The richest people according to Forbes. The richest people in the world. Rating team

American Forbes on Tuesday, March 1, published its annual, anniversary - 30th - ranking of the world's billionaires. The list included 77 representatives of Russia, 11 less than a year earlier: large businesses continue to suffer losses due to the economic crisis, the collapse of oil prices and the sanctions war with the West. The Russian part of the rating was headed - for the first time in history - by the co-owner of Novatek and Sibur, Leonid Mikhelson. Read more about the ten richest Russians and four newcomers from Russia on the list in our gallery.

1. Leonid Mikhelson

Net worth: $14.4 billion

Change for the year: + $2.7 billion

Place in the world ranking: 60 Leonid Mikhelson is the main shareholder of the largest independent gas producer in Russia Novatek and the petrochemical holding Sibur. He also owns a minority stake in Promsvyazbank. Mikhelson's partner at Novatek and Sibur is Gennady Timchenko. Another co-owner of the petrochemical holding is Kirill Shamalov, whom the media call the alleged husband of Katerina Tikhonova, the alleged daughter of Vladimir Putin. Shamalov acquired a stake in Sibur from Timchenko after American sanctions were imposed against a longtime acquaintance of the Russian president. At the end of 2015, the Chinese Sinopec acquired 10% of Sibur for $1.3 billion. Mikhelson enthusiastically collects art and sponsors exhibitions in Russia and the USA. His father was the director of the Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy construction trust, the largest in the system of the Ministry of Construction of the Oil and Gas Industry of the USSR.

2. Mikhail Fridman

Net worth: $13.3 billion

Change for the year: - $1.3 billion

Place in the world ranking: 63 Together with his long-time business partners from his student days, German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev, he controls Alfa Group, Russia's largest financial and industrial investment group. In 2013, the state-owned Rosneft for $28 billion bought from Mikhail Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg and Leonard Blavatnik 50% of the oil company TNK-BP, which the billionaires owned on a parity basis with the British BP. Friedman gained $5.1 billion from the deal. In 2013, this money was partially used for the launch new structure“Alpha” is the holding company LetterOne Holdings S.A. (L1), on whose balance sheet the foreign assets of the investment group appeared and which was entrusted with control over M&A transactions abroad. In particular, L1 acquired the German oil and gas company Dea RWE for $5.7 billion in 2015. Among Alpha’s largest projects are the second largest Russian retailer X5, shares in the telecommunications holdings VimpelCom and Turkcell. A native of Ukraine, Friedman moved to Moscow in his youth to attend university. In 1989, together with Khan and Kuzmichev, he founded the Alfa-Eco company, which marked the beginning of the construction of one of the main business empires in Russia. Two years later, the partners created Alfa Bank, now the largest private bank in the country.

3. Alisher Usmanov

Net worth: $12.5 billion

Change for the year: - $1.9 billion

Place in the world ranking: 73 Alisher Usmanov, who has headed the Russian Forbes list for several years in a row, manages one of the most extensive business empires in the country. Among its assets is the metallurgical holding Metalloinvest, the second largest mobile operator Russia "Megafon" and Publishing House"Kommersant". In 2014, the billionaire sold 12% of the USM Holdings management holding to his long-time junior business partners and key top managers. Usmanov is a member of a number of important lobbying organizations, including the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. In 2013, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree. One of the early investors in Facebook, three years ago the businessman sold off all shares of the social network and focused on Chinese assets - he has a stake in the online retailer Alibaba, Usmanov invested $500 million in the smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. The billionaire is also a co-owner of the London football club Arsenal. In 2015, Usmanov made more headlines for his social initiatives: he borrowed 1 billion rubles from the Russian Football Union to help the organization pay off Italian coach Fabio Capello.

