Who is in first place in forbes magazine. The richest people in the world: who they are and how they achieved success

Greetings! Truly rich people are admired and held up as examples. They are idolized and hated, tried to imitate and envied. For Russians, “dollar millionaire” sounds like an alien or “Bigfoot.” But billionaires also live somewhere. And all over the world there are almost two thousand such “chosen ones”, by the way!

Guess who is the richest person in the world in 2018?

On March 1, Forbes magazine published its next (already the thirtieth) ranking of dollar billionaires. In 2018, there were 1,810 such people worldwide. By the way, the global crisis also hit the “chosen ones”: the list was reduced by 16 people compared to 2017.

The total wealth of the world's richest people today is estimated at $6.48 trillion. The rating is getting younger every year. This year, 67 participants are not even 40 years old.

There are as many as 77 billionaires from Russia in the ranking (11 less than a year earlier). The “Russian” part of the list was headed by the co-owner of Sibur and Novatek Leonid Mikhelson. For the first time, Mikhail Shishkhanov (Binbank), Sait-Salam Gutseriev (RussNeft), Leonid Boguslavsky (ru-Net Ventures) and Kirill Shamalov (Sibur) were included in the rating.

Who was recognized as the best in the world?

The richest man in the world

As of February 13 of this year, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corporation, again became the richest person in the world. This is his seventeenth gold medal in the last 22 years. At the beginning of 2016, the billionaire’s fortune was estimated at $75 billion ($4.2 billion less than the previous year).

I won't write much about Bill Gates. It seems to me that all of humanity is closely watching his every step: how much money he earned, how much he gave to charity, what he eats and drinks, how he dresses and where he rests. Everyone knows that William Henry Gates III (his full name) is the creator and former largest shareholder of Microsoft, CEO of Cascade investment, member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway, public figure and philanthropist.

Let me just remind you that the Microsoft Windows operating system was first released on November 20, 1985. At that time, its creator was barely 30 years old. And since July 2008, Bill Gates is no longer the head of Microsoft.

The hero of my post is famous not only for his wealth and “windows,” but also for his generosity. The Bill and Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation is the largest in the world. Throughout its existence, the founders have donated about $30 billion to it.

The foundation fights hunger in poor countries and supports and improves healthcare systems. Every year, the Bill Gates Foundation spends more on these purposes than the UN WHO!

Interesting facts about Bill Gates

1. Bill Gates has officially been named the luckiest Harvard dropout ever. The billionaire finally completed his studies, interrupted in his youth, several decades later.
2. As a young man, he promised his university professors that he would become a billionaire before he turned 30. In fact, Bill Gates broke his promise - he made his first billion at the age of 31
3. At the initiative of the billionaire, a device was created to destroy malaria mosquitoes for poor countries in Africa. A device with an infrared laser and sensor kills hundreds of mosquitoes per second within a radius of 100 meters
4. In 2015, one of the journalists made an original calculation. If Bill Gates were suddenly left without a single source of income and spent $1 million every day, his net worth would last for 218 years
5. The Queen of Great Britain awarded Bill Gates the honorary title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. But due to the fact that the newly minted knight has American citizenship, he does not have the right to use the prefix “sir”
6. At the end of 2015, Bill Gates, together with Facebook founder Zuckerberg, founded the Breakthrough Energy Coalition fund. The main objective of the fund: to attract private investment for the search and development of alternative energy sources
7. Bill Gates's book, Business at the Speed ​​of Thought, was on the Amazon.com, America Today, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Back in 1999, the author argued that information technology can effectively solve complex business problems. The book is sold in 60 countries and translated into 20 languages

For two days in September, Bill Gates was not the richest man on the planet

On September 9 and 10, the ranking of the richest people in the world was headed by Amancio Ortega, beating Bill Gates by $100 million. Italian Amancio Ortega is the president of Inditex, the parent company of the legendary Zara brand. In addition to Zara, Inditex includes the Pull & Bear, Oysho, Bershka, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti and Uterque brands.

