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The 5 richest men in the world and how they got there.

How famous billionaires obtained and maintained their wealth.

By Cheryl E PrestonPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Billionaire Howard Hughes

The average working American is thankful for a yearly salary of 5 figures annually. The richest among us within our society however are billionaires which is a financial status that most of us cannot even consider attaining. One of the most famous billionaires of all time was Howard Hughes who began making his fortune at the age of 18 through his father's oil drilling business. His earnings increased thanks to Hughes Aircraft Company, property in Los Vegas Nevada, RKO Pictures Corporation, and a controlling interest in Trans World Airlines.

Hughes died in a plane crash in 1976 and had a net worth of 2.1 billion dollars which would be the equivalent of $11 billion dollars today. There are quite a few men who are members of the billionaire's club in our current society. They have obtained and maintained their fortune through a variety of sources. Following is a list of the 5 males who currently are considered to be at the top. They are all well known and it should not be surprising that they have achieved this level of success.

Jeff Bezos

1. Jeff Bezos age 58

At the top of the list is Jeff Bezos who lives in Seattle, Washington where in 1994 he founded Amazon.com in a garage. He continues to be the CEO of Amazon and his net worth is said to be a whopping $177 billion. Bezos currently owns 11% of the company he founded which accounts for $174 billion of his fortune. He also owns $7.15 billion in a private asset named Blue Origin, $250 million in other privates assets, and $9.75 billion in cash. BIn 1999 Bezos became the first man since Bill Gates to achieve a net worth of more than $100 billion.

Elon Musk

2. Elon Musk age 50

Musk who is second on the list resides in Austin, Texas.He is the Co-founder and CEO of Tesla which was formerly known as Telsa Motors which is an electric vehicle company. He owns a 20% stake in the business and his net worth is $151 billion. He also has $29.8 billion in private assets from Space Exploration Technologies and $101 million from Boring Company. In 2020, Telsa's stock price experienced an astronomical surge of 705%.

Bernard Arnault

3. Bernard Arnault age 72

Arnault is third on the list and his net worth is $150 billion. He is the Chairman and CEO of LVMH (LVMUY). This is the world's largest luxury goods company and includes Hennesey, Sephora, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and numerous others. He has a 97.5% stake in Christian Dior that is worth $109 billion. He has a $21.4 billion public asset in Moelis & Company equity, 2,23 billion public asset Hermes equity, 1.26 billion public asset in Carrefour equity, and $4.50 billion in cash.

4. Bill Gates age 66

Gates resides in Medina, Washington and is the Co-Founder of Microsoft Corp. His net worth is $124 billion. his stake in Microsoft is 1.3% (25.8 billion). other assets owned by Gates include John Deere equity, $11.8 billion public asset, the Canadian National Railway equity($11.8 billion public asset, E#colab equity $6.59 billion public asset, Givaudan equity $4.39 billion public asset. FEMSA equity $2,22 billion public asset. Waste Management equity,$1.93 billion public asset), Berkshire Hathaway equity ($1.72 billion public asset, AutoNation equity $1.67 billion public asset, Diageo equity $1.56 billion public asset, and Arch Capital Group equity $1.39 billion public asset.

5. Mark Zuckerberg age 37

 The Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Facebook is 5th and last on the list of wealthiest men. Zuckerburg resides in Palo Californian and his net worth is $97 billion. His stake in Facebook is 13% which equals $115 billion. His other assets include $2.93 billion in cash and $225 million in real estate.

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About the Creator

Cheryl E Preston

Cheryl is a widow who enjoys writing about current events, soap spoilers and baby boomer nostalgia. Tips are greatly appreciated.

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