These are The World’s 8 Members Of The $100 Billion Net Worth Club (Centibillionaires)

Despite the pandemic, there have been rapid-fire public offerings, as well as a surge in the prices of stocks and cryptocurrencies which mostly account for an unprecedented number of new billionaires and equally, centibillionaires in the world. In mid-April, 2021, Oracle co-founder, Larry Ellison and Google co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin became new members of the $100 billion net worth club, thanks to the skyrocketing tech stock prices.

Amazingly, these centibillionaires, who are manly American tech entrepreneurs now have a combined net worth of over $1 trillion. While Google co-founders increased their total wealth with a combined net worth of over $40 billion, Larry Ellison added billions of dollars to his net worth, as Oracle shares grew by over 10 percent. Here’s a look at how these billionaire entrepreneurs acquired their centi-billion dollars fortunes.

The 8 Centibillionaires in The World and Their Net Worths

1. Jeff Bezos

  • Net Worth: $197.8 Billion
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: Amazon, Blue Origin
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 60
The Centibillionaires
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In the year 2017, the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos was the first to attain the $100 billion net worth after Bill Gates reached the milestone in 1999 before his wealth slumped in the subsequent years. The Amazon founder has been the richest person in the world for four years running, thanks to the surging Amazon shares that have added over $70 billion to his net worth within a year interval. In 1994, Bezos took a life-changing decision that quickly changed his financial status as he established an e-commerce giant, Amazon in his garage in Seattle.

He first ran the company as an online bookstore before expanding it to include other e-commerce products and services. Now, Amazon is known for its cloud computing, as well as video and audio streaming. Besides Amazon, the savvy businessman is the founder of Blue Origin, an aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company. He also owns The Washington Post which he purchased in 2013 for $250 million.

Did You Know:

Through its Amazon Web Services, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon is the biggest provider of virtual assistants and cloud infrastructure services. It is currently ranked as the largest online sales company in the world and equally, the biggest internet company by revenue.

Amazon earned $280.5 billion in revenue in the year 2019 with a record net profit of $11.5 billion.

During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Jeff Bezos increased his wealth by almost $24 billion and for the first time, had a net worth of over $200 billion in August 2020.

2. Elon Musk

  • Net Worth: $179.7 Billion
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: Tesla, SpaceX
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 52
Elon Musk
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Having amassed a net worth of $179.9 billion, Tesla owner, Elon Musk is the world’s second-richest person. Besides founding the electric vehicle manufacturing company, Tesla, he serves as the founder of the aerospace manufacturer and space transport services, SpaceX. The Centibillionaire also co-founded OpenAL in 2015 and Neuralink, a neurotechnology company in the year 2016. Elon Musk, who is the chief executive officer and product architect of Tesla, owns 21 percent of the company and has pledged over half of his stake in the company as collateral for loans.

The University of Pennsylvania graduate first began his business career by co-founding Zip2, a web software company with his brother, Kimbal. He then sold the startup to Compaq for $307 million in 1999 and that same year, he used the fund to establish an online bank called X.com which later merged with Confinity to form Paypal. In 2002, the company was bought over by eBay for $1.5 billion.

Did You Know:

Elon Musk’s net worth was estimated at $24.6 billion in early 2020 but after Tesla shares had a surge of over 700 percent, he gained a $100 billion net worth in late 2020.

As of February 2021, Musk’s aerospace manufacturer and space transport services, SpaceX has a valuation of $74 billion.

3. Bill Gates

  • Net Worth: $132 Billion
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: Microsoft Corporation
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 68
Bill Gates Net Worth
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Until 2014, the renowned software developer was the largest shareholder of Microsoft Corporation which he co-founded with Paul Allen in 1975. He has sold/given away the majority of his Microsoft shares and currently has in possession just over 1 percent of shares. He stepped down from his role as a Microsoft board member in March 2020. While working in the company, the investor served as the chairman, president, chief executive officer, and chief software architect. Asides from Microsoft, Gates has invested in a mix of stocks and other assets.

He serves as the chairman and founder of Cascade Investment, chairman and founder of Branded Entertainment Network, as well as the chairman and co-founder of TerraPower. He has been making the list of the world’s richest people by Forbes since 1987 and in 1999, he became the first person to reach the centi-billion dollars milestone. Although his wealth slumped in the subsequent years, he regained his centibillionaire title in the year 2019.