By the way, in October 2015, Amancio also ranked first in the Forbes rating. During few hours.

At one time, Ortega made a real revolution in the fashion market. He minimized the time from developing the design of a model to its arrival on the counter. His company was the first to refuse the services of intermediaries, taking upon itself all issues of logistics, purchasing and promotion.

By the way, John Rockefeller is still considered the richest man in history...

Hello everyone, Vyacheslav Bulenkov is with you and in this issue, I will share the TOP 10 richest people in Russia in the Forbes world ranking for 2015. On March 2, the American Forbes published its traditional, 29th, global ranking of billionaires. This time, the list included 88 businessmen from Russia, 33 less than a year earlier, and Vladimir Potanin became the leader for the first time - he displaced Alisher Usmanov from the first “national” line. Russian participants in the rating have become noticeably “impoverished” over the year - the reason for this is the crisis in the country’s economy and Western sanctions due to the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and the war in Donbass. In terms of the number of dollar billionaires, Russia is now inferior not only to the United States and China, but also to Germany and India. 10. Mikhail Prokhorov Net worth: $9.9 billion Change over the year: -$1 billion Position in the world ranking: 125 Athlete, banker, metallurgist, playboy, investor, media mogul, politician and owner of the NBA club - all this is Mikhail Prokhorov. In 2012, he shocked all of Russia with his unexpected candidacy for the post of president of the country - and according to the election results he collected a quite respectable 8% of the vote. But since then the businessman’s political career has faded. His most notable American project is the construction of a new arena for the Nets. In December 2013, he acquired 27% in Uralkali, the world's largest producer of potash fertilizers. 9. Gennady Timchenko Net worth: $10.7 billion Change for the year: -$4.6 billion Position in the world ranking: 118 Gennady Timchenko owns shares in many companies in the gas, transport and construction industries. Among its assets are the largest gas producer Novatek, the petrochemical holding Sibur, the railway carrier Transoil and the insurance company Sogaz. Being one of the most influential people in the country, the billionaire, who is considered a close friend of Vladimir Putin, came under US sanctions in 2014. Among Timchenko’s non-business workload is the supervision of Russian hockey: he chairs the KHL board of directors and holds the post of president of the St. Petersburg club SKA. 8. Vladimir Lisin Net worth: $11.6 billion Change over the year: -$5 billion Position in the world ranking: 107 Vladimir Lisin made his fortune in metallurgy, rail transportation and logistics. Previously, he became a partner in the Trans-World Group, which over several years has grown into a leading Russian exporter of aluminum and steel. By that time, Lisin had accumulated a wealth of experience in managing metallurgical production, so that during the division of assets in 2000, he naturally received ownership of the industry giant, the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works. The billionaire also controls the logistics holding UCL, which owns the First Freight Company. 7. Leonid Mikhelson Net worth: $11.7 billion Change for the year: -$3.9 billion Position in the world ranking: 105 Leonid Mikhelson is the main owner of the gas producer Novatek, the chemical group Sibur and the First United Bank. In July 2014, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions against Novatek, putting pressure on Timchenko's business partner, who is considered a close friend of Putin in the West. The company remains the controlling shareholder of the Yamal LNG project, which is developing despite sanctions pressure. To support it, Novatek requested $2.3 billion in support from the National Welfare Fund. The total cost of the project is estimated at $27 billion, Chinese investors are ready to invest $10 billion. 