: Alibaba

Age: 53

Country: China

In 1999, Jack Ma founded Alibaba, an e-commerce company. Its users have access to a service that combines individual functions of eBay, Amazon and PayPal. In addition to online retail, the company is developing the Alipay payment system.

Alibaba's meteoric rise reflects the meteoric rise of online services and content in China, the world's most populous country and the country with the most internet users.

The richest people in America have a lot in common.

Firstly, these are all men who mainly work in the field of technology. Almost all of them made their fortune by starting their own companies and retaining ownership of them. In fact, 7 of the 10 richest people in America are in the top 10 richest people in the world.

American billionaires have a few quirks in common: the founder Microsoft Bill Gates, CEO Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, Founder Oracle Larry Ellison, didn't graduate from college. Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin went to Montessori schools, where children were encouraged to think independently and creatively, rather than follow traditional rules. Also, apparently, billionaires really love houses in Hawaii.

The richest people in America donate a lot of money to causes they care about. Some of the men on this list have donated hundreds of millions to research aimed at improving human life and eradicating dangerous diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer. Warren Buffett, Gates, Zuckerberg, and Ellison have gone one step further and pledged to give away their fortunes as part of the The Giving Pledge, an initiative devised by Buffett and Gates to encourage billionaires to give their vast wealth to charity.

Here's everything you need to know about rich people in America.

1. Jeff Bezos

Industry: Technology

Net Worth:$109.9 billion

53-year-old Bezos became the richest man in history.

Before Bezos started selling books online, a business that would eventually become an e-commerce giant Amazon.com After graduating from Princeton, he worked at a hedge fund in New York.

Amazon.com Bezos began creating the future from his Seattle garage in 1994.

Except Amazon.com Bezos is famous for buying the newspaper Washington Post for $250 million in 2013 and an aerospace company blue origin.
Bezos lives with his wife and four children in Medina, Washington. He owns 5 houses as well as a 290,000 acre ranch in Texas where he is headquartered blue origin. Such holdings make him one of the largest landowners in the United States. TIME named him Person of the Year in 1999.

2. Bill Gates

Industry: Technology

Net Worth:$93.3 billion

Gates, 62, is a prominent entrepreneur who co-founded a software company in 1975. Microsoft. Gates made his fortune mainly through the growth of the company's stock.

Gates grew up in Seattle. In high school, he met his future partner Paul Allen, with whom he founded Microsoft. Both became obsessed with computers and even created their first business, a traffic data system, while still in school.

Gates became a millionaire at 31 after Microsoft gained public importance in 1986. In the 21st century, the billionaire became known for his commitment to philanthropy and founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with his wife Melinda in 2000.

The Gates Foundation aims to address global issues such as world hunger and the empowerment of people in poor communities.

Gates currently lives in Medina, Washington, in the same area as Jeff Bezos.

3. Warren Buffett

Industry: Finance and investment

Net Worth:$87.2 billion

Buffett, 87, is one of the richest people in America who has been able to achieve success without the help of technology. Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Buffett is chairman and CEO of a publicly traded investment firm. Berkshire Hathaway.

Much of his wealth comes from an 18% stake in the business. Buffett is known as a valuable investor.

He bought his first shares at age 11, and at 13 he filed his first $35 tax return on his bike.

4. Mark Zuckerberg

Industry: Technology

Net Worth:$77.5 billion

Zuckerberg, 33, is another Harvard graduate who made his fortune from his own tech company. A film was also made about this.

He is the co-founder and CEO facebook, the largest social network in the world.

Zuckerberg owns real estate across the country, the value of which is estimated at $175 million.

He usually refers to Palo Alto, California, where he lives with his two daughters and his wife, Priscilla Chan, whom he began dating at Harvard, as his home.

Together the couple launched a campaign Chan Zuckerberg, which invested $ 3 billion. The purpose of this campaign is to cure diseases and develop new technologies for research.

5. Larry Page

Industry: Technology

Net Worth:$54.9 billion

Page, 44, is one of the founders Google and currently CEO of his own company Alphabet. His business partner Sergey Brin (#7 richest man in America) while working on his PhD at Stanford.

Page made most of his fortune by creating Google, which in turn has invested in hundreds of startups.

Page was fascinated with computers at an early age and picked up a passion for technology from his parents, who taught computer science at Michigan State University.

Page lives in Palo Alto with his wife, research scientist, and two children.

6. Larry Ellison

Industry: Technology

Net Worth:$54.7 billion

Allison, 73, is another college graduate who co-founded software in 1977. Oracle. In addition to owning 25% of the company, he also owns the Hawaiian island of Lanai, a sailing team and even a tennis tournament. New York Times.

At the age of nine months he was adopted. His adoptive parents wanted him to become a doctor, but Ellison dropped out of medical school when he realized he wasn't interested in medicine. He moved to California and worked as a programmer, climbing instructor, and guide.

After trying a few jobs, Ellison ended up being part of a company that is working on building a new software database. This company will become Oracle one of the largest software companies in the world.

Ellison, like the other titans on this list, is committed to extending human life and has committed more than $330 million to research into aging and related diseases.

Divorced 4 times, Allison has two adult children. He considers his $70 million property in Woodside, California to be his home. In addition, he owns real estate in Japan, San Francisco, Malibu, Lake Tahoe and Rhode Island.

7. Sergey Brin

Industry: Technology

Net Worth:$53.3 billion

Brin, 44, has also made his fortune in the tech industry, becoming one of the legendary co-founders of Google along with Larry Page (No. 5).

Born in the USSR, Brin moved to the US with his family when he was 6 years old. The Jewish family migrated due to anti-Semitism in their native country.

Brin donated about $50 million to Parkinson's disease research after discovering that he had a genetic mutation that predisposes him to the disease. He also gave $1 million to the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society, an organization that helped him leave Russia as a child.

8.9. The Koch brothers: Charles and David

Industry: Conglomerate

Net Worth:$48.6 billion

Charles, 82, and David, 77, are the 8th and 9th richest people in America.

Charles is Chairman and CEO Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate with $100 billion in annual revenue. David is the company's vice president and both own 42% of the company.

The brothers graduated from MIT with degrees in engineering and continued the family business after graduation.

In 1976, Charles founded a libertarian center called Cato Institute.

The Koch brothers are politically active. They donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the Republicans.

10. Rob Walton

Industry: Retail

Net Worth:$47.9 billion

73-year-old Walton, the eldest son of the founder walmart Sam Walton and a former director of the company. He stepped down as director in 2015 after 23 years on the job.

Much of Walton's wealth came from the growth of the company's shares. According to Bloomberg, he owns about 13% of the family business.

Before going to work for his father in the world's largest retail store, Walton played football at the University of Arkansas and graduated Columbia Law School.

He owns several properties, including a home in Aspen, Colorado, and another in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and recently purchased 1,500 acres of land in Hawaii where he wants to build a resort.

Walton currently lives in Bentonville, Arkansas with his wife and three children.

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