Did You Know:

Bill Gates and his wife, Belinda Gates who were the second most generous philanthropists in the United States as of 2007, oversee the largest private charitable foundation in the world – the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Microsoft co-founder has so far, made donations of Microsoft stocks worth over $35 billion to his foundation and through The Giving Pledge, he and his wife have pledged to donate 95 percent of their wealth to charity.

4. Bernard Arnault

  • Net Worth: $131.6 Billion
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
  • Nationality: French
  • Age: 75
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Since 2019, French luxury goods magnate, Bernard Arnault has been appearing on and off the list of the world’s centibillionaires. In December 2019, he briefly became the world’s richest person, surpassing Jeff Bezos, and repeated such feat in January 2020, holding onto the title for a short time. Arnault serves as the chairman of the luxury goods’ multinational corporation and conglomerate, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, as well as the chairman of Christian Dior. He surpassed Zara’s Amancio Ortega to become the wealthiest person in fashion in April 2018.

The businessman runs an empire that consists of over $70 brands including Sephora. He purchased Christian Dior for $15 million in 1985 and moved on to spend about $3.2 billion in the luxury hospitality group, Belmond that manages/owns more than 45 hotels, river cruises, and trains. In 2019, the luxury group grossed €53.7 billion in revenue with a net profit of €7.17 billion. Following an 86 percent increase in the shares of LVMH, the total wealth of Bernard Arnault’s family is estimated at $181.6 billion by Forbes while his net worth, as of April 9th, 2021 is estimated at $131.6 billion.

Did You Know:

Arnault’s luxury group, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is the biggest luxury goods company in the world. The multinational company completed what is believed to be the largest luxury brand acquisition ever in history in January 2021, when LVMH purchased Tiffany & Co for $15.8 billion.

5. Mark Zuckerberg

  • Net Worth: $111.6 Billion
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: Facebook Inc.
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 39
The Centibillionaires
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Facebook chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg first gained a $100 billion net worth in 2020 and now has an estimated fortune of $111.6 billion. At the age of nineteen, while at Harvard, the tech mogul founded Facebook and then took it public in May 2012, owning the majority of the shares. He still has about 15 percent of the Facebook stock in possession. Due to his social networking platform, Facebook becoming a go-to communication tool during the COVID-19 worldwide lockdown, Facebook stocks rose tremendously.

In addition to serving as the chairman and controlling shareholder of Facebook Inc., Zuckerberg is the co-founder of Breakthrough Starshot. He also serves on the board of the solar sail spacecraft development project. Through his Start-up; Education Foundation, the centibillionaire, in September 2010, made a donation of $100 million to the public school system of Newark, New Jersey called Newark Public Schools.

Did You Know:

Zuckerberg became the youngest self-made billionaire in the world at the age of 23, in the year 2007. He is currently the fifth richest person in the world with a net worth of $111.6 billion.

Through The Giving Pledge, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan have pledged to donate 99 percent of their Facebook stock to philanthropy over their lifetimes.

6. Larry Ellison

  • Net Worth: $104.6 Billion
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: Oracle Corporation
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 79
Billionaires whose net worth grew in 2020
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For thirty-seven years, Larry Ellison served as the chief executive officer of Oracle. He stepped down from his CEO role in 2014 and since then became the chairman and chief technology officer of the software giant. He co-founded Oracle in 1977 and by 2005, he was earning a base salary of $975,000. His salary was upped to $1 million two years later and he had a total compensation package of $61.1 million that year including stock grants of $50 million. In addition to owning a 35 percent stake in Oracle, Ellison has stakes in Quark Biotechnology Inc., Astex Pharmaceuticals, and NetSuite.

In early 2018, the centibillionaire invested in Tesla, purchasing three million shares of the vehicle manufacturing company, and then became a board member in December 2018. With Tesla shares increasing by over $700 percent and Oracle shares by over 10 percent, it’s not surprising that Larry Ellison joined the $100 billion net worth club on April 8th, 2021. The businessman emerged as the seventh richest person on the planet in June 2020 with a total fortune of $66.8 billion.

Did You Know:

Larry Ellison’s Oracle made its largest software company acquisition in 2016 when it purchased NetSuite for $9.3 billion. The entrepreneur had a 35 percent stake in the company at the time of the purchase and the deal earned him a personal income of $3.5 billion.

