What We Can Learn From the Richest Billionaires

At Forbes, the 10 richest billionaires list is about more than money. We could say it is about economic growth.

Do take a look at how the list has changed since 2001:

The Richest Billionaires’ Businesses

While each billionaire’s wealth is based on mid-March stock prices and exchange rates from 2001 to 2022, they also reflect where the money came from.

For consistency, we can cite Bill Gates. Except during 2022, every year, he was #1 or near the top. Having made his fortune from Microsoft, we can cite tech as the reason. Similarly, Microsoft fueled the wealth of Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer while Google took Larry Page and Sergy Brin close to the top, Then, we can add Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) and Larry Ellison (Oracle).

Looming large also, retail created recent and historic wealth. At least one member of the Walton family (Walmart) was on the list for multiple years. Then, predictably, we have Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA), the Albrecht brothers (Aldi) and  Bernard Arnault (LVMH). And, more recently India’s head of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani entered the list.

Not as prevalent as we might expect, the investors on the list were topped by Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), who was trailed by Carlos Slim, Mike Bloomberg, and Li Ka-Shing.

Our Bottom Line: Creative Destruction

As entrepreneurs with new ideas, the top billionaires helped to grow the world economy.

Defined as the process through which new industries replace old ones, creative destruction is productive and painful. The Model-T replaced buggies, the computer eliminated the typewriter, and Uber is diminishing the taxi industry. However, the best recent example of Joseph Schumpeter’s creative destruction is this year’s #1, the richest billionaire, Elon Musk. Surely, Elon Musk’s EV will ultimately eradicate the traditional auto industry.

We should say though, that most of the people on our list caused the up- and downsides of creative destruction.

My sources and more: Thanks to economist Mark Perry who was the inspiration for my post. If, as did I, you need to read about Mukesh Ambani, this CNN article is a possibility.