Forbes media billionaires

Quote: Wizard

Why isn't Bill Gates on the list?

Forbes divides up their billionaires into 23 industries. Obviously some people are not easily pigeonholed (for instance Mark Zuckerberg is technology, instead of media).

Technology is a big category, so here is the list down to $5 billion (and includes two Facebook executives besides MZ).

Rank Name Net Worth Change Age Source Country of Citizenship
#1 Bill Gates $79.2 B $0.9 M 59 Microsoft United States
#5 Larry Ellison $54.4 B $0 70 Oracle United States
#15 Mark Zuckerberg $35 B $0 30 Facebook United States
#16 Jeff Bezos $34.6 B $0 51 Amazon.com United States

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in his garage on July 5, 1994. Within five years he was first included on Forbes The World's Billionaires list in 1999 with a registered net worth of $10.1 billion.

2000 $6.1 billion
2001 $2.0 billion
2002 $1.5 billion
2003 $2.5 billion
2007 $8.7 billion
2009 $6.8 billion ranked #68
2010 $12.3 billion ranked #43
2011 $18.1 billion ranked #30
2012 $18.4 billion ranked #26
2013 $25.2 billion ranked #19
2014 $32.0 billion ranked #18
2015 $34.8 billion ranked #15
2016 $45.2 billion ranked #5
2017 $72.8 billion ranked #3

#1 Jeff Bezos $112 B 54 Amazon United States
#2 Bill Gates $90 B 62 Microsoft United States
#3 Warren Buffett $84 B 87 Berkshire Hathaway United States
#4 Bernard Arnault $72 B 69 LVMH France
#5 Mark Zuckerberg $71 B 33 Facebook United States
#6 Amancio Ortega $70 B 82 Zara Spain
#7 Carlos Slim Helu $67.1 B 78 telecom Mexico
#8 Charles Koch $60 B 82 Koch Industries United States
#8 David Koch $60 B 78 Koch Industries United States
#10 Larry Ellison $58.5 B 73 software United States
#11 Michael Bloomberg $50 B 76 Bloomberg LP United States
#12 Larry Page $48.8 B 45 Google United States
#13 Sergey Brin $47.5 B 44 Google United States
#14 Jim Walton $46.4 B 69 Walmart United States
#15 S. Robson Walton $46.2 B 73 Walmart United States
#16 Alice Walton $46 B 68 Walmart United States
#17 Ma Huateng $45.3 B 46 internet media China
#18 Francoise Bettencourt Meyers $42.2 B 64 L'Oreal France
#19 Mukesh Ambani $40.1 B 61 petrochemicals, oil & gas India
#20 Jack Ma $39 B 53 e-commerce China

Technology Billionaires

#1 Jeff Bezos $112 B 54 Amazon United States
#2 Bill Gates $90 B 62 Microsoft United States
#5 Mark Zuckerberg $71 B 33 Facebook United States
#10 Larry Ellison $58.5 B 73 software United States
#12 Larry Page $48.8 B 45 Google United States
#13 Sergey Brin $47.5 B 44 Google United States
#17 Ma Huateng $45.3 B 46 internet media China
#20 Jack Ma $39 B 53 e-commerce China
#22 Steve Ballmer $38.4 B 62 Microsoft United States
#39 Michael Dell $22.7 B 53 Dell computers United States
#44 Paul Allen $21.7 B 65 Microsoft, investments United States
#58 Azim Premji $18.8 B 72 software services India
#69 William Ding $17.4 B 46 online games China
#87 Zhang Zhidong $15.6 B 46 internet media China
#98 Shiv Nadar $14.6 B 72 software services India
#102 Dustin Moskovitz $14 B 33 Facebook United States
#106 Eric Schmidt $13.4 B 63 Google United States
#116 Hasso Plattner $12.7 B 74 software Germany
#118 Lei Jun $12.5 B 48 smartphones China
#124 Robin Li $12 B 49 internet search China
#130 Udo & Harald Tschira $11.7 B - software Germany
#135 Zhou Hongyi $11.3 B 47 security software China
#140 Liu Qiangdong $10.8 B 43 e-commerce China
#145 Pierre Omidyar $10.5 B 50 eBay United States
#147 Dietmar Hopp $10.2 B 78 software Germany
#148 Eduardo Saverin $10.1 B 36 Facebook Brazil
#154 Pan Zhengmin $9.7 B 48 electronics China
#154 Joseph Tsai $9.7 B 54 e-commerce Canada
#170 Jan Koum $9.1 B 42 WhatsApp United States
#172 James Goodnight $9 B 75 software United States
#181 Terry Gou $8.5 B 67 electronics Taiwan
#181 Gordon Moore $8.5 B 89 Intel United States
#198 David Duffield $7.8 B 77 business software United States
#198 Zhou Qunfei $7.8 B 48 smartphone screens Hong Kong
#222 John Doerr $7.1 B 66 venture capital United States
#237 Kim Jung-Ju $6.9 B 50 online games South Korea
#242 Andreas von Bechtolsheim $6.8 B 62 Google Germany
#251 Brian Acton $6.6 B 46 WhatsApp United States
#289 David Cheriton $6 B 67 Google Canada
#296 Ralph Dommermuth $5.9 B 54 internet service provider Germany