4. Vladimir Potanin

Net worth: $12.1 billion

Change for the year: - $3.3 billion

World ranking: 78 Last year's leader Russian list Forbes Vladimir Potanin, former employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs economic ties USSR, in 1991 he met his future partner Mikhail Prokhorov, at that time the head of the Soviet International Bank economic cooperation (IBEC). In 1993, the partners created Oneximbank, which lured IBES clients to serve them. Oneximbank became a platform for the construction of the Interros holding. At the loans-for-shares auctions, the tandem of billionaires gained control over the metallurgical giant MMC Norilsk Nickel and the oil company Sidanco. In 2007, Potanin and Prokhorov decided to divide the business. Potanin, a former deputy prime minister in the government of Viktor Chernomyrdin and a partner of George Soros in investing in Svyazinvest, concentrated his assets in Interros. With the support of the state, the billionaire became the largest private investor in the Winter Olympics in Sochi - he built the Rosa Khutor ski resort. In May 2014, Potanin divorced his wife Natalia and married a subordinate named Ekaterina for the second time; the couple already had a child. Natalia filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband - she demands 50% of the billionaire's assets. In the fall of 2015, the Moscow City Court rejected the claim; Natalia challenged this decision on appeal. The litigation continues.

5. Gennady Timchenko

Net worth: $11.4 billion

Change for the year: + $0.7 billion

Place in the world ranking: 85 Co-founder of Gunvor Group, one of the world's largest commodity traders, Gennady Timchenko sold 43% of the company's shares to another of its founders, Torbjorn Tornqvist, in March 2014, the day before he was included in the American sanctions list - according to the authorities USA, the billionaire is part of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Timchenko, in response to Washington’s actions, only stated that “you have to pay for everything in this life, including friendship with the president.” In 2015, he continued the sale of assets, including shares in construction companies SK Most and ARKS and the Sogaz insurance holding. Timchenko's assets today are shares in the petrochemical holding Sibur, the railway operator Transoil and the construction group Stroytransgaz. The businessman also chairs the board of directors of the Kontinental Hockey League and serves as president of the St. Petersburg hockey club SKA, winner of the 2015 Gagarin Cup.

6. Alexey Mordashov

Net worth: $10.9 billion

Change for the year: - $2.1 billion

Place in the world ranking: 93 Alexey Mordashov, the main owner of the metallurgical giant Severstal, left the post of general director of the company in 2015 after nineteen years at the helm. He also guaranteed Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would abandon short-sighted investments (amid the sale of Severstal's North American assets). In addition to the steel industry, Mordashov’s business empire extends to tourism (operator TUI), gold mining (Nordgold), and heavy engineering (Power Machines). A hereditary metallurgist, he literally grew up at the enterprise, quickly built a career and became financial director, and then bought shares and himself became the main owner of Severstal. Mordashov is on the boards of trustees of the Bolshoi Theater, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Valaam Monastery and the National Chess Federation. He speaks fluent German and is interested in poetry, art and winter sports.

7. Viktor Vekselberg

Net worth: $10.5 billion

Change for the year: - $3.7 billion

Place in the world ranking: 98 The Russian authorities entrusted Viktor Vekselberg with one of the most ambitious projects - the Skolkovo innovation city: the billionaire heads the fund of the same name, which oversees the development of the national analogue of Silicon Valley. Since 2010, the foundation has issued grants, including to Vekselberg’s structures, including $13 million for innovative energy company Hevel. In 2013, the businessman, together with his billionaire partners Mikhail Fridman and Leonard Blavatnik, sold a 50% stake in TNK-BP to the state-owned Rosneft for $28 billion and received $7 billion from the deal. He spent part of the funds on purchasing a 25% stake in the Swiss metallurgical company Schmolz+ Bickenbach. In 2014, the entrepreneur also acquired Octo Telematics, an Italian manufacturer of software for insurers. Vekselberg has a 6.2 percent stake in Bank of Cyprus. Its industrial conglomerate Renova is a strategic investor in the Swiss market. Among the main assets are shares in the industrial groups Oerlikon and Sulzer. In 2015, Vekselberg spent almost $1 billion to double his stake in Sulzer, to 63%. A native of Ukraine, the future billionaire made his first money selling scrap metal. In the 1990s, he founded the holding company SUAL. In 2007, SUAL merged assets with the Rusal group and mining company Glencore - this is how the world's largest aluminum producer UC Rusal was born, where the billionaire retains a minority stake. In addition, Vekselberg has stakes in petrochemical, consumer goods and telecommunications businesses. He owns a large art collection, including nine Faberge Easter eggs, which the billionaire bought from the Forbes family for $100 million. In November 2013, Vekselberg opened a private museum in St. Petersburg, where he exhibited his treasures. In February 2014, the businessman donated a three-room apartment in the Azimut hotel in Sochi to Olympic figure skating champions Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov. Athletes will need their own housing in the capital of the 2014 Games to realize their dream of creating a children's school, the philanthropist reasoned. In 2015, Renova transferred Azimut to the All-Russian Children's Center.

