Musk was valued at $ 219 billion on March 11 – when Forbes’s list of global billionaires closed his net worth – after adding $ 68 billion to his fortune last year. This was helped by the jump of 33% of the share price of Tesla, its automaker. He was among the 2,668 billionaires found by Forbes in the list – a number that was lower than last year’s record 2,755. Among them, this year’s billionaires are worth $ 12.7 trillion (9 9.7 trillion), down from 13.1 trillion last year. Some 236 people became billionaires for the first time, including pop star Rihanna and New Zealand director Peter Jackson. Barbados, Bulgaria, Estonia and Uruguay each acquired their first billionaires. The US has the largest number of billionaires – 735, up from 724 last year – while China (including Hong Kong and Macao) came in second with 607. India has 166, Germany 134 and Russia 83. There were 34 fewer Russian billionaires on the list this year, who were hit by sanctions and the fall in the value of shares and the ruble after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Forbes reports that the wealth of Russian billionaires fell by more than $ 260 billion (198 198 billion) last year. China’s billionaires have been hit by a government crackdown on technology companies, weaker stocks and troubled real estate, leaving its billionaires about $ 500 billion (3 380 billion) poorer than they were a year ago, though Forbes estimated that their total value is still $ 1.96 trillion (£ 1.5 trillion). Forbes found 327 billionaire women, most of whom inherited their fortunes, including the richest woman in the world Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, whose grandfather founded the beauty giant L’Oréal. About 101 women on the list are self-made billionaires – the richest of whom is Fan Hongwei, who chairs Chinese chemical fiber supplier Hengli Petrochemical and is worth about $ 18.2 billion (£ 13.8 billion). The richest billionaires in the world according to Forbes: 1 – Elon Musk, based in Texas, USA, with a net worth of $ 219 billion from Tesla and Space X Image: Elon Musk Image: Jeff Bezos 3 – Bernard Arnault and his family, living in Paris, with a fortune of $ 158 billion from the luxury goods company LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) Image: Bernard Arnault 4 – Bill Gates, who lives in the state of Washington, USA, with a net worth of 129 billion dollars from Microsoft Image: Bill Gates 5 – Warren Buffet, who lives in the state of Nebraska, USA, with a net worth of 118 billion dollars from the multinational group Berkshire Hathaway Image: Warren Buffett 6 – Larry Page, who lives in the US state of California, with a net worth of $ 111 billion from Google Image: Larry Page 7 – Sergey Brin, who lives in the US state of California, with a net worth of 107 billion dollars from Google Image: Sergey Brin 8 – Larry Ellison, who lives in Hawaii, with a net worth of $ 106 billion from software Image: Larry Ellison 9 – Steve Ballmer, who lives in the US state of Washington, with a net worth of $ 91.4 billion from Microsoft Image: Steve Ballmer. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports 10 – Mukesh Ambani, who lives in India, with a fortune of $ 90.7 billion from Reliance Industries, which has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecommunications and retail Image: Mukesh Ambani
