Forbes Unveils 35th Annual Billionaire List; Jeff Bezos Retains Top Spot

(RTTNews) - Forbes on Tuesday released its 35th annual world billionaire list, which included 2,755 billionaires with 493 among them being newcomers. In total, they are worth$13.1 trillion, higher than the $8 trillion in last year's list.

This fact assumes significance in the backdrop of the fact that many large companies and economies were badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic last year.

Topping the list is last year's number one Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with a net worth of $177 billion. Bezos is coming in at the number one spot for the fourth year in succession. He is set to step down from the CEO post and become executive chairman in late 2021.

In second spot is Elon Musk with a net worth of $151 billion, who was ranked 31 last year. Bernard Arnault and family of LVMH retain their 3rd spot with $150 billion while Bill Gates came in at fourth position with $124 billion. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg rounded off the fifth spot with $97 billion in net worth.

The list also includes 1,975 self-made billionaires who set up their fortune on their own. The women billionaires in the list also rose to 328 from last year's 241.