Who Just Became A Billionaire? Forbes Updates List Of Billionaires For 2022

Forbes has a few new names to add to its list of billionaires in 2022.

However, the business magazine noted that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sluggish supply chains, and struggling economies around the world, there were 87 fewer billionaires on the list.

The billionaires on Forbes’ list are also worth $400 billion less than last year, though the wealth gap between the 1% and everyone else is still increasing. Still, 236 people became billionaires within the past year, but that is down from a record number of billionaires added to the 2021 list, 493.

There are 2,668 billionaires on Forbes’ list for 2022. China and the United States produced the newest billionaires, with 62 new billionaires on Forbes’ list hailing from China and 50 hailing from the United States.

A few new notable names on Forbes’ billionaire's list include Melinda French Gates ($6.2 billion), who recently divorced her ex-husband, Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Barbados pop singer Rihanna ($1.7 billion) was also added to the list, achieving that milestone with her Fenty cosmetics and lingerie businesses.

Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson ($1.5 billion) joined the list in November when he sold a stake in his digital film effects shop. Josh Kushner, the husband of Karlie Kloss and brother of Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, was also added to Forbes’ billionaire's list with a $2 billion net worth. Goldman Sachs valued his venture capital firm, Thrive Capital, at $3.6 billion.

Forbes also notes that only 33 out of the 236 new billionaires on the list were women, and only 11 of them were self-made billionaires. Twelve people added to the list were under the age of 30, two more than in 2021.

All of them were self-made, worth around $25.8 billion, $3.7 billion less than last year. Still, that wealth represents only about half a percent of the rest of the billionaires on Forbes’ list.

Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is still the richest person on the list, valued at $219 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos ($171 billion), Bernard Arnault ($158 billion), Bill Gates ($129 billion), and Warren Buffet ($118 billion).

Larry Page ($111 billion), Sergey Brin ($107 billion), Larry Elison ($106 billion), Steve Ballmer ($91.4 billion), and Mukes Ambani ($90.7) rounded out the top 10 richest people on Forbes’ list for now.