MOSCOW, April 7 — The world’s richest have seen their cumulative fortune up by over 60 per cent in the pandemic year, which generated a record-high 660 new billionaires, according to the 2021 World’s Billionaires List by Forbes, reported Sputnik.
In total, 2,755 people landed on the list. Of them, there are 493 newcomers, which is also an unprecedented number. The novices include 210 people from China and Hong Kong and 98 from the United States.
For the fourth consecutive year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been leading the world’s richest with US$177 billion (RM731.36 billion) net worth.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is now worth US$151 billion (RM623.93 billion), skyrocketed from number 31 to number two spot. French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault rounds up the top three, retaining his position. He is followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with US$124 billion (RM512.37 billion).
The main shareholder and chairman of steel and mining company Severstal, Alexey Mordashov (US$29.1 billion or RM120.24 billion), has for the first time topped the list of Russia’s billionaires.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov debuted on the list of top 10 Russian billionaires, with US$17.2 billion (RM71.07 billion) fortune, up from US$13.8 billion (RM57.02 billion) from a year ago.
— Bernama
