World's Billionaires Lost Wealth In 2022; Musk Loses Top Spot: Forbes

ACROSS AMERICA — The world’s billionaires aren’t as flush as they were a year ago, but collectively are still worth $12.2 trillion, Forbes said with the release of its annual list.

That’s down from $12.7 trillion last year. Nearly half of the list is less wealthy than a year ago, including Elon Musk, who lost his No.1 spot after shares in Tesla fell when he bought Twitter. Musk is now No.2 on the list and was worth $192.8 billion Wednesday morning after having made about $12.8 billion since Tuesday.

Twenty-eight people fell off the list altogether, with the number of people with 10-figture fortunes now at 2,640. The United States has the most billionaires of any country — 735 people collectively worth $4.5 trillion. Overall, Forbes attributed the loss of wealth to falling stock markets, especially in the technology sector, and rising interest rates.

To calculate net worth, Forbes used stock prices and exchange rates from March 10 to determine the ranking, but updates wealth in real-time.

With Musk’s slip from the No. 1 position, Bernard Arnault, who heads luxury goods giant LVMH, tops the list as the richest person in the world. It’s the first time a citizen of France has led the ranking, whose top 10 includes seven U.S. billionaires. Besides Musk, they are (net worth is reflected as of Wednesday and may not align exactly with their placement on the list):

• Jeff Bezos, Amazon, worth $126.9 billion;
• Larry Ellison, Oracle, worth $118.9 billion;
• Bill Gates, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, worth $109.9 billion;
• Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, worth $107.4 billion;
• Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg Inc., worth $95.4 billion; and
• Steve Balmer, Microsoft, worth $90.1 billion.

See the full list on Forbes.