Forbes’ billionaires list for the year 2024, which is the 38^th annual ranking edition of its kind, unveiled that the number of billionaires in the world rose by 5.34% (141) in 2024 to an all-time high of 2781, up from 2640 in the 2023 list. Furthermore, the total net worth of mentioned billionaires increased by 16.39% (~$2 trillion) to $14.2 trillion, up from $12.2 trillion last year. Forbes mentioned that 14 billionaires on its 2024 list reported have fortunes that exceed $100 billion each, with a combined fortune of $2 trillion, representing 14% of the combined billionaires net worth. In addition, Forbes revealed that two-thirds of billionaires are richer than they were a year earlier, with Mark Zuckerberg increasing his net worth the most in one single year (~$116.2 billion increase). From another perspective, Forbes stated that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has aided several individuals to reach billionaire status, noting in this respect that AI has also boosted tech stocks, thereby propelling the wealth of tech billionaires up by ~$750 billion during the span of a single year to $2.6 trillion. Forbes added that women billionaires make up around 13% of the world’s billionaires (369 out of 2781), around the same proportion as the year before and their combined wealth is estimated at around $1.8 trillion. Forbes also revealed that the United States was the host of the largest number of billionaires (813 billionaires with a collective wealth of $5.7 trillion), followed by China (473 billionaires with a combined wealth of $1.7 trillion) and India (200 billionaires with a collective wealth of $954 billion). It is worth mentioning that wealth figures are estimated using stock prices and exchange rates as at March 8, 2024.

With respect to the rankings, Bernard Arnault (CEO of Louis Vuitton) topped the list for the second year in a row with a net worth of $233 billion, followed by Elon Musk (founder of Tesla and Space X) with a net worth of $195 billion. Completing the top 3 is Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon), whose net worth attained $194 billion, followed by Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Meta Platforms; $177 billion) and Larry Ellison (CEO of Oracle; $141 billion). As far as the Arab region is concerned, Mr. Pavel Durov (CEO of Telegram) from the U.A.E. came in first in the region and 122^nd in the world with a net worth of $15.5 billion, followed by Nassef Sawiris (CEO of Orascom Construction) from Egypt, ranking 287^th in the world with an estimated fortune of $8.8 billion, Mr. Hussein Sajwani (Chairman of Damac Properties; United Arab Emirates; 597^th global position; estimated net worth of $5.1 billion) and Mr. Abdulla bin Ahmad Al Ghurair & family (Founder of Mashreqbank; United Arab Emirates; 809^th global position; estimated net worth of $3.9 billion), only to name a few.

On a local basis, six renowned Lebanese figures made it to Forbes’ billionaires list for the year 2024 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 in the region and 1187^th in the world, followed by Mr. Taha Mikati (Co-founder of M1 Group investment firm ; net worth of $2.8 billion; 9^th regional position, 1187^th global position), Mr. Bahaa Hariri (Founder of Horizon Group; net worth of $2.1 billion; 12^th regional position; 1545^th global position), Mr. Robert Mouawad (Chairman of Mouawad Jewelry; net worth of $1.5 billion; 16^th regional position; 2046^th global position), Mr. Ayman Hariri (Co-founder and CEO of Vero; net worth of $1.4 billion; 17^th regional position; 2152^nd global position), and Mr. Fahed Hariri (Chairman of Oger subsidiary’s property portfolio; net worth of $1.2 billion; 21^st regional position; 2410^th global position).