Media Billionaires

#11 Michael Bloomberg $50 B 76 Bloomberg LP United States
#32 David Thomson $25 B 60 media Canada
#94 Rupert Murdoch $15 B 87 newspapers, TV network United States
#106 Charles Ergen $13.4 B 65 satellite TV United States
#108 Jim Kennedy $13 B 70 media United States
#108 Blair Parry-Okeden $13 B 67 media United States
#121 Donald Newhouse $12.3 B 88 media United States
#178 James Chambers $8.7 B 61 media United States
#178 Katharine Rayner $8.7 B 73 media United States
#178 Margaretta Taylor $8.7 B 76 media United States
#186 John Malone $8.1 B 77 cable television United States
#190 David Geffen $8 B 75 movies, record labels United States
#265 Jason Jiang $6.4 B 45 advertising China
#321 Friede Springer $5.6 B 75 publishing Germany
#372 George Lucas $5.2 B 73 Star Wars United States
#372 Kalanithi Maran $5.2 B 52 media India
#372 Elisabeth Mohn $5.2 B 77 publishing Germany
#388 Subhash Chandra $5 B 67 media India
#388 Martha Ingram $5 B 82 book distribution, transportation United States
#404 Charles Dolan $4.9 B 91 cable television United States

I bet less than 10% of the members here know their own net worth within 5%. How often do you think Bill Gates finds out his net worth? Hourly? Daily? Weekly? Annually?

Quote: SOOPOO

I bet less than 10% of the members here know their own net worth within 5%. How often do you think Bill Gates finds out his net worth? Hourly? Daily? Weekly? Annually?

Never? He always knows the ballpark,
he can never know exactly so why bother.
Rockefeller only knew he had so much
money he couldn't spend it all if he
wanted to.

Quote: SOOPOO

I bet less than 10% of the members here know their own net worth within 5%. How often do you think Bill Gates finds out his net worth? Hourly? Daily? Weekly? Annually?

Forbes say they value a variety of assets, including private companies, real estate, art, yachts and more. We don’t pretend to know each billionaire’s private balance sheet (though some provide it). When documentation isn’t supplied or available, we discount fortunes.

#1 Jeff Bezos $112.0 B 2018 ranking
#1 Jeff Bezos $130.7 B real time ranking

#544 Donald Trump $3.5 B 2017 ranking
#766 Donald Trump $3.1 B 2018 ranking
#793 Donald Trump $3.1 B real time ranking

Jeff Bezos was worth $33.0 B in 2014, so not only is he the world's first centi-billionaire, he has managed to increase his net worth by $100 billion in only four years.

Quote: SOOPOO

How often do you think Bill Gates finds out his net worth? Hourly? Daily? Weekly? Annually?

He can probably create an app to keep track by the minute. Or pay someone else to do it.

Actually, the idea of paying someone to create completely customized apps personally dedicated to one's self would certainly be nice. I want it to do this and this and this and this...and so on. And there'd be no crap you'd have to get rid of.

Jeff Bezos announced (about 13 months ago) that Blue Origin would begin taking tourists into space by the end of 2018. I am presuming that Bezos, age 54, will want to go into orbit himself. I wonder when lawyers will feel comfortable with the world 's richest man flying into space. Would it be the maiden voyage?

Virgin Galactic has also given a similar timeline, and Richard Branson (#388 $5 Billion, age 67) has stated that he and some of his family members will be on the maiden flight.

Quote: Pacomartin

Virgin Galactic has also given a similar timeline, and Richard Branson (#388 $5 Billion, age 67) has stated that he and some of his family members will be on the maiden flight.

Rich and famous people and their fam's
were on the maiden voyage of the Titanic.

These men died:

John Jacob Astor was worth $90 million in 1912, billions is today's money. He was only 48. You have to wonder if Bezos or Zuckerburg would have gone down with the ship. Astor was one of the richest men in America.

Thomas Andrews, architect of the Titanic

John Thayer, railroad executive

Isidor Straus, owner of Macy's — and his wife Ida. Straus was offered a spot on a lifeboat while the ship was sinking. He declined, saying he wouldn't board a raft until every woman and child had gotten off the ship. Ida then refused to leave her husband. When her husband urged her to evacuate the ship, she reportedly responded, "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go."