8. Vladimir Lisin

Net worth: $9.3 billion

Change for the year: - $2.3 billion

Place in the world ranking: 116 Vladimir Lisin made a fortune in steel and cargo transportation. He began his career as an electrical mechanic at the Yuzhkuzbassugol association. After graduating from the institute, he worked at metallurgical enterprises, rising from an assistant steelmaker to deputy general director of the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant. In 1991, together with his leader, who became the Minister of Metallurgy, the future billionaire moved to Moscow. He soon became a partner in the Trans-World Group, which within a few years had grown into a leading Russian exporter of aluminum and steel. By that time, Lisin had accumulated a wealth of experience in managing metallurgical production, so that during the division of assets in 2000, he naturally took ownership of the industry giant - the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works. The billionaire also controls the logistics holding UCL, which owns the First Freight Company. His most famous hobby outside of business is shooting: Lisin built the largest shooting complex in Europe, “Fox Hole,” in the Moscow region. In January 2016, the billionaire criticized the Russian defense complex for its lack of competence in the production of sporting firearms.

9. Vagit Alekperov

Net worth: $8.9 billion

Change for the year: - $3.3 billion

World ranking: 124 Vagit Alekperov heads Lukoil, the largest independent oil producer in Russia, which is exploring the West Qurna-2 field in Iraq, one of the most promising in the world. In 2016, the company plans to invest $1.5 billion in the development of its projects Alekperov is not considered a close associate of Vladimir Putin, but this did not save Lukoil from American sanctions - restrictions against the company were introduced in September 2014. The main owner of the company plans to inherit the share to his son Yusuf - on the condition that he does not sell the asset and the family remains the largest co-owner of the oil giant. Passed all career levels in oil industry, at the end of the USSR, the future billionaire even managed to work as an industry minister. In 1991 he privatized three large deposits and founded Lukoil. Alekperov is the author of the book “Russian Oil: Past, Present and Future” and the founder of the “Our Future” foundation for regional social programs, which actively supports social entrepreneurship.

10. German Khan Net worth: $8.7 billion

Change for the year: + $0.8 billion

Place in the world ranking: 128 German Khan, together with Mikhail Fridman and Alexey Kuzmichev, owns Alfa Group, the largest private financial and industrial group in Russia. He worked for a long time as executive director oil company TNK-BP, which he left in March 2013 - after the 50% share of Alfa and its partners was bought by the state-owned Rosneft for $28 billion. Khan earned $3.3 billion from the deal. In 2013, together with other Alfa members, he used part of the funds to create the company LetterOne Holdings S.A. (L1), specializing in investments in foreign assets(for example, the German oil and gas company DEA was acquired for €5.1 billion). Khan joined the board of directors of L1. The company's head office is located in London, where the billionaire bought a mansion worth $91 million in 2010. A native of Kyiv, he moved to Moscow to attend university. Together with Friedman and Kuzmichev, Khan founded the Alfa-Eco trader in 1989. Two years later, the partners created Alfa Bank, now the largest private bank in Russia. In the late 1990s, Alpha gained control of TNK and created a joint venture with British BP. Other assets of the group include mobile operator VimpelCom and retailer X5 Retail Group.

