Jeff Bezos Remains on Top of Forbes' Richest List, Elon Musk Seats in Second Place

Despite the ongoing pandemic, Jeff Bezos retained the top spot on Forbes' annual list of billionaires, as more people now depend on the online market.

For many 2020 is a year full of challenges brought by the ongoing global health crisis, but for these individuals, it is just a matter of perspective.

According to The Star, based on the Forbes magazine's 2021 list of the globe's wealthiest individuals released on April 6, Jeff Bezos topped the list. His 2020 net worth of US$113 billion from a year ago went up to US$177 billion this year. Bezos managed to have an increase of US$64 billion in just a short period of time. The Amazon CEO took the pandemic as an opportunity for more sales as more people became online-dependent.

Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk grabbed the second spot on the list after making a dramatic climb. Musk ranked 31st in last year's Forbes list with a net worth of US$24.6 billion in 2020 jumping to the second spot with his latest net worth of US$151 billion in 2021.

The stock prices of Tesla soared at the market at some point throughout the year but the enormous demand for goods from Amazon put Bezos ahead by the end of the year.

French billionaire and CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, put his fortune close to double. However, it was not enough for him to climb up out of the third spot. The French billionaire now has a net worth of US$150 billion because of an 86% rise in shares of his companies. Arnault, the chairman, and CEO of the world's largest luxury goods company which houses brands like Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton.

The co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates was also included on the list. He ranked fourth with a US$124 billion net worth. Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, finished at the fifth spot with US$97 billion net worth.

Mexico's Richest

Carlos Slim, the telecommunications, infrastructure, banking, energy, and mining magnate reached the peak of the list of richest people in Mexico, based on the Forbes magazine list.

Even though the country has been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic, Forbes Mexico revealed that the average wealth of the 36 billionaires in Mexico in the 2021 list had increased by 20% over the past year.

Along with Slim were Germán Larrea, CEO of Mexico's largest mining corporation. Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas, which has an interest in telecommunications, media, and financial services. Alberto Bailleres, the chairman of Grupo BAL and ITAM. Juan Francisco Beckmann Vidal, the 70% share owner of the José Cuervo tequila brand, Mexico News Daily reported.

The Forbes 35th annual billionaires list, which was released on Tuesday, disclosed that there are 2,755 billionaires in the world in 2021. The number is record-breaking as there were 493 additional billionaires on the list.

Forbes' assistant managing editor for wealth, Kerry A. Dolan, shared in his statement on Tuesday that the year was record-breaking as more billionaires rose on the list globally, ABC News reported.

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