The Top Ten Wealthiest Billionaires

Money is a tool, some people are like magnets and just know how to acquire it, to say the least, there are many things that you can do to make yourself a student in this art.  One of the best ways to start is by learning at the feet of many of the masters.  Here are the top 10 wealthiest billionaires and the way they got that way!

1. Bill Gates

Bill Gates real name is William Henry Gates III. He is the wealthiest billionaire in the world. He is the co-founder of Microsoft. While at Microsoft Gates was CEO and chief software architect. His last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. In February 2014 he stepped down as chairman at Microsoft. Gates has authored and co-authored books. He was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. 

2. Carlos Slim

Carlos Slim was born on January 28, 1940. He is the chairperson and chief executive of telecom. The companies’ names are Telemex and America Movil. His entire net worth is $72.6 billion making him the second wealthiest billionaire in the world. He is the Vice President of The Mexican Stock Exchange. He was the first president of the Latin-American Committee of the New York Stock Exchange.

  

3. Warren Edward Buffett

Warren Buffett was born on August 30, 1930. He earned a Master of Science in economics at the University of Nebraska. He is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. His net worth is $73.8 billion. This makes him the third wealthiest billionaire in the world. He gives ninety-nine percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes mostly the Gates Foundation.

  

4. Amancio Ortega

Amancio Ortega was born on March 28, 1936. He is a Spanish fashion executive and the founding chairman of the Inditex fashion. His net worth is $64 billion making him the fourth wealthiest billionaire in the world. He is known for his chain called Zara Clothing and Accessory Retail Stores. He lives in an apartment with his second wife located in Galicia, Spain.

5. Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison was born on August 17, 1944. He is the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of Oracle Corporation. His net worth is $53.6 billion making him the fifth wealthiest billionaire in the world. Ellison is a licensed aircraft pilot and owns two of his own military jets.

 6. Sam Walton

Sam Walton’s Children Christy, Jim, and Alice Walton all have inherited a part of the Wal-Mart fortune. Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart in Bentonville, Arkansas in 1962. Wal-Mart is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department and warehouse stores. There are over 11,000 stores in 27 different countries. Wal-Mart is under 71 different brand names. The retail warehouse stores all called Sam’s Club Retail Warehouse Stores. The Wal-Mart net worth is over $476.294 billion. The Wal-Mart fortune was passed down to Sam Walton’s children including his daughter in law Christy Walton.

7. The Koch Brothers

Charles and David Koch are co-owners of Koch industries. David Koch was born May 3, 1940. He is the vice president of Koch Industries. He is a survivor of USA flight 1493 crash in 1991. His net worth is $36 billion. He lives in Manhattan, New York. Charles Koch was born November 1, 1935. Along with his brother he inherited the company from father, Fred C. Koch then expanded it. His net worth is $41.6 billion. He resides in Wichita, Kansas.

  

8.Lilian Bettencourt

Liliane Bettencourt was born in Paris, France. She was the only child of Louise Madeleine Berthe and Eugène Schueller. Her parents were the founders of L'Oréal, one of the world's largest beauty and cosmetic companies. Unfortunately, her mother died in 1927. She was only 5 years old because of this she had formed a really close bond with her father. Later on he married Liliane's British governess. When she was 15 she joined her father's company as an apprentice. Her duties included mixing the cosmetics and labeling bottles. She married a French politician named Andre Bettencourt in 1950. He served as a cabinet minister in French governments of the 1960s and 1970s. He then became a deputy chairman of L'Oréal. He had been a member of La Cagoule. He was labeled a violent French fascist group that Liliane's father had funded and supported in the 1930s and that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

  

9. Michael Bloomberg

Michael Rubens Bloomberg was born February 14, 1942 and is an American business magnate, politician, and philanthropist. He was the 108th Mayor of New York City. He has a net worth of $36.5 billion. He is the founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He began his career at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers. He then formed his own company in 1981. He spent twenty years as the chairman and CEO. He was also chairman of the board of trustees at his alma mater Johns Hopkins University.

  

10. Li Ka-shing

Li Ka-shing was born 29 July 1928 in Chaozhou, China. He is a Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He has a net worth of $31.9 billion. Chairman of the Board of Hutchison Whampoa Limited and Cheung Kong Holdings as of 2008; through them, he is the world's largest operator of container terminals and the world's largest health and beauty retailer. His father died before he was 15 and he was forced to leave school. He then found a job in a plastics trading company. He worked 16 hours a day. By 1950 started his own company, Cheung.