Bill Gates is the richest person in the world by far with his $90 billion net worth – $10.6 billion of which he earned over the past year. Let that sink in for a moment. Bill Gates made an additional $10.6 billion in the past 12 months. And that's not even the most impressive gain by a billionaire in 2016. Four billionaires added more than $10.6 billion to their fortunes.
Two billionaires had very impressive gains. Wang Wei, the founder of S.F. Express, the Chinese version of FedEx, added $22.7 billion to his fortune and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos racked up an additional $21.9 billion on the strength of Amazon's epic year.
Let's take a look at eight billionaires who had a very, very good year:
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#8. Mukesh Ambani
Net worth: $21.2 billion
Net worth increase: $6.3 billion
Source of wealth: Inheritance; Reliance Industries
Country: India
Mukesh Ambani is an Indian business tycoon. He owns India's most valuable company, Reliance Industries. He is the largest shareholder of Reliance Industries with a personal stake valued at 47%. He is the richest man in India.
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#7. Bernard Arnault
Net worth: $33 billion
Net worth increase: $6.8 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; LVMH
Country: France
Bernard Arnault received his bachelor's degree in engineering and went into the family business, civil engineering firm Ferret-Savinel. In 1984, Arnault acquired the financial firm Financiere Agache-Willot, which controlled the textile company Marcel Boussac. Once he had control of Boussac he went after several subsidiaries, including Christian Dior and high-end French department store Le Bon Marche. Arnault has been the Chairman and CEO of LVMH and Chairman of Christian Dior since 1989. LVMH controls roughly 70 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Moet & Chandon.
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#6. Jack Ma
Net worth: $22 billion
Net worth increase: $8.4 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Alibaba
Country: China
Just 20 years ago, Jack Ma was a modest English teacher in China who never could have even dreamed of the riches that would befall him in the following decades. In 1995, Ma visited the United States for the first time. He had recently started a side business, a translation company, to help capitalize on the recent Chinese export boom. It was during this visit to the U.S. that a friend showed Ma the Internet for the first time. This friend told Ma that anything he wanted could be found on the World Wide Web in an instant with the click of a button. So, Jack searched for beer. In 1999, Jack brought 18 friends and family members together in his apartment and spent two hours pitching them his vision. Every single person bought in, giving Ma $60,000 to start Alibaba. On September 19th, Alibaba.com officially became the largest Initial Public Offering of all time.
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#5. Bill Gates
Net worth: $90 billion
Net worth increase: $10.6 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Microsoft
Country: United States
Bill Gates is the richest man on the planet. He co-founded Microsoft when he was 20 years old. Gates has been a billionaire since Microsoft went public when he was 30. He is also one of the architects of The Giving Pledge. These days, he is a member of Microsoft's board and focuses his time on his philanthropic work.
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#4. Mark Zuckerberg
Net worth: $50 billion
Net worth increase: $11.1 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Facebook
Country: United States
Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook, which he famously started while an undergraduate at Harvard. He first became a billionaire at the age of 23 when Facebook went public. He and his wife Priscilla are members of the Giving Pledge and have pledge to give away 99% of their fortune in their lifetime.
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#3. Warren Buffett
Net worth: $78 billion
Net worth increase: $13.1 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Berkshire Hathaway
Country: United States
Warren Buffett is the second richest person in the world. He is the most famous and successful investor in the world. In fact, if you had invested $10,000 with Buffett in 1966, you would have $300 million today. He is famously frugal and known for his fondness for junk food and Coca-Cola.
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#2. Jeff Bezos
Net worth: $70 billion
Net worth increase: $21.9 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Amazon
Country: United States
Jeff Bezos wrote the business plan for what would become Amazon during a cross country road trip with his wife. He single-handedly revolutionized the way we buy books – and after a while, also everything else under the sun. These days his focus is on the Washington Post, which he owns, as well as his space exploration company Blue Origin.
#1. Wang Wei
Net worth: $28 billion
Net worth increase: $22.7 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; S.F. Holding
Country: China
Wang Wei is the founder of the largest package delivery company in China. Just think of S.F. Express as the Chinese FedEx. The company recently went public and that put Wang on various lists of the wealthiest in the world. Wang grew up in Hong Kong and moved to China in the 1990s to launch his delivery company. In 2015, S.F. Express had $7.4 billion in sales. The company employs 117,000, operates in more than 50 countries and has 15,000 vehicles in its fleet as well as 36 airplanes.