6. Vagit Alekperov Net worth: $12.2 billion Change for the year: -$1.4 billion Position in the world ranking: 96 Vagit Alekperov heads Lukoil, the largest oil company in Russia, which, in particular, is developing the West Qurna 2 field in Iraq, possessing some of the richest deposits on the planet. The billionaire does not have a reputation as a businessman from the inner circle of President Vladimir Putin, which did not save Lukoil from US sanctions in September 2014. Having gone through all the career stages in the oil industry, at the end of the USSR the future billionaire even managed to work as an industry minister. In 1991, he privatized three large fields and founded Lukoil. Alekperov is the author of the book “Russian Oil: Past, Present and Future.” 5. Alexey Mordashov Net worth: $13 billion Change over the year: +$2.5 billion Position in the world ranking: 89 In mid-January 2015, Putin received Mordashov and made the metallurgical magnate promise not to allow unreasonable investments. Against the backdrop of bad market conditions for Russia, the billionaire got rid of all American assets - his company Severstal is now focusing on the national market. At the end of 2013, the businessman, together with entrepreneur Yuri Kovalchuk, close to Putin, bought a 50% stake in the fourth largest Russian mobile operator Tele2 Russia. Also, together with Kovalchuk, Mordashov is a shareholder of Rossiya Bank, which is under US and EU sanctions due to the “pro-presidential” reputation of its main shareholder. In 2011, the owner of Severstal increased his stake in the Power Machines holding company, purchasing 25% from Siemens. 4. Viktor Vekselberg Net worth: $14.2 billion Change over the year: -$3 billion Position in the world ranking: 73 Russian authorities chose Viktor Vekselberg to be the project supervisor for the national analogue of Silicon Valley - the Skolkovo innovation city - in 2010. Since then, three billionaire companies have already appeared among the project residents who received grants from the state. In 2013, the businessman, together with Mikhail Fridman and Leonard Blavatnik, sold a 50% stake in the oil company TNK-BP to the state-owned Rosneft for $28 billion. Vekselberg earned his first million from selling scrap metal. In the 1990s, he founded the holding company SUAL. In 2007, SUAL merged assets with the Rusal group and the mining company Glencore - this is how the world's largest aluminum producer UC Rusal was born. In addition, Vekselberg has stakes in petrochemical, consumer goods and telecommunications businesses. 3. Alisher Usmanov Net worth: $14.4 billion Change for the year: -$4.2 billion Position in the world ranking: 71 Alisher Usmanov lost his status as the richest man in Russia after three years of leadership, but continues to remain a key figure in several major sectors of the national economy. . Among his assets are the metallurgical giant Metalloinvest, the country's second largest mobile operator Megafon, the Internet holding Mail.ru Group and the Kommersant publishing house. The billionaire's most successful investments internationally are in the tech industry: He was an early investor in Facebook, but sold all of his shares in the social network in 2013 to invest in rising Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Chinese budget smartphone maker Xiaomi. Usmanov also remains a shareholder of the London football club Arsenal. 2. Mikhail Fridman Net worth: $14.6 billion Change over the year: -$3 billion Position in the world ranking: 68 Together with his friends from study, Mikhail Fridman controls Alfa Group, the largest private financial and industrial group in Russia. In 2011, Alfa-controlled mobile operator VimpelCom acquired the telecommunications holding of Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris and became the sixth largest player in the global market. Fridman and partners also own the second largest chain of stores in Russia – X5 Retail Group. 1. Vladimir Potanin Net worth: $15.4 billion Change over the year: +$2.8 billion Position in the world ranking: 60 Vladimir Potanin, a former employee of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, met his future partner Mikhail Prokhorov in 1991. In 1993, the partners created Oneximbank, which lured IBES clients to serve them. Oneximbank became a platform for the construction of the Interros holding. With the support of the state, the billionaire became the largest private investor in the Winter Olympics in Sochi - he built the Rosa Khutor ski resort. And so, this was the TOP 10 richest people in Russia in the Forbes world ranking for 2015. Subscribe to the channel to receive new inspiring and useful episodes, write your opinion in the comments, and if you liked the episode, like and share this video with your friends. This will be the biggest support for me. And Vyacheslav Bulenkov was with you and see you again!

