Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk top the Forbes 2021 rich list
The Amazon and Tesla founders are reportedly worth $177 billion and $151 billion, respectively.
Jeff Bezos, again.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos remains the richest person on the planet, according to Forbes' 35th Annual World's Billionaires List, with a net worth of $177 billion. Coming in second is Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk , at $151 billion.
Bezos and Musk have generally topped the list of late, and occasionally jostle for No. 1.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates -- who had topped the list for 24 years -- ranks No. 4 with $124 billion, while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sits at No. 5 with just over $97 billion. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is No. 7 with $93 billion.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin take the No. 8 and 9 spots with $91.5 billion and $89 billion, respectively.
Bezos claimed the top spot in 2018 (it also happened briefly in 2017) when his net worth hit $160 billion.
Later this year, Bezos will hand the CEO title to Andy Jassy, the current head of Amazon Web Services. Bezos will remain the e-commerce giant's executive chairman. The pandemic gave Amazon a major boost, with more people buying online to avoid going to stores. In 2020's fourth quarter, net sales jumped 44% year over year to $125.6 billion.
Three non-tech names round out the top 10. At No. 3 is Bernard Arnault of France, who heads a brand empire that includes Louis Vuitton and Sephora, according to Forbes. At No. 6 is investment genius Warren Buffet, famously of Omaha. And No. 10 is Mukesh Ambani, who runs India's Reliance Industries that focus on petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom and retail, according to Forbes.