The rich keep getting richer in tech. The combined wealth of the 100 richest tech billionaires — a whopping $892 billion — surged 6% since last year. Forbes released the stats in its second annual Richest in Tech list.
- Amazon, meanwhile, saw its net income multiply nine times since last year to $857 million, fueled in part by strong demand for its free-shipping membership, Amazon Prime.
- Facebook and Amazon both saw remarkable growth this year despite the tumultuous stock market. Facebook’s ever increasing mobile ad growth propelled the company’s revenue to increase 59% in its last three-month quarter ending June 30.
- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (personal net worth: $78 billion) took the top spot again, followed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ($66.2 billion). Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($54 billion) took third place, while Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison ($51.7 billion) fell two spots to fourth.
- Bezos is also the third-richest person in the world now, surpassed only by Gates and founder of Spanish retail giant Inditex fashion group, Amancio Ortega.
- Other top tech billionaires include Google co-founder and its parent company Alphabet’s CEO Larry Page ($39 billion) at fifth on the list, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk ($12.7 billion) at 15th, and Chinese retail giant Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma ($25.8 billion) at eighth.
The top-10 richest in tech:
1. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, $78 billion net worth
2. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, $66.2 billion net worth
3. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, $54 billion net worth
4. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, $51.7 billion net worth
5. Alphabet CEO Larry Page, $39 billion net worth
6. Alphabet president Sergey Brin, $38.2 billion net worth
7. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, $27.7 billion net worth
8. Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, $25.8 billion net worth
9. Tencent CEO Ma Huateng, $22 billion net worth
10. Dell CEO Michael Dell, $20 billion net worth