Bill Gates, with an estimated net worth of $79.2 billion, is in the lead for the 16th time since 1995. A striking newcomer is Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, who led Alibaba's IPO in September, increasing his net worth by 127%. Two of his fellow citizens, Wang Jianling and Li Heijun, also made the list for the first time. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who at the age of 30 managed to earn a fortune of $33.3 billion, became the youngest participant, and the richest woman is Wal-Mart heiress Christy Walton, with a fortune of $41.7 billion.

Jim Walton
$160.8 billion the combined wealth of the four Wal-Mart heirs, which is 10% of the total wealth of all participants in the ranking of the top 50 richest people in the world.

Bernard Arnault
60 brands are part of the world-famous LVMH conglomerate, including Louis Vuitton, Moët, Fendi, Tag Heuer.

Forrest Mars J.
33% This is exactly how much the Mars family’s fortune has grown over the past year, increasing it to $79.8 billion. The company owns such well-known chocolate brands as Twix, Snickers, M&M’s, and others.

Lee Shawki
By 3.2% Property rental prices in Hong Kong increased in 2014. Over the past year, Li Shawqi's wealth has increased by 26.5%.

Lee Heijun
67% China's market share in solar cell manufacturing. According to Lee, his company is the largest manufacturer of thin batteries.

Dilip Shanghvi
$4.3 billion was the combined 2014 revenue of Sun Pharmaceuticals and Ranbaxy, which Shangvi acquired in December. The new company became the largest manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals in Asia.

Asian sensation

The United States, home to 536 billionaires, has for many years occupied a leading position in the growth of rich people. However, over the past 10 years (since 2006), 205 billionaires from China have been added to the list, thanks to which the championship has passed to the Middle Kingdom. India is also performing well, with 90 billionaires and surpassing Russia for the first time this year.

It is human nature to track the lives of world-famous personalities; it is especially interesting to observe the statistics of annual incomes.

For this purpose, the famous Forbes magazine long ago developed a list of the richest people on the planet and separately in each country, for example, Russia.

This list is updated annually, each time elevating new billionaires to the top.

In 2018, it will be interesting to consider several selections at once: the richest personalities from the USA, the richest people in Russia, as well as the top richest people on the planet.

The richest people, as a rule, are not used to boasting about their income, but smart journalists and statisticians have long ago calculated everyone's earnings.

So, in the last few years, as in 2017, the leading place of rich people from America is occupied by the same person, which one we will consider below.

All people who have achieved success in their careers necessarily own a multi-million dollar company or corporation that is known throughout the world.

Consider the list from the USA according to Forbes magazine:

1. Bill Gates. The founder of Microsoft has long and successfully led the top leaders.

   Its revenue is $81 billion. Bill is 60 years old and lives in Medina, Washington.

   Gates also heads the largest charitable foundation aimed at combating human problems: malaria, polio, and childhood vaccinations.

2. Jeff Bezos. The man is the owner of the Amazon website, which successfully sells products online all over the world.

   At the same time, on the site you can find categories of goods that cannot be found in brick-and-mortar stores.

   The man is 52 years old, at this age he has already managed to accumulate a fortune of 67 billion dollars.

3. Warren Buffett takes third place.– a man who earned $65.5 billion over 86 years.

   He lives in Omaha and is considered the largest investor. Berkshire Hathaway shares have been rising every year and are up 10% since last year.

   Almost every year, Buffett gives away shares of the company, this year the gift amounted to $2.9 billion.

4. Thirty-two-year-old handsome Mark Zuckerberg ranks 4th among the richest people in the United States.

   The founder and owner of Facebook already earned $55.5 billion in 2018.

   Mark and his wife make loud statements about spending money on finding ways to get rid of deadly diseases, and are also going to spend money on developing the potential of humanity.

5. Larry Ellison. The man is 72 years old, his current income is $49.3 billion, the main profit comes from Oracle.

   The company is trying to compete with the famous Amazon, but so far without success, although Ellison's fortune has increased over the past year.

