The Earth’s Billionaires Could Populate Mayberry: the Forbes 2017 List is Out

Forbes tallies 2,043 individual billionaires 

Times have changed.  Four decades ago, before smart phones, before Apple computers, the Internet, VHS tapes and drink holders in cars, Fortune published a story called “The Last Billionaires.” Fortune’s list of living billionaires in 1975 or thereabouts contained about five or six people—Howard Hughes was one of them. Fortune featured these five or six men as the world’s final billionaires.

This week Forbes Magazine published its 2017 version of the wealthiest people on the planet. The sheer number of billionaires in the Forbes billionaire list is daunting. Called simply “The World’s Billionaires,” the list has grown so unwieldy, that it’s difficult to even view online. If you want to see a spreadsheet version, you have to email Forbes to get a price for them to create it and send it to you.

The people at the bottom of the list—those who Forbes believes amassed only $1 billion in net worth—are virtually impossible to view by scrolling–you’ll never get to the bottom because there are almost 600 equivalent pages of these successful wealthy people including their photographs.

Billionaires by the names and numbers

Forbes tallied 2,043 individual billionaires in its 2017 list. The top ten are all household names.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates tops the list at $86 billion net worth. Warren Buffet is next at $75.6 billion and it goes down to #5 where Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg resides with $56 billion. Michael Bloomberg is #10 with $47.5 billion.

1. #1, Bill Gates, $86 B, 61, Microsoft, United States
2. #2, Warren Buffett, $75.6 B, 86, Berkshire Hathaway, United States
3. #3, Jeff Bezos, $72.8 B, 53, Amazon.com, United States
4. #4, Amancio Ortega, $71.3 B, 80, Zara, Spain
5. #5, Mark Zuckerberg, $56 B, 32, Facebook, United States
6. #6, Carlos Slim Helu, $54.5 B, 77, telecom, Mexico
7. #7, Larry Ellison, $52.2 B, 72, software, United States
8. #8, Charles Koch, $48.3 B, 81, diversified, United States
9. #8, David Koch, $48.3 B, 76, diversified, United States
10. #10, Michael Bloomberg, $47.5 B, 75, Bloomberg LP, United States

The bottom ten billionaires are not household names and all tie at #1940 with a flat billion dollars. Seven are from China. The last billionaire on the list comes from the LPG business.

2034. #1940, Wang Qunbin, $1 B, 47, conglomerate, China,
2035. #1940, Wang Yong, $1 B, 66, food sweeteners, China,
2036. #1940, Wei Shaojun, $1 B, 54, real estate, China,
2037. #1940, David Shou-Yeh Wong, $1 B, 76, banking, Hong Kong,
2038. #1940, Wu Chung-Yi, $1 B, 58, manufacturing, Taiwan,
2039. #1940, Yao Xinyi, $1 B, 52, air conditioning, China,
2040. #1940, Fatma Yazici, $1 B, 43, diversified, Turkey,
2041. #1940, Zhang Changhong, $1 B, 59, financial information service, China,
2042. #1940, Zhang Cheng Fei, $1 B, 49, paper & related products, China,
2043. #1940, Zhou Yifeng, $1 B, 38, liquefied petroleum gas, China,

Oil & Gas billionaires

The top 20 billionaires with oil or oil and gas as a identified business focus are listed below, but many of the people thought of as energy billionaires are denoted as “diversified,” rather than identified as oil and gas, so it’s not an exact science.

Photo of oil storage tanks: Oil & Gas 360

There are 60 global billionaires who are predominantly known for oil and gas, according to an examination of Forbes’ list. The top 20 oil or oil and gas billionaires, according to the Forbes ranking, are listed here:

1. #33, Mukesh Ambani, $23.2 B, 59, petrochemicals, oil & gas, India,
2. #59, Gennady Timchenko, $16 B, 64, oil, gas, Russia,
3. #74, Vagit Alekperov, $14.5 B, 66, oil, Russia,
4. #75, Mikhail Fridman, $14.4 B, 52, oil, banking, telecom, Russia,
5. #87, Harold Hamm, $13.3 B, 71, oil & gas, United States,
6. #138, German Khan, $9.3 B, 55, oil, banking, telecom, Russia,
7. #159, Mohammed Al Amoudi, $8.1 B, 70, oil, diversified, Saudi Arabia,
8. #170, George Kaiser, $7.9 B, 74, oil & gas, banking, United States,
9. #194, Alexei Kuzmichev, $7.2 B, 54, oil, banking, telecom, Russia,
10. #219, Ananda Krishnan, $6.5 B, 78, telecoms, media, oil-services, Malaysia,
11. #226, Leonid Fedun, $6.3 B, 60, oil, Russia,
12. #226, Mikhail Gutseriev, $6.3 B, 59, oil, real estate, Russia,
13. #226, Carrie Perrodo, $6.3 B, 66, oil, France,
14. #250, Mike Adenuga, $5.8 B, 63, telecom, oil, Nigeria,
15. #294, Trevor Rees-Jones, $5.3 B, 65, oil & gas, United States,
16. #339, Ray Lee Hunt, $4.8 B, 73, oil, real estate, United States,
17. #359, Pyotr Aven, $4.6 B, 62, oil, banking, telecom, Russia,
18. #367, Arthur Irving, $4.5 B, 87, oil, Canada,
19. #402, Jeffery Hildebrand, $4.3 B, 58, oil, United States,
20. #441, Robert Bass, $4 B, 69, oil, investments, United States,

Of the top 20 oil and gas billionaires on Forbes’ list, the number one most wealthy billionaire is from India, coming in at #33 on the overall list with $23.2 billion in net worth. The geography of the oil and gas billionaires breaks down like this:

• Canada – 1
• France – 1
• India – 1
• Malaysia – 1
• Nigeria – 1
• Russia – 8
• Saudi Arabia – 1
• USA – 6