7. Larry Page

  • Net Worth: $103.6 Billion (As of April 10th, 2021)
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: Google
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 50
The Centibillionaires
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Joining the centibillionaires recently, Google co-founder, Larry Page has a net worth of $103.6 billion as of April 10th, 2021. With the stocks of Google’s parent company, Alphabet growing by more than 80 percent over the past year, the computer scientist added $21.2 billion to his net worth. After co-founding Google with fellow Stanford Ph.D. student, Sergey Brin in the year 1998, the two moved on to create Google’s PageRank algorithm that powers the search engine. He served as the chief executive officer of Google from 1998 through 2001 and then regained his CEO role in 2011, finally stepping down in 2015.

From 2015 to 2019, he was the chief executive officer of Alphabet and now serves as a board member and controlling shareholder of Google’s parent company. Also, Page is a founding investor in Planetary Resources, a space exploration company. Google’s initial public offering took place in August 2004 with Larry Page and Brin owning the majority of the company which has been generating over $100 billion in revenue annually since 2017.

Did You Know:

On April 10th, 2021, Larry Page became the sixth-richest person in the world with a net worth of $103.6 billion.

His multinational tech company, Google is among the five biggest tech companies in the world which includes Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook.

8. Warren Buffett  

  • Net Worth: $102.9 Billion
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 93
Warren Buffet
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Nicknamed, “Oracle of Omaha”, Warren Buffett is ranked among the most successful investors of all time. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational conglomerate holding company that owns more than 60 companies. They include Helzberg Diamonds, Duracell, Long & Foster, NetJets, GEICO, and Fruit of the Loom. The business tycoon first hit the $100 billion net worth in March, lasting for a short time. He regained the centibillionaire title once again on 10th, April 2021, emerging as the seventh richest person in the world.

Asides from being the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been the largest shareholder of the company since 1970. Over the years, he has purchased stocks in diverse businesses and the companies include Salomon Brothers, Capital Cities, Coca-Cola, and Washington Post.

Did You Know:

Buffett purchased his first stock at the age of 11. He became a millionaire when he was 30 years old and then gained a billion-dollar net worth at the age of 56.

Warren Buffett has donated more than $41 billion to charity, mainly to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Having launched The Giving Pledge alongside Bill Gates in 2010, he has pledged to give away more than 99 percent of his wealth to philanthropy.

Notable Mention:

1. Sergey Brin

  • Net Worth: $96 Billion
  • Industry/Source of Wealth: Google
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 50
The Centibillionaires
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On April 10th, 2021, Sergey Brin became a centibillionaire as his net worth was estimated at $100.2 million. However, his total fortune slumped a few days later and the Google co-founder is said to be worth $96 billion as of this writing. Hopefully, he will regain a $100 billion dollar net worth in the nearest future as tech stock prices continue to rise. Sergey Brin, who stepped down as the president of Alphabet in December 2019 now serves as a board member and controlling shareholder of Google’s parent company.

As a result of several people making use of Google Search, as well as YouTube during the COVID-19 worldwide lockdown, the tech company generated $46.43 billion excluding traffic-acquisition costs in the fourth quarter of 2020. Thus, making a leap from the $37.57 billion it grossed in revenue a year ago. Brin has a 6 percent stake in Alphabet and Alphabet stocks have had more than 80 percent increase over the past year. Additionally, Google runs over 3.5 billion searches daily and brought in over $180 billion in revenue in 2020.

Did You Know:

On April 10th, 2021, Sergey Brin emerged as the 8th wealthiest person in the world as his net worth grew by $20.4 billion, skyrocketing his total wealth to an estimate of $100.2 billion.

Recap of The 8 Centibillionaires in The World and Their Net Worths

1. Jeff Bezos – $197.8 billion

2. Elon Musk – $179.7 billion

3. Bill Gates – $132 billion

4. Bernard Arnault – $131.6 billion

5. Mark Zuckerberg – $111.6 billion

6. Larry Ellison – $104.6 billion

7. Larry Page – $103.6 billion

8. Warren Buffett – $102.9 billion

Chioma Uchenwoke
Chioma Uchenwoke
Apart from content writing in the area of entertainment, personal finance and celebrity net worth, Chioma’s main interests are movies, football, music and books. She has been writing professionally for about 2 years in these fields

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