Jeff Bezos dethrones Bill Gates as world’s richest person

Forbes Magazine , a leading source for reliable business news and financial information, has released the 2018 billionaires’ list with Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO topping with a fortune of $112 billion.

Bezos dethroned Bill Gates, worth $90 billion who has been the richest person in the world for 18 of the past 24 years, while Warren Buffett, took the third spot on the list with a net worth of $84 billion.

Forbes pinned down a record 2,208 billionaires from seventy-two (72) countries and territories including the first ever from Hungary and Zimbabwe.

The entrepreneurs around the globe mint fortunes in everything from cryptocurrencies to telecom to bridal dresses with a combined net worth of worth $9.1 trillion which is equal to approximately half the GDP of the United States, the world’s largest economy and up 18% since last year.

Americans lead the 2018 billionaires’ list with a record of 585 billionaires, followed by Greater China (including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) with 476, Germany with 123, India with 119 and Russia with 102. California alone has 144 billionaires, more than any single country besides the U.S. and China.

Bernard Arnault, with a fortune of $72 billion, reclaims the title of richest European for the first time since 2012.

There are 259 newcomers including the first ever cryptocurrency billionaires; two Canadians whose toy company is behind Hatchimals and PAW Patrol; two Americans who founded online retailer Wayfair; and a 35-year-old heiress who runs In-N-Out Burger.

Despite such a strong year, 121 dropped out due to falling fortunes or political headwinds, including all 10 Saudi Arabians.

Here’s the top 10 list:

Jeff Bezos | Amazon | $112 billion
Bill Gates | Microsoft | $90 billion
Warren Buffett | Berkshire Hathaway | $84 billion
Bernard Arnault & family | LVMH | $72 billion
Mark Zuckerberg | Facebook | $71 billion
Amancio Ortega | Zara | $70 billion
Carlos Slim Helu & family | telecom |$67.1 billion
Charles Koch | Koch Industries |$60 billion
David Koch | Koch Industries | $60 billion
Larry Ellison | software | $58.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani, the energy and petrochemicals magnate, who keeps his standing as the richest Indian, is richer by $16.9 billion in 2018 with assets of $40.1 billion.

Here is a list of the richest Indians on the Forbes list with assets over $8 billion. (Their global rank is shown before their names and the sector and value of assets as listed by Forbes follow their names.)

19 Mukesh Ambani ($40.1 billion, petrochemicals, oil & gas)

58 Azim Premji ($18.8 billion , software services)

62 Lakshmi Mittal ($18.5 billion, steel)

98 Shiv Nadar ($14.6 billion, software services)

115 Dilip Shanghvi ($12.8 billion, pharmaceuticals)

127 Kumar Birla ($11.8 billion, commodities)

143 Uday Kotak ($10.7 billion, banking)

151 Radhakishan Damani ($10 billion, investments, retail)

154 Gautam Adani ($9.7 billion, commodities, ports)

170 Cyrus Poonawalla ($9.1 billion, vaccines)

176 Savitri Jindal ($8.8 billion, steel)

176 Sunil Mittal ($8.8 billion, telecom).

Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote who is Africa’s richest man sits on number 100 with a fortune of $14.1 billion in the 2018 billionaires’ list released by Forbes.