Forbes’ billionaires list for the year 2025, which is the 39^th annual ranking edition of its kind, unveiled that the number of billionaires in the world rose by 8.81% (247) in 2025 to an all-time high of 3028, up from 2781 in the 2024 list. Furthermore, the total net worth of mentioned billionaires increased by 13.38% (~$2 trillion) to $16.1 trillion, up from $14.2 trillion last year. Forbes mentioned that 3 billionaires have a net worth of more than $200 billion each, with the total number of centibillionaires (net worth of more than $100 billion) reaching a record 15 on the 2025 list, with a combined fortune of $2.4 trillion. Forbes added that women billionaires make up around 13.4% of the world’s billionaires (406 out of 3028), around the same proportion as the year before. Forbes also revealed that the United States was the host of the largest number of billionaires (902 billionaires with a collective wealth of $6.8 trillion), followed by China (450 billionaires with a combined wealth of $1.6 trillion) and India (205 billionaires with a collective wealth of $941 billion). It is worth mentioning that wealth figures are estimated using stock prices and exchange rates as at March 7, 2025. With respect to the rankings, Mr. Elon Musk (co-founder of several companies including Tesla, SpaceX and xAI) racked up another $147 billion in 2025 to attain a net worth of $342 billion following successes by SpaceX and xAI, followed by Mr. Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Meta) with a net worth of $216 billion and Mr. Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) with a net worth of $215 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 118^th in the world with a net worth of $17.1 billion, followed by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal al Saud from Saudi Arabia (owner of several companies such as the Four Seasons hotel chain) ranking 128^th in the world with an estimated fortune of $16.5 billion and Mr. Sulaiman al Habib (Chairman of hospital group HMG; Saudi Arabia; 227^th global position; estimated net worth of $10.9 billion).

On a local basis, the situation remained status-quo on an annual basis in terms of the number (six) of figures appearing on Forbes’ list and their respective ranks. In details, Messrs. Najib and Taha Mikati, (Co-founders of M1 Group investment firm) emerged as the wealthiest figures in Lebanon with an estimated fortune of $3.1 billion each (up from $2.8 billion in 2024) ranking 16^th in the region and 1172^nd in the world. Mr. Bahaa Hariri (Founder of Horizon Group; net worth of $2.0 billion down from $2.1 billion in 2024; 24^th regional position; 1763^rd global position) came in 3^rd locally followed by Mr. Robert Mouawad (Chairman of Mouawad Jewelry; net worth of $1.5 billion; 30^th regional position; 2233^rd global position), Mr. Ayman Hariri (Co-founder and CEO of Vero; net worth of $1.4 billion; 32^nd regional position; 2356^th global position), and Mr. Fahed Hariri (Chairman of Oger subsidiary’s property portfolio; net worth of $1.2 billion; 37^th regional position; 2623^rd global position).