Net worth: $1.2 billion

Leonid Boguslavsky has been involved in business in the IT field since the mid-1980s. In the early 1990s, he managed to be a partner of Boris Berezovsky in the LogoVAZ company and a Russian representative of the Oracle software corporation. In 1993, the businessman exchanged his stake in LogoVAZ for a subsidiary of the company, system integrator LVZ. Four years later, Boguslavsky sold LVZ to the auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers for $10 million. The entrepreneur made the bulk of his fortune through successful venture investments, the most successful of which - in the Russian search giant Yandex - was made in the early 2000s. Boguslavsky invests through the Ru-Net and RTP Ventures funds. Among his latest investments are the German Delivery Hero, the American DataDog and FreeCharge, and the Indian SnapDeal.

Newcomer: Kirill Shamalov

Net worth: $1.2 billion

Kirill Shamalov is the youngest son of Nikolai Shamalov, a longtime acquaintance of Vladimir Putin, co-owner of Rossiya Bank. According to media reports, he is allegedly the husband of Katerina Tikhonova, the alleged daughter of the Russian President. Shamalov Jr. - graduate of St. Petersburg state university. At the age of 26, he became vice president of the Sibur petrochemical holding. In 2014, the entrepreneur acquired 17% of Sibur from another longtime acquaintance of Putin, billionaire Gennady Timchenko. In total, today Kirill Shamalov owns 21.3% of the holding - he is the second co-owner of Sibur after Leonid Mikhelson. In December 2015, the Chinese state-owned company Sinopec acquired 10% of Sibur for $1.339 billion

Forbes magazine estimated that there were 2,208 billionaires in the world in 2018, up from 2,043 in 2017. And the average wealth of these people is $4.1 billion, which is equivalent to or even greater than the GDP of some countries in the world. And collectively, all billionaires in the world are worth $9.1 trillion, up from $7.7 trillion in 2017.

According to Forbes list 67% (1490) of billionaires are so-called “self-made men”. That is, they did not inherit wealth, but earned it through their own labor.

Top 100 richest people in the world 2018 (Forbes)

We present to you the top 10 richest businessmen of 2018 from the list.

10. Larry Ellison

Net worth: $58.5 billion

The ranking opens with the ex-CEO of Oracle, which ranks second after Microsoft in the software market. Ellison left his position as CEO in 2014 after 38 years at the helm of the company. He is now the Chief Technology Officer.

His strategy to develop cloud technologies has brought Oracle shares up 18 percent over the past 12 months.

9. David Koch

Co-owner and executive vice president of multinational corporation Koch controls the second largest private company in the United States. Charles and David Koch bought shares of their brothers Frederick and William to gain control of their father's company.

It is known that the Koch company is engaged in the creation of consumer goods, chemical technologies, the production of fertilizers and polymers, and owns oil refineries and pipelines. And this is not a complete list of her interests.

David Koch escaped death twice. In 1991, he was the only survivor after the plane he was flying in crashed. He also won his battle against prostate cancer. He is a generous donor who has donated more than $1.2 billion to cancer research programs. educational programs and other charitable needs.

8. Charles Koch

Wealth: $60 billion

The 82-year-old businessman is general director Koch Corporation. It has more than one hundred thousand employees.

7. Carlos Slim Helu

Owns: $67.1 billion

Mexico's richest resident controls America Movil, Latin America's largest operator mobile communications. In addition, Carlos Slim has interests in the mining industry, foreign telecommunications, construction, real estate, and a number of companies producing consumer goods. He also owns a 17% stake in The New York Times.

6. Amancio Ortega

Capital: $70 billion

The source of this Spanish billionaire's wealth is Zara Inditex, a Spanish fashion line. Ortega once worked as an errand boy for local store clothes. And now he owns over 200 stores in 48 countries.

But even with all this money, Ortega maintains a modest lifestyle. He eats lunch in the same canteen where his employees eat.

5. Mark Zuckerberg

Net worth: $71 billion

This is not the first time that the founder and CEO of Facebook is among the top five. richest billionaires. His already fantastic wealth has grown by $15 billion in a year as Facebook's share price soars and investors scramble to buy a stake in the popular social network.

