When asked the question 'Who is the richest person in the world?' or 'Who is the richest person in history?' we are likely to mistakenly think of a person from our time.
The first names that pop up would be Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, SpaceX, and Tesla; or Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon; or Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Meta, or Bill Gates, the creator of Microsoft. However, none of these billionaires is the right answer.
The richest man in the world, to the surprise of many, existed in medieval times between 1280 and 1337 BC. His name is Mansa Musa and he was emperor of Mali, with his empire occupying a vast territory that spread from Nigeria to the coast of Senegal.
According to Celebrity Net Worth magazine, Mansa Musa's wealth would be the largest in the history of mankind, if adjusted for current inflation. Mansa Musa's fortune is due to the fact that he could have as much gold as he wanted. In total, the estimated wealth would be around 400 billion dollars (387.109 billion euros).
What is Musk, Bezos, Gates and Zuckerberg's worth?
If we make a small comparison between the different fortunes, Mansa Musa's wealth (400 billion dollars) exceeds that of Elon Musk (219 billion dollars), Jeff Bezos (171 billion dollars) and Bill Gates (118 billion dollars), for example.
Mansa Musa owned all the gold he needed to mine
The history and subsequent fame of Mansa Musa is due to his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. He travelled 6,500 kilometres to the holy site with 60,000 people, including 12,000 slaves. He was also accompanied by almost a hundred camels, each carrying more than 100 kilos of precious metals.
Mansa Musa left numerous mosques built and his legacy spread to the ears of Mediterranean traders.
A history professor from the University of Michigan once told Money Magazine that Mansa Musa was "the richest man anyone has ever seen''.
"Imagine all the gold you think a human being could have and double it; that's what all the chroniclers are trying to communicate," he said.
If we make a small comparison between the different fortunes, Mansa Musa's wealth (400 billion dollars) exceeds that of Elon Musk (219 billion dollars), Jeff Bezos (171 billion dollars) and Bill Gates (118 billion dollars), for example.
Jeff Bezos has reclaimed the title of the richest person on earth, surpassing Elon Musk, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Monday. The Amazon founder's net worth was $200 billion, while Musk followed at $198 billion.
Wealth. Mansa Musa is renowned for his wealth and generosity. Online articles in the 21st century have claimed that Mansa Musa was the richest person of all time. Historians such as Hadrien Collet have argued that Musa's wealth is impossible to accurately calculate.
In 2018, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was ranked at the top for the first time and became the first centibillionaire included in the ranking, surpassing Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who had topped the list 18 of the previous 24 years. In 2022, after topping the list for four years, Bezos was surpassed by Elon Musk.
Clemente was at one time the world's youngest billionaire (at the age of 18), but he has since aged out of that title, which is now held by Livia Voigt.
1. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers. With an eye-watering net worth of $99 billion, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, a French businesswoman and philanthropist, is the richest woman in the world.
We may earn a commission from links on this page. After playing a game of leap frog with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this month, Elon Musk's net worth has surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's own immense wealth.
The world's six richest people are approaching $1 trillion in combined net worth. Their fortunes have soared this year largely due to a historic stock-market rally. The six centibillionaires include Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett.
Who is the richest man in the world? As of May 1, 2024, the richest person in the world is Bernard Arnault, the CEO of French luxury goods group LVMH; he's worth nearly $209 billion. He moved into the number one spot in late January 2024, overtaking Elon Musk.
As of today, no billionaire is within striking distance of becoming a trillionaire. Elon Musk is, at present, the world's richest person, with a net worth of $206 billion, while Jeff Bezos is in the number two position with $179 billion, according to Bloomberg.
"Of the 21 individuals who stand a chance of reaching this phenomenal milestone in their lifetime, Elon Musk is predicted to be the first," said CEO Magazine. This prediction was reiterated by The Guardian, The Economic Times and many others.
If nothing changes, one of the world's billionaires could reach trillionaire status in the next 10 years, the group said. In the United States, where more billionaires live than in any other country on the planet, Musk is the richest with a fortune of about $2.26 billion, Oxfam's analysis of Forbes data found.
It appears that like most of us casual folk, billionaires either go with an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy. You don't see many of them rocking an Asus phone, or Sony, or Xiaomi, or any of the many other options. Just the absolute most popular brands.
What is Musk, Bezos, Gates and Zuckerberg's worth? If we make a small comparison between the different fortunes, Mansa Musa's wealth (400 billion dollars) exceeds that of Elon Musk (219 billion dollars), Jeff Bezos (171 billion dollars) and Bill Gates (118 billion dollars), for example.
Bernard Arnault, the CEO and chairman of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods group, has reclaimed the top spot as the richest person on January 31, 2024, surpassing Elon Musk.
China has 814 billionaires, the most in the world, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2024. Despite holding on to the top spot, China lost 155 billionaires year-over-year, while the U.S. gained 109. The gap between the two countries has now reduced to just 14 billionaires.
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