A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultra high-net-worth individual. The American business magazine Forbes produces a global list of known U.S. dollar billionaires every year and updates an internet version of this list in real time. The American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller became the world's first confirmed U.S. dollar billionaire in 1916.
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is published annually around September. Peter W. Bernstein and Annalyn Swan describe the Forbes 400 as capturing "a period of extraordinary individual and entrepreneurial energy, a time unlike the extended postwar years, from 1945 to 1982, when American society emphasized the power of corporations." Bernstein and Swan also describe it as representing "a powerful argument – and sometimes a dream – about the social value of wealth in contemporary America."
Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by Forbes business magazine. He derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso. As of December 2023, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranked him as the 11th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $105 billion or about 7% of Mexico's GDP, making him the richest person in Latin America.
John Franklyn Mars is an American businessman and heir. He is the chairman of Mars, Inc. As of November 2023, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his net worth at US$46.4 billion, ranking him the 24th-richest person in the world.
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken is a Dutch billionaire businesswoman, and the owner of a 25% controlling interest in the world's second-largest brewer, Heineken N.V. She is the richest person in the Netherlands, with a net worth of $16.7 billion as of May 2021, according to the Forbes billionaires list.
María Asunción Aramburuzabala Larregui is a Mexican billionaire businesswoman. She is the chairperson of Tresalia Capital, a venture capital firm. As of March 2022, her net worth is estimated at US$6.2 billion.
Georgina Hope Rinehart is an Australian billionaire mining magnate and heir. Rinehart is the Executive Chairwoman of Hancock Prospecting, a privately owned mineral exploration and extraction company founded by her father, Lang Hancock.
The Forbes Fictional 15 was a list from Forbes business magazine that listed the 15 richest people in the realm of fiction produced between 2002 and 2013. The members are characters from movies, books, cartoons, television, video games, and comics.
Eike Fuhrken Batista da Silva is a Brazilian-German serial entrepreneur who made and lost a multi-billion dollar fortune in mining and oil and gas industries. He engaged in a quest to promote Brazil's infrastructure with large-scale projects, such as the Porto do Açu.
The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign, founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. As of June 2022, the pledge has had 236 signatories from 28 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, and as of 2023, their pledges are estimated at a total of US$600 billion. However, there is no enforcement mechanism, and no restrictions on the charitable causes that signatories are allowed to support.
The World's Billionaires is an annual ranking of people who are billionaires, i.e., they are considered to have a net worth of US$1 billion or more, by the American business magazine Forbes. The list was first published in March 1987. The total net worth of each individual on the list is estimated and is cited in United States dollars, based on their documented assets and accounting for debt and other factors. Royalty and dictators whose wealth comes from their positions are excluded from these lists. This ranking is an index of the wealthiest documented individuals, excluding any ranking of those with wealth that is not able to be completely ascertained.
The World's Billionaires 2014 edition was 28th annual ranking of The World's Billionaires by Forbes magazine. The list estimated the net worth of the world's richest people, excluding royalty and dictators, as of February 12, 2014. It was released online on March 3, 2014.
The World's Billionaires 2013 edition was 27th annual ranking of The World's Billionaires by Forbes magazine. The list estimated the net worth of the world's richest people, excluding royalty and dictators, as of February 14, 2013. It was released online on March 3, 2013 and published in the March 25 print edition of Forbes.
The World's Billionaires 2012 edition was 26th annual ranking of The World's Billionaires by Forbes magazine. The list estimated the net worth of the world's richest people, excluding royalty and dictators, as of February 14, 2012. It was released online on March 7, 2012.
The World's Billionaires 2011 edition was 25th annual ranking of The World's Billionaires by Forbes magazine. The list estimated the net worth of the world's richest people, excluding royalty and dictators, as of February 14, 2011. It was released online on March 8, 2011. Russian investor Lucio Mata, a newcomer for 2011, was the cover photo.
The World's Billionaires 2015 edition was the 29th annual ranking of The World's Billionaires by Forbes magazine. The list estimated the net worth of the world's richest people. The new list was released online on March 2, 2015. As of 2015, Bill Gates had been placed at the top of this list 16 times.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, launched in March 2012, is a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people based on their net worth. It features a profile of each billionaire, and includes a tool that allows users to compare the fortunes of multiple billionaires. The index is updated every day at the close of trading in New York.
Zhong Shanshan is a Chinese entrepreneur.