For all his billion-dollar capital, Mark Zuckerberg does not look like a classic “greedy capitalist.” He is one of the three. Together with his wife Priscilla, Mark donated $25 million to fight Ebola in 2015. In addition, the Zuckerbergs donated $100 million worth of stock to improve the public school system in New Jersey.

4. Bernard Arnault

Total earnings: $72 billion

Bernard is the founder of the LVMH consortium, which deals with luxury goods. It includes more than seventy luxury brands. All of them are controlled by the parent company Groupe Arnault.

3. Warren Buffett

Number of billions: $84 billion

Since Donald Trump became president, Warren Buffett has had one of the best times of his life. Thanks to tax reform Trump's Berkshire Hathaway investment fund, owned by Buffett, received a record profit of $44.9 billion. Of this amount, 29 billion came after the US Congress approved one of the largest cuts in the history of the country. tax payments in the federal budget.

Warren is the most successful investor of all time and proudly holds the title of "Oracle of Omaha." At age eleven, he purchased three shares on the US stock market. They cost $38 each. Buffett later sold them, making a $5 profit on each share. And a few days later the price of these securities soared to $202. This first unsuccessful experience taught the future billionaire that he should not pursue short-term gain.

Now the 87-year-old businessman owns over 60 companies, including Dairy Queen, Duracell, Geico, and others.

2. Bill Gates

Net worth: $90 billion

The name of the “father” of Microsoft is unlikely to disappear from the list of the richest entrepreneurs anytime soon. Over the past 23 years, he has been named the king of billionaires 18 times. Today, the founder of Microsoft, the world's largest PC software company, is worth $90 billion. This is more than 4.7 times the state.

And, like many rich people in the West, Gates does not forget about charitable needs. His Gates Foundation has provided funds to improve the lives and health of children in different countries peace.

1. Jeff Bezos

Wealth: $112 billion

Here he is, the richest man on Earth according to Forbes. Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon, the largest player in the e-commerce market.

Jeff Bezos was able to take a place at the top of the global “money pyramid” due to the sharp growth of his company’s shares. Over the year, their price increased by 59%, which increased Bezos’ fortune by $39.2 billion.

There are more than 7.4 billion people on planet Earth, but only a very small part of them have the ability to change the world. Forbes magazine presents ranking of the most influential people in the world. The selection of participants was made according to the following criteria: the number of people over whom the candidate has power; fortune and fame.

10. Mark Zuckerberg

The youngest influential person on the planet according to Forbes. Mark is only 32 years old, while other participants on average are already in their sixties. In 2016, he made a breakthrough, rising 9 positions in the rankings, and also became the year. With all their wealth (Mark is worth $50 billion), Zuckerberg and his wife do not forget about charity. In September 2016, he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to spend $3 billion to eradicate all diseases in the world by the end of the century.

9. Narendra Modi

Narendra's popularity among the people of India is becoming greater and greater. Even the sudden currency reform in order to combat corruption. In November 2016, the 66-year-old prime minister suddenly ordered the cancellation of India's two highest denomination notes, prompting the public to storm exchange offices.

8. Larry Page

In eighth position is the developer of the world famous search engine Google. Last year, Google was reorganized and is now one of the subsidiaries Alphabet associations. Larry serves as chairman of the board there.

7. Bill Gates

A man worth $83.8 billion can afford extravagant gestures, such as setting up a chicken coop in one of the Manhattan skyscrapers. But don’t think anything negative – this is all part of the fight against poverty. Bill Gates is simply fascinated by chickens and believes that breeding these animals is a sure way for the African population to get out of poverty.

6. Janet Yellen

American economist and head of the US Federal Reserve System, which oversees the activities of banks and other financial institutions. Her popularity among ordinary Americans adds that Janet prefers to express herself as clearly, clearly and understandably as possible, which makes her one of.

5. Pope Francis

The only religious leader and the oldest participant in the ranking of the most influential people on the planet. Pope Francis is already 79 years old! However, he is quite cheerful and continues to inspire his gigantic flock (according to statistics - 1.3 billion people).

