Forbes’ billionaires list for the year 2026, which is the 40^th annual ranking edition of its kind, unveiled that the number of billionaires in the world rose by 13.21% (400) in 2026 to an all-time high of 3428, up from 3028 in the 2025 list. Furthermore, the total net worth of mentioned billionaires increased by 24.84% (~$4 trillion) to $20.1 trillion, up from $16.1 trillion last year. Forbes mentioned that 5 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 of 20 on the 2026 list, with a combined fortune of $3.8 trillion. Forbes added that women billionaires make up around 14.0% of the world’s billionaires (481 out of 3428), compared to a 13.4% proportion in the year before. Forbes also revealed that the United States was the host of the largest number of billionaires (989 billionaires), followed by China (610 billionaires) and India (229 billionaires). It is worth mentioning that wealth figures are estimated using stock prices and exchange rates as at March 1, 2026. With respect to the rankings, Mr. Elon Musk (co-founder of several companies including Tesla, SpaceX and xAI) racked up another $497 billion in 2026 to attain a net worth of $839 billion, followed by Mr. Larry Page and Mr. Sergey Brin (cofounders of Google) with a respective net worth of $257 billion and $237 billion. As far as the Arab region is concerned, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal al Saud from Saudi Arabia (owner of several companies such as the Four Seasons hotel chain) came in first (ranking 135^th in the world) with an estimated fortune of $19.9 billion, followed by Mr. Hussein Sajwani, the founder of DAMAC properties, (190^th rank globally with a net worth of $15.3 billion) and Mr. Sulaiman al Habib (Chairman of hospital group HMG; Saudi Arabia; 323^rd global position; estimated net worth of $10.2 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 $3.8 billion each (up from $3.1 billion in 2025) ranking 12^th in the region and 1137^th in the world. Mr. Bahaa Hariri (Founder of Horizon Group; net worth of $2.3 billion up from $2.0 billion in 2025; 22^nd regional position; 1834^th global position) came in 3^rd locally followed by Mr. Robert Mouawad (Chairman of Mouawad Jewelry; net worth of $1.5 billion; 32^nd regional position; 2600^th global position), Mr. Ayman Hariri (Co-founder and CEO of Vero; net worth of $1.4 billion; 33^rd regional position; 2712^th global position), and Mr. Fahed Hariri (Chairman of Oger subsidiary’s property portfolio; net worth of $1.1 billion; 39^th regional position; 3185^th global position).