The World's Billionaires 2011 edition was 25th annual ranking of
The World's Billionaires
''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking of people who are billionaires, i.e., they are considered to have a net worth of US$1 billion or more, by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March 1987. ...
by ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' magazine. The list estimated the net worth of the world's richest people, excluding royalty and dictators, as of February 14, 2011. It was released online on March 8, 2011. Russian investor
Lucio Mata, a newcomer for 2011, was the cover photo.
Annual list
Mexican telecommunication mogul
Carlos Slim
Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business oligarch, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from his e ...
added $20.5 billion to his fortune, the most of anyone, and retained his number one ranking with a total fortune of $74 billion.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
founder
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...
added $3 billion to his fortune and placed second, the same place he finished in 2010.
Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...
chairman
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...
remained in third with $50 billion. France's
Bernard Arnault
Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault (; born 5 March 1949) is a French businessman, investor, and art collector. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company. Arnault is one of the richest individuals in the ...
jumped from seventh to fourth, as his fortune increased $7.5 billion. The United States'
Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded software company Oracle Corporation. He was Oracle's chief executive officer from 1977 to 2014 and is now its chief technology officer a ...
rounded out the top five, up from sixth in 2010.
According to Forbes editor Kerry Dolan, "media and technology billionaires definitely benefited from a stronger stock market and a growing enthusiasm for all things social" since the 2010 list.
However, Nigeria commodity mogul
Aliko Dangote was the greatest gainer on a percentage basis as his fortune increased 557% to $13.5 billion. Placing 51st overall, he finished one spot ahead of
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
founder
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born May 14, 1984) is an American businessman who co-founded the social media service Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms, of which he is the chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling sharehold ...
. Zuckerberg too was among the top gainers, adding $9.5 billion to his fortune. Fellow Facebook founder
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Aaron Moskovitz (; born May 22, 1984) is an American billionaire internet entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook, Inc. (now known as Meta Platforms) with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. In 2008, he left F ...
was the youngest person on the list. Aged 26, eight days younger than Zuckerberg, he debuted at number 420 with an estimated fortune of $2.7 billion. Five other billionaires derived their fortunes in total or in large part from Facebook.
IKEA
IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services.
IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...
founder
Ingvar Kamprad
Feodor Ingvar Kamprad (; 30 March 1926 – 27 January 2018) was a Swedish billionaire who founded IKEA in 1943 and grew into a multinational retail company that became the world's largest furniture seller in 2008. He moved to Switzerland w ...
was the largest loser as he saw his fortune plummet from $23 billion to $6 billion, dropping him from 11th to 162nd overall. The average net worth of those on the list increased from $3.6 billion in 2010 to $3.7 billion.
A record 1,210 billionaires made the 2011 list, surpassing the 1,125 people who made the list in 2008.
Their combined wealth was $4.5 trillion, up from $3.6 trillion the previous year.
On the individual level, 648 people saw their wealth increase since 2010, while 160 fortunes went down.
One third of the world's billionaires, 413, came from the United States. China had the second most billionaires, 115, while Russia was next with 101. Moscow was the home to the most billionaires of any city, 79, overtaking New York City. Asia moved up to 332 billionaires. The list included 214 newcomers.
Of those, 54 were from China and 31 from Russia.
Top 10
Top 100
See also
*
List of wealthiest families
Various lists of the richest families (excluding royal families or autocratic ruling dynasties) are published internationally, by ''Forbes'' as well as other business magazines.
There is a distinction between wealth held by identifiable individu ...
References
External links
''Forbes'': The World's Billionaires 2011(complete list)
{{DEFAULTSORT:World's Billionaires 2011
2011 in economic history
Forbes lists
Lists of people by magazine appearance