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Our Writers · 2026-10-22
Who Is the Richest Person in the World? The Top 10 in October 2026
The richest person in the world on 22 October 2026 is Elon Musk, with an estimated net worth of $989 billion according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires. That is roughly two and a half times the fortune of the number two.
The top 10
- Elon Musk — $989 B (Tesla, SpaceX). 2. Jeff Bezos — $381 B (Amazon). 3. Larry Page — $275 B (Google). 4. Sergey Brin — $253 B (Google). 5. Michael Dell — $249 B (Dell Technologies). 6. Mark Zuckerberg — $239 B (Facebook/Meta). 7. Jensen Huang — $192 B (Nvidia). 8. Larry Ellison — $170 B (Oracle). 9. Steve Ballmer — $164 B (Microsoft). 10. Warren Buffett — $154 B (Berkshire Hathaway).
An all-American, all-tech top 10
Nine of the ten made their money in technology, and all ten are American. BigGo Finance (BigGo ファイナンス) reports that the AI wave created $845 billion of new wealth in nine months, with Musk taking about 40 percent of it, and that the world's top 10 is all-American for the first time.
The order changes daily
Michael Dell is fifth: Forbes España (Forbes España) reported his fall from fourth to fifth, while Yahoo Finance noted that he edged past Zuckerberg. Net worth follows share prices, so the list can reshuffle in a single trading session.
Europe's richest
The first non-American is Spain's Amancio Ortega (Zara) at $146 B, number 11. France's Bernard Arnault, long a fixture at the very top, is number 17 at $117 B — Atlantico (Atlantico) asked what his exit from the top ten says.
A century of rich lists
The first Forbes ranking, from 1918, listed 30 American magnates with John D. Rockefeller in first place (Forbes JAPAN (Forbes JAPAN)). The names changed; the principle — ownership of the dominant industry of the day — did not.
See the full, daily updated list: The richest people in the world and the top 10 richest men.
Figures: Forbes Real-Time Billionaires and companiesmarketcap.com as shown on our rankings on 22 October 2026; net worth is an estimate and moves every trading day. This article is information, not financial advice.
Sources:
Forbes Real-Time Billionaires via our ranking; AI富の奔流、9カ月で8,450億ドル（約133.6兆円）を創出：マスク氏が4割独占、世界長者番付トップ10が初の米国人独占に (BigGo ファイナンス); Michael Dell cae al quinto puesto del ranking de los más ricos (Forbes España); Bernard Arnault ne fait plus partie des dix hommes les plus riches du monde, et voilà ce que ça dit de l’économie française (Atlantico); 最初のフォーブス長者番付、1918年の米大富豪30人 首位はロックフェラー (Forbes JAPAN).