Forbes’ billionaires list for the year 2023, which is the 37^th annual ranking edition of its kind, unveiled that the number of billionaires in the world fell by 1.04% (28) to 2,640, down from 2,668 in the 2022 list. Furthermore, the total net worth of mentioned billionaires dropped by 4.10% ($0.5 trillion) to $12.2 trillion as per the June 2023 edition, down from $12.7 trillion last year. Forbes mainly attributed this drop to the hike in interest rate levels and falling stock prices. Forbes also revealed that the United States was the host of the largest number of billionaires (735 billionaires with a collective wealth of $4.5 trillion), followed by China (562 billionaires with a combined wealth of $2 trillion) and India (169 billionaires with a collective wealth of $675 billion). It is worth mentioning that wealth figures are estimated using stock prices and exchange rates as at March 10, 2023.

With respect to the rankings, Bernard Arnault’s  (CEO of Louis Vuitton, net worth of $211 billion) pipped Elon Musk (founder of Tesla and Space X) to first place to become the first French person to head the list, as the latter’s net worth dropped to $180 billion (second place) as a result of his pricy acquisition of Twitter. Completing the top 3 is Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) whose net worth attained $114 billion, followed by Larry Ellison (CEO of Oracle; $107 billion) and Warren Buffett (CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; $106 billion). As far as the Arab region is concerned, Mr. Pavel Durov (CEO of Telegram) from the U.A.E. came in first regionally and 148^th globally with a net worth of $11.5 billion, followed by Nassef Sawiris (CEO of Orascom Construction) from Egypt, ranking 305^th worldwide with an estimated fortune of $7.4 billion, Mr. Issad Rebrab & family (CEO of Cevital; Algeria; 591^st global position; estimated net worth of $4.6 billion) and Mr. Hussain Sajwani (Chairman of Damac Properties; United Arab Emirates; 611^th global position; estimated net worth of $4.5 billion), only to name a few.

On a local basis, six renowned Lebanese figures made it to Forbes’ billionaires list for the year 2023 with a combined fortune of $11.8 billion. In details, Mr. Najib Mikati, current Prime Minister of the caretaker government (Co-founder of M1 Group investment firm) emerged as the wealthiest figure in Lebanon, with an estimated fortune of $2.8 billion, ranking 8^th regionally and 1,067^th globally, followed by Mr. Taha Mikati (Co-founder of M1 Group investment firm ; $2.8 billion; 9^th regional position, 1,067^th global position), Mr. Bahaa Hariri (Founder of Horizon Group; $2.1 billion; 12^th regional position; 1,434^th global position), Mr. Robert Mouawad (Chairman of Mouawad Jewelry; $1.5 billion; 17^th regional position; 1,905^th global position), Mr. Ayman Hariri (Co-founder and CEO of Vero; $1.4 billion; 18^th regional position; 2,020^th global position), and Mr. Fahed Hariri (Chairman of Oger subsidiary’s property portfolio; $1.2 billion; 21^st regional position; 2,259^th global position).