Benjamin Guggenheim, mining magnate. He told a woman passenger to tell his wife: "Tell her I played the game out straight to the end. No woman shall be left aboard this ship because Ben Guggenheim is a coward."

George Dennick Wick, steel magnate

Charles Melville Hays, railroad executive

Archibald Butt, military aide to Roosevelt and Taft. The military officer lead the evacuation and threatened male passengers who tried to ignore the ship's "women and children first" protocol. Taft later broke down weeping while delivering the eulogy at Butt's funeral.

Quote: Evenbob

Isidor Straus, owner of Macy's — and his wife Ida. Straus was offered a spot on a lifeboat while the ship was sinking. He declined, saying he wouldn't board a raft until every woman and child had gotten off the ship. Ida then refused to leave her husband. When her husband urged her to evacuate the ship, she reportedly responded, "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go."

Benjamin Guggenheim, mining magnate. He told a woman passenger to tell his wife: "Tell her I played the game out straight to the end. No woman shall be left aboard this ship because Ben Guggenheim is a coward."

Archibald Butt, military aide to Roosevelt and Taft. The military officer lead the evacuation and threatened male passengers who tried to ignore the ship's "women and children first" protocol. Taft later broke down weeping while delivering the eulogy at Butt's funeral.

Please do not spread such absolute utter guff.

Most of the statements/actions you posted were in the NY Journal American well before the first survivors arrived on land and were able to speak to reporters. No survivors were permitted to send cables. So just how did the NY Journal American come up with this stuff? If it is a comfort to you to believe this nonsense then that is okay. No one can ever prove Mrs. Straus did not utter those words, only that no one who might have heard them had yet been able to communicate with the press or the authorities.

And please do not say 'women and children first' protocol. The Captain's order was given to the First and the Second officer simultaneously and was interpreted by them in two different manners. Each felt it proper that a male be at the tiller to command the lifeboat. One felt all oarsmen should be males, the other did not. There is no 'women and children first' in maritime law and indeed such family separation usually causes confusion and delay. Also there is no maritime law that mandates passengers be evacuated before crew members. Italy has a law requiring the Captain to be the last to leave but that is simply an Italian law.

There has been only four transatlantic steamship deaths prior to RMS Titanic. And British law for lifeboats on merchant ships essentially 'add two to the crew roster, then put sufficient lifeboats for that number on EACH side of the ship'.

Quote: SOOPOO

I bet less than 10% of the members here know their own net worth within 5%. How often do you think Bill Gates finds out his net worth? Hourly? Daily? Weekly? Annually?

Jeff Bezos has 78.83 million shares of Amazon SEC filing on Nov. 14, 2017. At this moment it is trading at $1,580.95 per share which would make his stock value $124.6 billion. So when Forbes says his worth right now is $130 billion, that means less than 5% of his net worth is in something other than Amazon stock. His ownership share in Blue Cloud and a few other companies is probably well documented, as is the rough value of his artwork and houses.

According to the S-1 filed in March 1997, Bezos owned 9,885,000 shares of Amazon stock. The prospectus notes that after the common stock offering associated with its initial public offering (IPO), Bezos' ownership of all outstanding shares would be down to 43.1%. It was 48.3% prior to the IPO.

In theory if Bezos had never sold a single share of Amazon he would now have 118.62 million shares which would be worth north of $187 billion. So his desire to Space tourism come to fruition may have cost him tens of billions of dollars.


Bezos has homes across the U.S. The four ;principal ones are in Seattle, D.C., NYC, and Beverly Hills. Together they are worth less than $100 million

His home base, a lake house in Medina, Wash., is estimated to be worth $25 million, according to Wealth-X. Neighbors include the now No. 2 richest guy in the world, Bill Gates.

In Washington D.C., Bezos owns the largest private home in the city, a 27,000-square-foot mansion was formerly a museum. With a purchase price of $23 million, according to the Washington Post, is the most expensive house in his fancy Kalorama neighborhood. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama just bought the second-most expensive house in the enclave, and Ivanka Trump is also a neighbor. Bezos's . Next door is the home that Woodrow Wilson retired to post presidency,



The Amazon founder also owns a 2.03-acre property in Beverly Hills, Calif., worth about $25 million.

And in Manhattan, Bezos' three linked apartments in The Century building on Central Park West are worth $17 million, according to Wealth-X.

Expensive toys

Bezos is famous for having his wife drive him to work in a 1996 Honda Accord long after he became a multimillionaire. But he does have some more expensive vehicles.For example, he owns a top-of-the-line, $65 million private jet, the 2015 Gulfstream G-650ER, via his holding company, Poplar Glen, says Wealth-X. The model is the "longest range business jet and has a top speed of Mach .925, according to the Robb Report.