Billionaire

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explains the future capabilities of his company’s “Starship” to senior leaders of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, U.S. Northern Command, and Air Force Space Command, April, 2019

A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultra high-net-worth individual. The American business magazine Forbes produces a global list of known U.S. dollar billionaires every year and updates an internet version of this list in real time.[1] The American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller became the world's first confirmed U.S. dollar billionaire in 1916.[2]

As of 2018, there are over 2,200 U.S. dollar billionaires worldwide, with a combined wealth of over US$9.1 trillion,[3] up from US$7.67 trillion in 2017.[4][5] According to a 2017 Oxfam report, the top eight richest billionaires own as much combined wealth as "half the human race".[6][7] As of 2021, eight people have reached the status of USD centibillionaires, meaning that each has had a net worth of at least $100 billion.[8]

  1. ^ Miller, Matthew; Kroll, Luisa (10 March 2010). "Bill Gates No Longer World's Richest Man". Forbes. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  2. ^ O'Donnell, Carl (11 July 2014). "The Rockefellers: The Legacy Of History's Richest Man". Forbes. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Kroll, Luisa (6 March 2018). "Forbes Billionaires 2018: Meet The Richest People On The Planet". Forbes. Archived from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  5. ^ Kroll, Luisa; Dolan, Kerry A. "Forbes 2017 billionaires list: Meet the richest people on the planet". Forbes. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  6. ^ Ratcliff, Anna (16 January 2017). "Just 8 men own same wealth as half the world" (Press release). Oxfam. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  7. ^ Mullany, Gerry (16 January 2017). "World's 8 Richest Have as Much Wealth as Bottom Half of Global Population". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  8. ^ Lee, Yoojung (12 April 2021). "Elite $100 Billion Club Gets Two New Members via Tech Boom". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.