4. Xi Jinping

From the very beginning of his presidency in 2012, Xi Jinping set a course for reform and the fight against corruption. The popularity of the Chinese leader is also enhanced by his openness, which is unconventional for China - for example, he recently allowed the publication of detailed description one day from your life.

3. Angela Merkel

Forbes regards Merkel as the last bastion of the liberal West against Russia's growing influence. In 2016, Angela, as a supporter of the European Union, had to cope with the consequences of Brexit, and also had to somehow assimilate the migrants who had flooded Germany, the number of which had already exceeded a million. In 2017, the Germans will hold parliamentary elections, the result of which will show how the German people evaluate Merkel's policies.

2. Donald Trump

An unexpected result: the first billionaire in office took only second place in the top 10 most influential people of 2016. It seems that some Americans, especially the middle and upper classes, traditionally committed to liberal values, are ashamed of their president. True, they prefer to vent their anger not directly, but on Trump’s wife and children. Donald himself promises to devote himself completely to presidential affairs, and entrust the management of his entire vast real estate empire to his children.

1. Vladimir Putin

The Russian president has long arms - he has reached not only Syria, but even the USA! Rumor has it that Donald Trump is a Kremlin protege, and the scandal over alleged election interference by Russian hackers has only added to the heat of fears dating back to the Cold War. Both Putin and Trump, of course, deny their involvement in each other's political affairs, but not everyone believes them.

On March 1, the American Forbes announced its annual world ranking of dollar billionaires, the 30th in a row. The list included 1,810 people, 16 less than last year. Their total wealth is $6.48 trillion, $570 billion less than a year earlier. The list is “getting younger”: a record number of participants, 67, were under 40 years old. The value of assets owned by billionaires was estimated as of February 13, 2016. Read more about the leaders of the global rating below.

1. Bill Gates

Bill Gates is again at the top of the Forbes global list for the 17th time in the last 22 years. For several years now, he has been talked about not only as the founder of Microsoft, but also as one of the world's most generous philanthropists - the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works, in particular, to improve medical care and vaccinations in developing countries. In total, Gates has already allocated $31.5 billion to philanthropic projects. In December 2015, Gates, along with 20 other billionaires, took part in the Climate Summit in Paris. Businessmen took the initiative to invest in the development of clean energy. “Our main goal,” Gates said, “is to unite to achieve results in the development of clean energy.” The Microsoft founder managed to attract Mark Zuckerberg, Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma and Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote to the project.

20% of Gates' fortune this year brought him 3% of Microsoft shares, which the businessman owns. His other investments include investments in Canadian National Railway, American engineering company Deere & Co., waste management company Republic Services, and Ecolab. In October 2015, Gates invested in Impossible Foods, a startup that grows plant-based foods that can replace meat.

Latest trends in the world of the rich

How does the 2016 list differ from the previous one? Firstly, there are as many as 16 fewer people on it than in 2015 - there are 1,810 people on the list. Probably, the global crisis is having an effect. Additionally, the billionaires on the list have a combined wealth of $6.48 trillion. This figure also decreased by 570 billion compared to 2015. Another “value” has also changed – the members of the list have become younger. From total number almost seven dozen people have not yet reached 40 years of age.

World billionaires. Who's on the list?

Let's find out who is on the list of the richest people in the world. Of course, it is impossible to describe almost 2 thousand people. So we'll take the top ten.

• Bill Gates. The founder of the world-famous Microsoft corporation is once again at the very top of the list. His fortune as of March of this year was estimated at $75 billion. Over the past year, the businessman has lost 4 billion. An American has headed the top ten richest people in the world for the 17th time in the last two decades. But Gates is known not only for his huge fortune, but also for his charity. The Foundation, jointly with his wife, focuses on vaccinations in developing countries and improving the level of medical care. If you count how much the philanthropist has donated to charity over the entire period, this figure will be $31 billion. The American has numerous profitable investments, including not only his own creation, but also the Canadian National Railway, waste treatment plant, mechanical engineering. Last year, Bill Gates became one of the investors in the original startup Impossible Food. Its creators decided to grow products that could replace meat.

