Who is the world's richest person?

Elon Musk continues to hold on to the title of world's richest person despite a tumultuous first half of the year for Tesla.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world's richest people, Musk's total net worth is $210 billion, down from the end of last year but just enough to keep him above Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who claims second spot with $209 billion.

In truth, the title "richest person in the world" changes hands quite often between a very small group of very rich men – and they are nearly always men. The first woman to appear on the list is Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, vice-chair of L'Oréal and granddaughter of the firm's founder, who comes in at 16th place with an estimated net worth of $95.3 billion.

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Here we look at the top 10 richest billionaires in the world right now and where they rank according to the Bloomberg index.

1. Elon Musk: $210 billion

Elon Musk is known as the eccentric and outspoken chief executive of electric car giant Tesla, founder and CEO of SpaceX and owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter. His vast wealth derives from his shares in Tesla and stake in SpaceX, which has nearly quintupled its value in four years and is now worth nearly $180 billion, said Forbes. 

At the start of the year Tesla stock dropped nearly 30%, with the firm "beset by a variety of woes, including lots of recalls and stiffer competition in the electric vehicle market", said Quartz. But despite disappointing first quarter results "since late April, it’s remained relatively stable", says The Motley Fool.

2. Jeff Bezos: $209 billion

Former hedge fund manager Jeff Bezos started Amazon in his garage in 1994. He has invested heavily in space technology too, having founded Blue Origin as a "pet project" back in 2000. After stepping down as Amazon CEO he took on the new role of executive chair. He also owns The Washington Post newspaper. The multibillionaire boosted his fortune when in early February when he sold 24 million Amazon shares, worth around $4 billion.

3. Bernard Arnault: $205 billion

When it comes to "the world of luxury goods", perhaps no one is "more successful" than Bernard Arnault, said Business Insider. The Frenchman oversees the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton empire of more than 70 brands, including Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, TAG Heuer, Christian Dior and Dom Pérignon. Unlike almost everyone else on this list his fortune is not derived from technology stock, meaning that his net worth is less prone to the whims of the markets.

4. Mark Zuckerberg: $181 billion

Zuckerberg famously dropped out of Harvard to pursue his dream of starting social media site Facebook, which now boasts nearly three billion users worldwide. He remains CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with a 13% stake. Having dropped out of the top 10, Zuckerberg made a dramatic return to Bloomberg's list last year, driven by a 150% rise in Meta's stock price, making it "one of the best-performing technology stocks of 2023", said The Times. Its stock has continued this strong performance into the new year, surging over 30% in January, said The Motley Fool – seeing Zuckerberg's net worth rise by tens of billions of dollars and catapulting him up the table.

5.  Larry Page: $163 billion

Internet entrepreneur Larry Page is one of the co-founders of Google, which he started while a PhD student at Stanford in 1998. He stepped down as CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc in December 2019 but remains a board member. Last year, Page and his fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin, "who've been helping with the AI push and are more involved in the company than they've been in years", added more than $18 billion to their combined wealth as a direct result of the artificial intelligence "frenzy" sweeping Silicon Valley, said Fortune.

6. Bill Gates: $157 billion

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been a permanent fixture near the top of the rich list for the best part of three decades, despite selling and then giving away much of his stake in the tech company. He now owns just 1% and focuses predominantly on his philanthropic work. Gates has already given away an "astounding $59 billion" through his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which advances education and public health initiatives around the globe, and has vowed to donate as much as 99.96% of his wealth in total, said financial news site The Street.

7. Steve Ballmer: $155 billion

The former CEO of Microsoft led the tech giant from 2000 to 2014, after joining as one of its first employees in 1980. By the time he stepped down a decade ago he was believed to have around a 4% stake in the company, which would see him collect an annual dividend "just shy of $1 billion", said CNN. It comes after Microsoft joined Apple to become a $3 trillion company this year. Ballmer is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. 

8. Sergey Brin: $153 billion

Born in Moscow to Jewish parents, the family left for the US when Brin was six due to antisemitism. Co-founding Google with his Stanford classmate Larry Page, Brin served as head of technology from 2001 to 2011 before transitioning to the role of "director of special projects", helping transform the company into an "internet powerhouse", said Outlook India. He was president of Alphabet Inc until December 2019 and "remains a board member and a controlling shareholder", said Forbes.

9. Larry Ellison: $152 billion

American business magnate Larry Ellison is co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle, which he started in 1977. He stepped down as CEO in 2017 but still owns around 35% of the software giant. A big donor to the Republican Party, the 79-year-old is known as America's "most avid trophy-home buyer", and now owns a property portfolio worth well over $1 billion, reported the South China Morning Post, snapping up "everything from mega mansions and hotels to temples and whole islands".

10. Warren Buffett: $136 billion 

Warren Buffett was 11 years old when he first bought stock, according to Forbes. Now in his ninth decade, the Berkshire Hathaway chief executive, known as the "Oracle of Omaha", is one of the most successful investors of all time. Like Gates, Buffett has pledged to give away more than 99% of his fortune to charity.