The top ten is completed by Michael Bloomberg with Bloomberg LP, Charles Koch with diversified capital, his brother David Koch, as well as Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the owners of Google.

Top richest people in Russia

In the vastness of our country, there are also people whose earnings are several times higher than the income of the country’s population.

Typically these are owners of large companies, as well as shareholders of manufacturing corporations.

Let's look at the top richest people in Russia:

• Vladimir Lisin- occupies a leading position, is the chairman of the directors of NLMK, he has assets in this holding: income amounted to $19,100 million.
• Alexey Mordashov- is the chairman of the directors of the Severstal company, income is 18,700 million dollars: Mordashov is included in the ranking of 200 richest businessmen in Russia.
• Leonid Mikhelson– his fortune is estimated at $18 million, the businessman is the chairman of the board of PJSC Novatek.
• Vagit Alekperov- ranks 4th on the list, income amounted to $16,400 million in 2018: the businessman is the president of the Lukoil corporation.
• In 5th place on the list is Gennady Timchenko, who is a member of the board of directors of Novatek and Sibur: the income of this individual is 16 million US dollars.
• Vladimir Potanin– a businessman is engaged in non-ferrous metallurgy, his income is $15,900.
• Andrey Melnichenko– involved in the coal industry, energy and fertilizers, income $15,500.
• Mikhail Fridman– the source of income is oil, financial industry, telecommunications, retail trade: income amounted to $15,100.
• Victor Vekselberg– is engaged in non-ferrous metallurgy, investments, earnings for 2018 amounted to $14,400.
• Alisher Usmanov– the first 10 places are closed by a businessman who earned $12,500 in 2018 from metallurgy, the Internet and telecommunications.

Important! The 50 leaders are closed by Vadim Moshkovich, who is engaged in agriculture. His income is $2 million.

In 100th place is Yuri Gushchin, who earned $1 million in 2018 - he works in consumer goods and investments.

According to statistics, a large number of millionaires are observed in Chelyabinsk, which is associated with industry.

The richest people on the planet

If you look closely at the top richest people in the world, you can find similarities with the ranking of the richest people in America.

The leader is Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Second place goes to Bill Gates.

Warren Buffett, the head of Berkshire Hathaway, is in 3rd position.

The 500 richest people on the planet include businessmen from Russia listed in the previous section. The ranking of the 1000 richest people includes representatives of Russia, the USA and other developed countries.

Useful video

I introduced you to the twenty richest dollar billionaires of our time, occupying leading positions in the Forbes ranking. Today I want to bring to your attention TOP 10 richest people in the world in history. It turns out that history knows examples of achieving wealth that are several times greater than the successes of modern billionaires. It is them that I want to consider today as a good motivational example.

TOP 10 richest people on the planet in history.

1. John Rockefeller. The fortune of this famous multi-billionaire from the United States was equal in terms of current dollars, taking into account inflation $318 billion, which is more than 4 times more than the richest person of our time, Bill Gates.

John Rockefeller is the richest man on earth in its entire history and the world's first dollar billionaire. In old dollar terms, he created $1.4 billion in wealth during his lifetime, which was 1.54% of annual US GDP at the time.

John Rockefeller was born in 1839 into a poor large family (his father was a lumberjack, and then became a traveling elixir merchant). At the age of 7, he began working part-time in his neighbors’ garden and got himself a little book in which he wrote and put all his earnings in a piggy bank. At the age of 13, he borrowed $50 to a farmer he knew at 7.5% per annum.

His only official paid employment was a short-lived job as an accounting assistant, which Rockefeller took at the age of 16, having previously completed accounting courses. John did not like that his salary was set less than that of his predecessor, and he soon quit.

Next, John Rockefeller became a partner of the entrepreneur, with whom he opened a joint trading business. Moreover, he borrowed the missing $800 from his father at 10% per annum. Later, he was able to convince a representative of one of the banks to give their company a loan for business development, due to which turnover was significantly increased.

