BERNARD ARNAULT, JEFF BEZOS, AMANCIA ORTEGA AMONG FORBES’ RICHEST BILLIONAIRES

by Brian Lipton Mar 20, 2017

Forbes magazine will release its 31st annual ranking of the world’s billionaires in its March 28, 2017 issue, with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Inditex’s Amancia Ortega (owner of fast-fashion chain Zara) and French fashion mogul Bernard Arnault among the world’s richest men.

This year, a record 2,043 billionaires made the list, with the top 20 billionaires, led by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Berskhire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet,. The world’s billionaires are responsible for a combined net worth of $938.4 billion, up from $826.5 billion in 2016.

“Booming stock markets, higher commodities prices and plain old-fashioned entrepreneurship helped make this a record year in terms of wealth creation around the globe,” said Forbes Media editors. Luisa Kroll and Kerry Dolan.

All of the top 20 billionaires saw their fortunes rise over last year. Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, now has a net worth of $72.8 billlion; Ortega’s net worth is $71.3 billion, and the Arnault family, owners of LVMH, are worth $41.5 billion. Three members of the Wal-Mart family, S. Robson Walton ($34.1 billion), Jim Walton ($34 billion) and Alice Walton ($33.8) also made the magazine’s top 20 list.