The world's 20 richest people, the big thing they have in common

Meet the ultra-exclusive clique worth a dozen digits apiece

The age of the centibillionaires is here. Now 20-strong, the immensely powerful members of the club wield their $100 billion+ fortunes to drive technological progress, transform economies, influence global politics, and more. Their jaw-dropping wealth enables them to pursue ambitions as grand as eradicating all diseases and colonizing Mars.

Click or scroll on to discover the 20 people with the kind of money to make virtually anything happen, ranked by their total fortunes today.

Net worth estimates are courtesy of the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, published in March 2026. All dollar amounts in US dollars.

The rise of the centibillionaires

The first centibillionaire was Bill Gates, who briefly reached the milestone in 1999 amid the dot-com boom, before his fortune plummeted by almost half when the bubble burst.

Jeff Bezos followed in 2017 when his wealth also hit 12 figures, thanks to a Black Friday-driven surge in Amazon stock. Bill Gates made a triumphant return to the club in 2019, exited in 2020, and returned again in 2021, when he and Bezos were joined by Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault. By last year, the number of centibillionaires had climbed to 15. The total now stands at 20 in 2026.

So who are the 20 lucky members?

20. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers and family: $100 billion

The richest woman in the world before Alice Walton took the crown, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers briefly achieved centibillionaire status in 2024, dropped out of the club in 2025, and squeezed her way back in this year. Whether she can stay a fully paid-up member depends on how L'Oréal stock performs.

Bettencourt Meyers and her family own more than a third of the French cosmetics colossus, which has been on a rollercoaster ride over the past few years. Flagging sales in China, one of its key markets, and a general downturn in consumer spending have led to continued fluctuations in the company's stock price.

19. Bill Gates, net worth: $108 billion

The first centibillionaire, Bill Gates is also making a major difference by funneling his enormous wealth into philanthropic endeavors. The former Microsoft boss has signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away the majority of his wealth.

The charitable foundation Gates set up with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates in 2000 has donated over $100 billion, equivalent to the size of the Bulgarian economy. Its work includes major efforts to eradicate polio, develop vaccines for numerous diseases, and address issues like HIV/AIDS and agricultural development in developing nations.

18. Michael Bloomberg, net worth: $109 billion

Michael Bloomberg became a member of the dozen-digit cohort in 2024. The media mogul embodies the intersection of extreme wealth and political ambition. After serving as New York City Mayor, Bloomberg leveraged the fortune he gleaned from his eponymous media and financial information company to fund a 2020 presidential run.

These days, Bloomberg devotes much of his time to charity and is among America's foremost philanthropists, having promised to give away the bulk of his fortune. To date, he's donated over $25 billion to an array of good causes.

17. Changpeng Zhao, net worth: $110 billion

The richest crypto tycoon by a wide margin, Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, is the founder and former CEO of Binance, the world's leading crypto exchange. He was forced to step down in 2023 following a US investigation and went on to serve four months in prison for violating money laundering laws. Zhao was pardoned by Donald Trump in 2025.

Despite his conviction, CZ still owns 90% of Binance and holds a substantial number of BNB tokens. With the company thriving and the token hitting new heights, CZ's wealth has risen accordingly. It's now at $110 billion, up from $62.9 billion last year.

16. Carlo Slim Helú and family, net worth: $125 billion

Carlos Slim Helú reigned supreme as the world's richest person from 2010 to 2013 and is no stranger to centibillionaire status, achieving it at the start of 2024. Together with his family, the Mexican business magnate owns 76% of the vast conglomerate Grupo Carso, which counts mobile telecoms titan América Móvil among its extensive portfolio.

Grupo Carso's stock tumbled throughout much of 2024 and 2025, knocking Slim Helú out of the 12-figure club last year. But the share price has recovered of late, heralding a return to the super-rich clique in 2026.

15. Steve Ballmer, net worth: $126 billion

CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, Steve Ballmer is thought to own 4.5% of the tech giant and derives the lion's share of his wealth from this significant stake.

Ballmer acquired the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team for $2 billion the year he quit Microsoft. After spending another $2 billion on a new stadium, the team is now valued at $7.5 billion. In addition to his hands-on role overseeing the Clippers, the former tech exec takes an active approach when it comes to philanthropy, having given away $6 billion to worthy causes. He made his debut in the dozen-digit club in 2024.

14. Alice Walton, net worth: $134 billion

Making her debut in the 12-figure club in 2025, art patron and philanthropist Alice Walton is the second woman in history after Françoise Bettencourt Meyers to boast a net worth of over $100 billion. Walton has smashed through the glass ceiling as Walmart stock has soared, adding $33 billion to her already significant fortune in a year.

The world's richest heiress is the daughter of the late founder Sam Walton and, together with two of her siblings, owns a sizable chunk of the retail behemoth.

13. Michael Dell, net worth: $141 billion

Michael Dell founded his eponymous computer company in 1983 when he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin. His bulging net worth derives from his 50% stake in the firm. Dell fleetingly achieved centibillionaire status in 2024 as the company's stock price surged, but a mass sell-off of tech stocks early in 2025 hit the firm hard, and its head honcho's net worth fell back as a consequence.

However, Dell stock has since rebounded in a big way, with the founder now seemingly ensconced in the 12-figure club. Last year, Dell and his wife revealed plans to donate $250 each to 25 million children across America.