• Amancio Ortega. Next on the list is a 79-year-old Spanish retailer. His fortune as of March 2016 was $67 billion. In 1975, the son of a railway worker created the Zara company. After 5 years, the network has already begun to expand beyond Spain. Today this brand is well-known in various cities around the world, and its founder himself, thanks to strict management and proper investments, today ranks second after the creator of Microsoft in the list of the richest people on the planet. From 2009 and over the next five years, thanks to the rapid growth of shares of his company Inditex, Ortega's fortune grew by $45 billion. And 2015 added another $2.5 billion to the total.

• Warren Buffett. At the beginning of 2016, the 85-year-old American’s fortune amounted to $60.8 billion. But last year cost him almost 12 billion in losses. The main source of his wealth is the investment corporation Berkshire Hathaway. Last year, it bought the metallurgical holding Precision Castparts, which is the most successful deal in the entire history of the enterprise. In addition, Buffett's corporation is actively investing in the food industry ( Burger King, the famous coffee chain Tim Hortons), is buying up shares in the oil industry and collaborating with corporations such as Coca-Cola and IBM. He is also the owner of many other successful businesses. The billionaire himself believes that his first and best investment– studying Benjamin Graham’s book “The Smart Investor” in the long-ago year of 1949. After that, under the “patronage” of Graham himself, he began his active work, which brings him success today.

• Carlos Slim Helu. A native of Mexico took an honorable fourth place in the top 10 richest people in the world in 2016 with a fortune of $50 billion. True, last year dealt a heavy blow to his well-being: the businessman suffered losses of 27 billion. The main reason is that the shares of his television operator America Movil seriously collapsed after the actions of the country's authorities. Carlos Slim Helu also remains one of the largest investors in The New York Times. Mexico's richest citizen controls large enterprises in the fields of finance, industry and infrastructure.

• Larry Ellison. The 71-year-old founder of Oracle, a man of many interests and skills, was worth $43.6 billion at the beginning of the year. Moreover, its losses over the past 12 months amounted to almost 11 billion. Before founding Oracle in 1977, the talented software developer managed to work for American intelligence. Today he is one of the largest sponsors of traditional sailing competitions, as an avid sailing enthusiast. In 2014, Ellison voluntarily resigned as CEO of Oracle, but retained the positions of chairman of the board of directors and director of technology development. The businessman is actively engaged in buying real estate. For example, in 2012 he acquired the cozy Hawaiian island of Lanai. The daughter of a billionaire, Megan does not hide in the shadow of her rich father, but is herself a successful film producer.

• Michael Bloomberg took a respectable eighth position on the 2016 list of the world's richest people. financial condition at the beginning of the year it was 40 billion, and the increase in 2015 was 4.5 billion. The 74-year-old American resigned as mayor of New York in 2013. And two years later he returned to big business. As you might guess, his brainchild is the news agency Bloomberg LP. He decided to modernize his creation, focusing on his profile - finance and business. The businessman does not forget about charity. He has already spent a total of 3.8 billion on it.

• Charles and David Koch. The last two places in the top ten "money bags" of the globe are occupied by the Koch brothers, owners of the family holding Koch Industries. Charles's fortune, like David's, is 39.6 billion. Last year they suffered losses of 3 billion each. The brothers' company specializes in the construction of pipelines, the production of building materials and many other goods, and oil refining. The company's revenue is $115 billion. Like many other billionaires, the brothers are actively involved in charity work. Their main direction is the educational sphere.

Many of the famous multi-billionaires started their journey from the very bottom. An extraordinary mind, a desire for new knowledge and skills, development, entrepreneurial flair and profitable deals and operations have brought them to today's high level. These are people who were not afraid to take risks, discover new things and calculate their actions in advance. And every year more and more young people appear among the most respectable people on the planet. And if Bill Gates is the richest person in the world in 2016, who knows to whom he will lose the palm in a couple of years.