Billionaires have a tremendous impact on the world’s politics, economy, and philanthropy. According to Forbes, there will be 2,668 billionaires worldwide in 2022.
Their wealth makes them members of an even more exclusive club and gives them more influence. The businesses of some of these billionaires still own a significant portion of their fortunes.
Ever wondered who the richest people in America are? You’re about to find out!
The Top-Earning Americans According to Net Worth
Their net worth sorts this list of wealthiest Americans. It is based on information from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and a Forbes annual assessment of wealth and assets.
1. Elon Musk
- Age: 51
- Residence: Texas
- Co-founder and CEO: Tesla
- Net Worth: $263 billion
- Tesla Ownership Stake: 15% ($90.6 billion)
- Other Assets: Space Exploration Technologies ($46.9 billion private asset), The Boring Company ($3.33 billion personal investment), Twitter ($16.2 billion public asset)
Tesla tycoon Elon Musk leads the list of the wealthiest person in the US – and indeed the world – has increased his fortune by $60 billion in the last twelve months.
Elon Musk has a combined net worth of $263 billion. He is the founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, an electric car company. Musk is also the chairman and chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a company that makes rockets for space launches. The company makes several billion in sales per year.
2. Jeff Bezos
- Age: 58
- Residence: Washington
- Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon
- Net Worth: $195 billion
- Amazon Ownership Stake: 10% ($102 billion)
- Other Assets: Blue Origin ($9.15 billion private asset), The Washington Post ($250 million personal investment), and $14.1 billion in cash
Amazon is predicted to surpass Walmart as the biggest retailer in the world by 2024. Jeff Bezos became the company’s executive chair after leaving his position as the e-commerce behemoth’s CEO on July 5, 2021.
While he’s stepped down from the CEO role and has sold large amounts of Amazon stock, his ranking will likely still tie in closely to the company’s performance for the foreseeable future. Bezos net worth is now $195 billion.
Amazon’s share price increased 76% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s increased desire for online shopping.
3. Bill Gates
- Age: 67
- Residence: Washington
- Co-founder: Microsoft
- Net Worth: $135 billion
- Microsoft Ownership Stake: 1.3% ($23.9 billion)
- Other Assets: Cascade Investment LLC ($51.66 billion public assets), $54 billion in cash
Bill Gates is the third richest person in the US, with an estimated net worth of $135 billion. He co-founded Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975.
In 2008, Gates transitioned from CEO of the business to board chair. His resignation from both boards was effective March 13, 2020.
Microsoft, the most prominent software maker in the world, also makes a line of personal computers, offers email services via its Exchange server, and sells video gaming consoles and related accessories. It recently made significant investments in cloud services.
In July, Gates announced that he was pledging another $20 billion to charity through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, taking his total lifetime donations past the $50 billion mark.
He has previously stated his intention to give away the vast majority of his fortune during his lifetime.
4. Larry Ellison
- Age: 78
- Residence: Hawaii
- Co-founder, Chair, and CTO: Oracle
- Net Worth: $93.7 billion
- Oracle Ownership Stake: 40%+ ($65.6 billion)
- Other Assets: Tesla equity ($10.2 billion public asset), $17.2 billion in cash and real estate
In 1966, Ellison left the University of Chicago and relocated to California, where he worked as a computer programmer.
He started working for Ampex in 1973 when he met future business partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner.
Three years later, Ellison changed jobs and became vice president of research and development at Precision Instruments.
5. Mark Zuckerberg
- Age: 37
- Residence: California
- Co-founder, Chair, and CEO: Facebook
- Net Worth: $117.5 billion
- Facebook Ownership Stake: 27% ($86 billion)
- Other Assets: $17.6 billion in cash and real estate
A student at Harvard University, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes were his roommates when they founded Facebook in February 2004.
The website was first started on a few college campuses, but it quickly gained popularity and eventually reached one billion users by 2012.
In May 2012, Zuckerberg went public with the business and most of the shares. He was the youngest self-made billionaire in the world in 2007, when he was only 23 years old.
According to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires, Zuckerberg was the 5th richest person in America as of November 2022, with a net worth of $117.5 billion.
6. Larry Page
- Age: 49
- Residence: California
- Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
- Net Worth: $117.3 billion
- Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($73.7 billion total)
- Other Assets: $14.1 billion in cash
Similar to a number of the other software billionaires on this list, Larry Page started his journey to notoriety and riches in a college dorm room. In 1995, Page and his friend Sergey Brin developed the concept of bettering internet data extraction while they were both students at Stanford University.
The two came up with a brand-new search engine technology they called Backrub since it could evaluate links to a page.
From there, Page and Brin founded Google in 1998. Page led the firm as CEO from 1998 to 2001 and from 2011 to 2019.
With more than 92% of all internet searches conducted globally, Google is the most popular search engine on the planet.
The business bought YouTube, the most popular website for user-submitted videos, in 2006.
Google acquired Android in 2005, and in 2008 the Android mobile operating system was made available.
In 2015, Google underwent a reorganization and became a division of the holding company Alphabet.
7. Warren Buffett
- Age: 92
- Residence: Nebraska
- CEO: Berkshire Hathaway
- Net Worth: $115.6 billion
- Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 16% ($102 billion)
- Other Assets: $1.05 billion in cash and $15 billion in government bonds
Berkshire Hathaway is a massive holding company that owns several other businesses, including GEICO, BNSF, Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen, and Helzberg Diamonds. It also has partial stakes in several other blue-chip companies like Kraft Heinz, Wells Fargo, and Coca-Cola.
Buffett is often considered to be the most successful investor of all time.
In 2017, Buffett made headlines when he announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer.
8.Steve Ballmer -$99.9 billion
- Age: 63
- Residence: Washington
- Co-founder and Former CEO: Microsoft
- Net Worth: $99.9 billion
- Ownership Stake: 4% ($26.8 billion)
- Other Assets: $25.8 billion in cash and real estate
Steve Ballmer is the former CEO of Microsoft, a position he held from 2000 to 2014. Satya Nadella succeeded him.
He also owns the Los Angeles Clippers, which he purchased for $2 billion in 2014.
Ballmer is a graduate of Harvard University.
9. Michael Bloomberg-$69 billion
- Age: 78
- Residence: New York City
- Founder, Owner, and CEO: Bloomberg L.P.
- Net Worth: $69 billion
- Bloomberg L.P. Ownership Stake: 88%
- Other Assets: $4.8 billion in cash and real estate
Michael Bloomberg is the founder, owner, and CEO of Bloomberg L.P., a financial software, data, and media company.
He is also the former mayor of New York City, serving three terms from 2002 to 2013.
Bloomberg was a Democrat when he first ran for mayor but later became a Republican. He has been described as a political independent.
He considered running for president in 2016 as an independent candidate but ultimately decided not to run.
Conclusion
According to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list, these are lists of the wealthiest people in America as of November 2022.