In the early 1860s, kerosene lamps began to spread in America, which increased the demand for oil, the raw material for the kerosene used in lamps. John Rockefeller met a chemist involved in oil refining, and together they created a small oil refining company. And already in 1870, Rockefeller created his main vital asset - the Standard Oil oil company, which began searching for and producing oil.

Developing and increasing turnover, John Rockefeller bought up other oil companies, and was soon able to conclude a profitable deal with railway companies, which allowed him to crush his competitors by reducing the cost of oil transportation. Rockefeller presented them with a choice: merger with him or bankruptcy, and competitors chose the first option.

So in 1880, John Rockefeller became a monopolist oil magnate, concentrating 95% of US oil production in his hands. Gradually he expanded his business to other areas of activity.

It is noteworthy that from a young age, John Rockefeller constantly spent 10% of all his income on charity. Rockefeller died at the age of 97.

John Rockefeller's most famous quote: He who works all day has no time to make money.

2. Andrew Carnegie. American businessman, originally from Scotland, whose fortune in modern currency amounted to $310 billion.

Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835, he came from a poor family of weavers who huddled in one room. From the age of 13, Andrew worked in a textile factory 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and earned $10 a month for his labor. Then he changed jobs to a telegraph company with a salary of $4 a week.

At the age of 20, he left his mother's house as collateral and took out a loan of $500, with which he purchased stock in the Adams Express railroad company. They began to bring good profits to Carnegie, which he began to invest in securities of metallurgical enterprises involved in car building, shipbuilding, railway construction, as well as in oil producing companies.

Thus, having become rich from the growth in stock prices, he was able to become the largest steel and iron producer in the United States by 1885, first forming the Carnegie Steel Company and then the U.S. Steel, which made him a dollar billionaire.

Like John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie allocated a portion of his earnings to charity throughout his life.

3. Nicholas II. The TOP-3 richest people on the planet in the entire human history is closed by the All-Russian Emperor Nicholas II Romanov. His financial condition in today's money was $253 billion.

However, unlike the aforementioned billionaires, he, as a tsar, inherited all his wealth, considered the sovereign’s property, from his father Alexander the Third. There is no information in popular sources about whether he was in any way involved in increasing his fortune; attention is paid only to his government.

As you know, the life of Nicholas II was tragically cut short in 1918, when he, along with his family and associates, were shot by the Bolsheviks.

4. William Henry Vanderbilt. Next in the TOP of the richest people in the world is the 19th century American capitalist William Vanderbilt, whose name is not so well known and there is little information about him. However, he ranks 4th in the TOP of the world's richest people in history - his financial fortune in terms of almost $232 billion.

Vanderbilt inherited a large fortune from his father, who at first did not want to allow him into the family business (he had 11 children in total, of which three were sons), but then, convinced of William’s abilities as a businessman, gradually took him into the share.

After the death of his father, William Henry Vanderbilt inherited a fortune worth $90 billion, and then increased it by more than 2 times. His main asset was the railway company. In 1885, Vanderbilt was considered the richest man in the world at that time.

5. Osman Ali Khan. Rounding out the TOP 5 richest people in the world in history is Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah the Seventh, originally from India. His fortune was almost $211 billion at the current rate.

Osman Ali Khan had a princely title: he inherited the throne of one of the Indian states from his father. At the same time, he was the head of the largest diamond trading business - a global monopolist in the supply of these precious stones. In the early 40s of the 20th century, his wealth was estimated at 2 million then dollars, which at that time amounted to 2% of US GDP.

6. Andrew Mellon. American banker who briefly served as US Secretary of the Treasury and US Ambassador to Great Britain. His fortune was almost $189 billion translated into modern currency.

Andrew Mellon was born in 1855 in the USA and followed in the footsteps of his father, who was also a banker. First, at the age of 17, with the help of his father, he opened a manufacturing enterprise engaged in logging, and then, at the age of 27, he became a bank manager.

