Whether you’re brimming with knowledge about the business world or simply curious how to make it to the top, there’s a strong chance you’ll have heard of some of the world’s richest companies. From Tesla to Google and Microsoft, these companies hold an incredible market cap in 2021 so far. But a lot of these successful businesses would not be where they were without the brains behind how these businesses have evolved over the years.
To truly appreciate how successful these businesses have become to date, we need to focus the lens on the prolific businesspeople at the top of the hierarchical chain calling all the shots. To discover the most successful billionaires belonging to some of the world’s famous brands, we dug deep into the financial records of 40 billionaires to determine who the most successful billionaires are at present.
To find our list of billionaires, we based our study on real-time ranking obtained from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, collecting a list of 40 billionaires in total. Using this, we have collated an index drawing information for the following key variables that best measure success:
◼ Total net worth
◼ Company market capitalisation
◼ Company annual net income
◼ No. of employees per owned company
A weighted score-based system using a percent rank was then used to normalise our collected data and give a final total score. The score ranks each billionaire from highest to lowest revealing who is the most successful.
Contents:
◼ Who is the most successful billionaire?
◼ Which billionaire has the highest total net worth?
◼ Which billionaire company has the highest market capitalisation?
◼ Which billionaire company had the highest company net income in 2020?
◼ Who is the largest billionaire employer?
◼ The full results
◼ Methodology
(The full results can be found at the bottom of the page - click here to jump)
Bezos may be stepping down as the CEO of Amazon on July 5th, but the widely acclaimed founder takes the number one spot on our list of successful billionaires with a total score of 8.96 out of 10. Bezos has the highest total net worth of all billionaires studied ($187 billion USD), the second highest score for market capitalisation ($1.62 trillion USD) and has the second highest number of employees (1,271,000).
The Microsoft tech tycoon Bill Gates has earned a total score of 8.78 out of 10 in our index, ranking as the second most successful billionaire in our study. Gates has the highest market cap, valued at $1.85 trillion USD, and the highest annual net income with $44.3 billion USD in 2020. The business magnate has kept himself busy as the founder and chairman of multiple companies, including TerraPower and Cascade Investment, after stepping down from his post at Microsoft.
In third place is Warren Buffett who consecutively lands within the top 10 in all categories, earning a high score of 8.65 out of a possible 10 in total. Buffett, who is recognised as one of the most successful investors in the industry, heads the multinational conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway as the Chairman and CEO and claims the second highest company net income - $42.2 billion USD.
In fourth place is Steve Ballmer with a score of 8.41 out of 10 overall. The former Microsoft CEO has made it into our list of billionaires by actively working in his former role at Microsoft before purchasing the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers in 2014 and investing in Social Solutions. Alongside Bill Gates, he has the highest market cap and highest annual net income for his efforts at Microsoft.
Larry Page sits in fifth place with a total score of 7.93 out of 10. Alongside Sergey Brin, their founding company Alphabet Inc. ranks in third place for both highest company market cap with $1.55 trillion USD and annual net income of $40.3 billion USD. As the co-founder of Google and its parent company amongst other subsidiaries, Alphabet Inc., Page continues to play an active role within the company as its controlling shareholder and board member. Since stepping down as the CEO of Alphabet Inc, he has invested and funded startups in multiple companies.
With the lowest average total score of 0.79 out of 10, the Novatek founder and chairman Leonid Mikhelson placed 36th in our study's overall rankings. Mikhelson has a total net worth valued at $28.2 billion USD, a market cap valued at $6.3 billion USD and 864 employees, deeming him as the ‘least successful’ billionaire.
Following with a total score of 1.70 out of 10 is Alexey Mordashov, the majority shareholder and former CEO of the steel company Severstal. Mordashov's company has a total net worth valued at $28.7 billion USD and a market cap of $17.2 billion USD, both of which resulted in low scores in our study.
The current chairman and majority shareholder of Novolipetsk Steel, Vladimir Lisin, ranks in 34th place with a total score of 2.01 out of 10. He acquired the fourth lowest total net worth in our billionaire list with $29.1 billion USD and the fifth lowest in company market cap of $22.2 billion USD, ranking him among the five 'least successful' billionaires.
The Estée Lauder heir, Leonard Lauder, sits in fourth with an overall score of 2.25 out of 10. His total net worth is valued at approximately $30.3 billion USD, and he had an annual net income of $684 million USD in 2020. Lauder was an active CEO until 1999 but has since remained the Chairman Emeritus and sole heir of the company, alongside his brother.
Rounding off the bottom five is the founder and honorary chairman of Keyence Corporation, Takemitsu Takizaki, acquiring an average total score of 2.50 out of 10 and ranking him in 32nd overall. Takizaki holds the second lowest total net worth at roughly $28.5 billion USD, and has the fourth lowest number of employees in total (8,419), making him one of the 'least successful' billionaires of those studied.
Ranking in first place is Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. The businessman has earned himself the highest total net worth of approximately $188 billion USD based on Bloomberg's current real-time statistics, resulting in a top score of 9.75
Falling in joint second place is LVMH’s Chairman and CEO, Bernard Arnault, with approximately $162 billion USD in current real-time total net worth, which earns him a total net worth score of 9.26.
Also in joint second, with a score of 9.26, is Tesla co-founder and Chief Engineer, Elon Musk. The businessman has a total net worth of approximately $162 billion USD based on Bloomberg's current real-time statistics.
Sitting in third place is Bill Gates with a total net worth score of 9.02. The co-founder of Microsoft Corporation has made around $142 billion USD according to real-time total net worth statistics.
In first place, we have one of the world’s leading tech companies, Microsoft Corporation. The company tops the ranking with the highest score of 9.5 out of 10, with an approximately $1.85 trillion USD in market cap.
Trailing a few billion behind is the e-commerce giant, Amazon, scoring a notable 9.26 in our study, with a market cap of $1.62 trillion USD.
Following shortly behind is also one of the world’s notable tech companies, Alphabet Inc. with an estimated $1.55 trillion USD in market cap, scoring an 8.78 in our index. Alphabet Inc. is the parent company after Google’s core business restructured back in 2015.
Microsoft tops the list once again with a net income of approximately $44.3 billion USD – the highest of all business studied in 2020. As a result, the company earned a score of 9.51 in our study.
Following close behind is Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational holding company for a high volume of businesses around the world. It claims a fine score of 9.26 out of 10 after acquiring a value of $42.5 billion USD in net income.
Alphabet Inc. places in third in our study after being awarded a score of 8.78 due to their net income reported to be approximately $40.3 billion USD in 2020.
Our data reveals brothers Jim and Rob Walton’s Walmart Inc, is the largest billionaire employer in the list. The retail empire reports a striking 2,200,000 employees recorded by Google Finance, which earns a peak score of 9.51 in our index.
This is followed by Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce empire Amazon with a recorded 1,271,000 employees collecting a score of 9.26 in the index. In third place, Business Magnate Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings, CK Asset Holdings and CK Infrastructure Holdings recorded a total of 360,195 employees collectively, obtaining a score of 9.02.