Dubai: Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has been named one of the world’s richest self-made billionaires.
Amassing a personal fortune worth $28.3 billion, which is greater than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Cyprus in 2013, Bin Talal makes it to the global list of top 25 richest self-made billionaires, according to the latest ranking released by Wealth-X.
Bin Talal takes the 14th slot on the list, ahead of George Soros from the United States and several other self-made billionaires from China, Brazil, Hong Kong and Italy.
The high-profile investor holds major stakes in a number of private and public companies in the Middle East, United States and Europe through Kingdom Holding.
Bin Talal is the only GCC resident featured on the list, which is dominated by Americans.
The combined fortunes of the 14 Americans on the list are around $514.2 billion, which, according to Wealth-X, is bigger than Norway’s GDP.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose personal fortune is estimated to be nearly $86 billion, tops the list, followed by Warren Buffet with $70.1 billion, Amancio Ortega from Spain ($65 billion), Lawrence Ellison from the US ($51.5 billion) and Ingvar Kamprad from Sweden ($48.1 billion).
Below are the world’s top 25 self-made billionaires:
|
Rank/ |
Name |
Nationality |
Estimated Net Worth* |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
William Gates III |
United States |
85.7 |
|
2 |
Warren Buffett |
United States |
70.1 |
|
3 |
Amancio Ortega |
Spain |
65.0 |
|
4 |
Lawrence Ellison |
United States |
51.5 |
|
5 |
Ingvar Kamprad |
Sweden |
48.1 |
|
6 |
Jeffrey Bezos |
United States |
39.8 |
|
7 |
Carlos Slim |
Mexico |
35.4 |
|
8 |
Mark Zuckerberg |
United States |
35.3 |
|
9 |
Wang Jianlin |
China |
35.2 |
|
10 |
Michael Bloomberg |
United States |
33.7 |
|
11 |
Lawrence Page |
United States |
31.3 |
|
12 |
Sergey Brin |
United States |
29.1 |
|
13 |
Lee Shau Kee |
Hong Kong |
28.3 |
|
14 |
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal |
Saudi Arabia |
28.3 |
|
15 |
Jorge Paulo Lemann |
Brazil |
27.0 |
|
16 |
Jack Ma (Yun Ma) |
China |
26.7 |
|
17 |
Sheldon Adelson |
United States |
26.0 |
|
18 |
George Soros |
United States |
24.8 |
|
19 |
Leonardo Del Vecchio |
Italy |
23.0 |
|
20 |
Carl Icahn |
United States |
22.8 |
|
21 |
Steven Ballmer |
United States |
22.4 |
|
22 |
Philip Knight |
United States |
21.6 |
|
23 |
Patrick Drahi |
France/Israel |
21.0 |
|
24 |
Li Ka Shing |
Hong Kong |
20.1 |
|
25 |
Leonard Blavatnik |
United States |
20.1 |
*US$ billion