Throughout his life, Andrew Mellon worked in various areas of business, and already in old age he held major government positions.

7. Henry Ford. Here, finally, is a familiar name again - the famous automobile tycoon Henry Ford, whose fortune amounted to $188 billion.

Henry Ford can serve as a good example of how to achieve great success and become a dollar billionaire from scratch. He was born in 1863 in the USA into a family of immigrants living on a farm. At the age of 16, Ford ran away from home and went to look for work in Detroit, where he began his career as a mechanical engineer and gradually rose through the ranks.

In 1883, he independently assembled his first car (not for work, but as a hobby), then became a co-owner of the Detroit Automobile Company, and in 1903 founded his own automobile company, the Ford Motor Company. This company began to independently produce cars: first the Ford A brand, but its main success was brought by the Ford T brand, production of which began in 1908.

Ford Motor Company repeatedly faced serious competition, and Henry Ford even suffered losses in this struggle, but did not stop and moved on. He constantly improved production technologies and, as a result, switched to a full production cycle: from the extraction of iron ore to the production of the finished car.

Henry Ford also became famous for paying his employees the highest wage in the United States at that time - $5 a day.

As you know, the business started by Henry Ford lives on to this day: Ford cars are a huge success all over the world.

8. Marcus Licinius Crassus. Ancient Roman commander. Unlike other representatives of the TOP 10 richest people in the world throughout history, Crassus lived all the way back to 115-53 BC. However, he was able to achieve wealth, which in today's money amounted to almost $170 billion.

It turns out that even before our era it was possible to run a thriving business. Marcus Licinius Crassus made his fortune mainly by buying houses for next to nothing that had been damaged by fires, which were a common occurrence in Ancient Rome due to wars, restoring them with the help of 500 hired workers and reselling them at a significantly higher price. Crassus also made money from the slave trade and silver mining.

Marcus Licinius Crassus was known as a very greedy and dishonest man. There were rumors that he even deliberately set fire to houses in order to build a business on it. As a result, he was killed; according to one version, he was executed by having molten gold poured into his mouth, as a symbol of his greed.

9. Basil II. Byzantine emperor from the family of Alexander the Great, whose reign spanned 976-1025. His net worth in today's money was $169 billion.

There is little information about this man, who is among the TOP 10 richest people in the world in history. It is only known that he was able to significantly expand the borders of the Byzantine Empire, annexing other lands to it. What’s interesting is that after his death the empire soon collapsed.

10. Cornelius Vanderbilt. American businessman, father of William Henry Vanderbilt, who occupies 4th position in the TOP 10 richest people in the world. His wealth in today's money was $167 billion.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was born in the USA in 1794 into a family of poor farmers. At the age of 11, he decided that studying at school would not bring him anything good (he owns the saying “If I received an education, I would not have time to learn everything else”), he dropped out of school and went to work as a ferryman.

At the age of 16, he borrowed $100 from his mother, with which he opened his own business: he began transporting people on a small barge. A year later, he gave away 11 times more money: $1,100, which he managed to earn from this business.

Then Vanderbilt began to buy other ships, and soon he had a whole flotilla at his disposal. Later he switched to the railway business, and also began organizing transcontinental transportation.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was known as a very tough man, merciless in competition. It is believed that it was thanks to this character trait that he was able to achieve such magnitude.

This is what the TOP 10 richest people in the world in history look like. As you can see, there are both good and bad role models here. But it can still be argued that the majority of the richest people on the planet, mainly US citizens, were able to do it on their own, through investing and developing businesses, coming from poor families and starting from scratch. Which once again confirms the fact that this is possible.

I hope that it was not in vain that I carefully collected this information, and that the information received will have a certain motivating effect on you. Stay on, improve your financial literacy, and perhaps in the future you will be the one who will be able to bring your financial condition, your wealth and success closer to these historical characters. See you again!