Self-Made Billionaires: Gates, Buffett Top Wealth-X List

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William “Bill” Gates III, the founder, technology advisor and board member of Microsoft and Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway topped the list of the World’s Wealthiest Self-Made Billionaires, according to Wealth-X.

Gates and Buffett are among the 14 American corporate titans who dominate the list of 25 self-made billionaires worldwide. These American billionaires were responsible for building some of the most successful companies in the world.

American self-made billionaires dominate Wealth-X list

The 14 American billionaires on the Wealth-X list have a combined fortune of $514.2 billion, more than the GDP of Norway.

Gates ranked number or the world’s wealthiest self-made billionaire with his total personal fortune of almost $86 billion. Buffett is the second wealthiest self-made billionaire with his personal fortune totaling $70.1 billion.

Lawrence “Larry” Ellison, the founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle ranked fourth in Wealth-X list of self-made billionaires with his total personal fortune of $51.1 billion.

Jeffrey “Jeff” Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com landed the sixth place with his total personal net worth of $39.8 billion. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the 8th self-made American billionaire with his total personal fortune of $35.3 billion followed by Bloomberg CEO Michael Bloomberg with his total personal net worth $33.7 billion.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin ranked 11th and 12th with their personal net worth totaling $31.3 billion and $29.1 billion, respectively. The casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation is the 17th self-made American billionaire with his personal net worth totaling $26 billion.

Hedge fund managers George Soros and Carl Icahn ranked 18th and 20th on the Wealth-X list of self-made billionaires. Soros’ total personal net worth is $24.8 billion while Icahn’s total personal fortune is $22.8 billion.

Retired Microsoft CEO and owner of Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Balmer ranked 21st with his personal net worth totaling $22.4 billion. Nike Chairman Philip Knight ranked 22nd on the list with his total personal fortune of $21.6 billion.

Leonard Blavatnik, a diversified investor with $20.1 billion total personal fortune, landed the 25th position the list of self-made billionaires.

United States has the most number of billionaires

According to Wealth-X, there were 2,325 billionaires with a combined wealth of $7 trillion last year, the highest number of billionaires ever recorded. Since 2013, there were 155 people who became new billionaires.

Europe has the largest billionaire population (755) followed by the North America (609), Asia (506), Middle East (154), Latin America and the Carribean (153), Africa (40), and Pacific (34).

The United States has the most number of billionaires (571) followed by China (190). Two Chinese billionaires—Wang Dianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group and Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, entered the Wealth-X list of top 25 self-made billionaires.

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