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12. Jim Walton and family, net worth: $143 billion

Like his sister, Jim Walton is a relatively recent member of the 12-figure club. The major Walmart shareholder joined the fray off the back of the retailer's soaring stock price, which has climbed steadily since 2024 and reached a record high earlier this year.

Jim Walton takes a more active role than his sister in the family's business affairs, chairing the clan's Arvest Bank Group.

11. Rob Walton and family, net worth: $146 billion

Rob Walton is the wealthiest of the Walmart siblings. The eldest of the founder's children, he served as chairman of the retailer from 1992 to 2015 and only recently retired from the company's board.

In total, the Walmart heirs collectively own around 45% of Walmart stock.

10. Amancio Ortega, net worth: $148 billion

Spain's richest person, Amancio Ortega owns 60% of Inditex, the fast-fashion group that counts Zara and Massimo Dutti among its portfolio of brands. Ortega founded the massively successful company together with his late wife Rosalía Mera, starting with a single store in A Coruña.

According to Forbes, Ortega earns $400 million in annual dividends that he plows back into real estate investments. He reached centibillionaire status in 2024.

9. Warren Buffett, net worth: $149 billion

Warren Buffett's net worth also surpassed the $100 billion mark in 2024. One of the most successful investors in history, the legendary 'Oracle of Omaha' has the Midas touch and then some. As the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, his savvy investment strategies have proved exceptionally fruitful, making him gargantuan sums of money, 99% of which he plans to give away.

Buffett founded the Giving Pledge along with Bill Gates in 2010 and has already donated $65 billion.

8. Jensen Huang, net worth: $154 billion

In 2025, Jensen Huang was knocking on the door of the 12-figure club. In 2026, he's blown it off its hinges. Huang's fortune derives from his 3% stake in Nvidia, the chipmaker he co-founded in 1993. Buoyed by the AI boom, Nvidia stock shot up in price in 2023 and 2024, but faltered in 2025 amid a slew of headwinds, from rising competition out of China to the Trump administration's tariffs. 

Huang very briefly enjoyed centibillionaire status in 2024, an impressive feat given his net worth stood at $21.1 billion before the shares' spectacular rally. Today, the company's market cap has blown past the $5 trillion mark.

7. Bernard Arnault and family, net worth: $171 billion

Along with his family, Bernard Arnault has a 48.6% stake in LVMH, the luxury goods juggernaut that owns scores of distinguished high-end brands, from Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior to Moët & Chandon and Tiffany & Co.

LVMH's stock price – and Arnault's wealth – have taken a battering over the past few years as shoppers cut back on premium purchases. But despite seeing $62 billion shaved off his net worth since 2024, the French tycoon remains firmly in the 12-figure club, as he has been since 2021.

6. Larry Ellison, net worth: $190 billion

Larry Ellison co-founded the company that would morph into Oracle in 1977 and hasn't looked back. The software firm has mopped up a bunch of competitors over the decades and is now worth more than $670 billion.

Ellison, who resides on his very own Hawaiian island, owns around 40% of the business and remains very much involved, serving as Oracle's chairman and chief technology officer. He joined the 12-figure club in 2023, and in 2025 he became only the second person to reach a net worth exceeding $400 billion, thanks to a surge in Oracle's stock price.

5. Mark Zuckerberg, net worth: $222 billion

Meta co-founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg owns 13% of the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. He ascended to the rank of centibillionaire in 2024.

The tech tycoon and his wife Priscilla Chan are planning to give away 99% of their Meta stake during their lifetimes and have made it their mission to eradicate all diseases by 2100.

4. Jeff Bezos, net worth: $224 billion

As we've mentioned, Jeff Bezos was the second person to enter the 12-figure club, gaining admittance in 2017. And in 2020, the Amazon founder achieved yet another wow-factor milestone, becoming the first person in history to amass a fortune of over $200 billion amid the online retailer's pandemic boom.

On top of his almost 9% stake in Amazon, Bezos owns space company Blue Origin and venerable newspaper The Washington Post. When it comes to philanthropy, Bezos hasn't signed the Giving Pledge but has said he plans to give away the majority of his wealth in his lifetime.

3. Sergey Brin, net worth: $237 billion

Another 2024 inductee into the world's most elite club, Sergey Brin co-founded Google with his Stanford University classmate Larry Page in 1998 and took the world's leading search engine firm public in 2004. It was later renamed Alphabet.

Brin relinquished his role as company chairman in 2019 but still owns 5.7% of the business. His current activities include developing a state-of-the-art airship and partaking in various philanthropic initiatives via his family foundation.

2. Larry Page, net worth: $257 billion

Brin's fellow Google co-founder Larry Page also joined the club in 2024. Like Brin, Page stepped down from his active role at Alphabet in 2019, resigning from the position of CEO, but he remains a key shareholder.

Page's slice of the pie is bigger than Brin's at around 6%, hence his larger net worth.

1. Elon Musk, net worth: $839 billion

Elon Musk has been part of the dozen-digit club since 2021. That same year, he became the first person ever to boast a net worth of over $300 billion. And while his fortune has fluctuated wildly since then, it currently stands at an astronomical $839 billion, with the Tesla and SpaceX boss, who aims to colonize Mars, expected to be the first person to achieve trillionaire status.

Musk's recent foray into politics proved highly controversial, fueling concerns that some of the ultra-rich are buying their way oligarch-style into political power and influence.

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