The Richest Billionaires In The World

The first person to ever become a billionaire was John D. Rockefeller in 1916, according to Investopedia. Since then, the rich keep getting richer.

Kim Kardashian, Jay-Z, and Tyler Perry all became billionaires but are far away from the elite earners, per Forbes. Like Zhong Shanshan, a Chinese billionaire who became rich off bottled water with his company Nongfu Spring, per Forbes. Ma Huateng, another Chinese billionaire, heavily invested in video games, per PC Gamer. In France, billionaire François Pinault has it all. His company Kering owns fashion brands like Gucci, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, and Bottega Veneta. Pinault, who is married to actor Salma Hayek, also has his impressive art at the Pinault Collection gallery in Paris, per The Guardian. What's more, there is even big money in candy: Mars Inc., which owns Snickers, M&Ms, Skittles, and Twix, was founded in 1911 by Franklin Mars, and the wealth was passed down through generations as the company continued to grow, making the Mars family one of the richest families in the world, per Celebrity Net Worth. In terms of real figures, this meant Jacqueline Badger Mars and John Mars happen to each be worth over $50 billion as of 2022, per Bloomberg.

To earn their money, some billionaires benefited from lucrative business deals. Others worked their way up from humble beginnings to dominating in their respective fields. Or, even easier, some billionaires hit the jackpot and inherited an unfathomable amount of money. Either way, no piggy bank is big enough for the richest billionaires in the world.

Elon Musk is racing towards a milestone

Holding the top spot in 2022 as the richest person in the world is Elon Musk — worth an estimated $236 billion, according to Bloomberg. This is net worth on paper, which often fluctuates based on share prices of his companies and investments. For example, Musk had already lost $34.7 billion of his fortune as of February 2022 but was still by far the wealthiest billionaire. In the future, Musk may not even have that title anymore based on his exponential growth and success. He could be the world's first trillionaire thanks to his company SpaceX. Musk owns 48% of the company, which was the second most valued private company in the world in 2022 with a value of $100 billion, The Guardian reported.

In his personal life, Musk has five children —– a set of twins and a set of triplets — with Justine Wilson, his ex-wife. Later, Musk linked up with musician Grimes, whose real  name is Claire Bouche, in 2018. The billionaire reportedly reached out to Grimes through Twitter and sparked the romance. The couple welcomed a son together in 2020. As if the pair weren't unique enough, they named their son X Æ A-Xii and call him X. After three years together, the pair split up. "We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms," Musk told Page Six. Outside of his business, Musk sparked controversy as a host of "SNL" in 2021.

Jeff Bezos has out of this world aspirations

Thanks to his company Amazon, Jeff Bezos quickly rose in the ranks of billionaires. In 2017, he shot up to be the second richest person in the world behind Bill Gates, Bloomberg reported. Since then, Bezos reached the top spot on multiple occasions after shares in Amazon peaked, per Forbes. As of 2022, Bezos is worth an estimated $183 billion, according to Bloomberg. More than just shipping packages, Bezos is obsessed with space. With his company Blue Origin, Bezos planned to make space travel accessible to anyone willing to pay for a ride, per The Guardian. Bezos tested the ride himself in 2021, which he called the "Best day ever!"

For most of his career at Amazon, Bezos was married to MacKenzie Scott. After his separation with Scott, the Amazon founder linked up with Lauren Sanchez. Even as the girlfriend of a billionaire, Sanchez couldn't help feeling starstruck when she crossed paths with another household name. Variety posted a video showing Sanchez with a big smile while talking to Leonardo DiCaprio at the 2021 LACMA Art and Film Gala. People were quick to jump on the footage, saying how Sanchez seemed to have heart eyes for the actor even with Bezos right by her side. As a response, Bezos tweeted out a photo of himself behind a sign that says, "Danger! Steep Cliff Fatal Drop." "Leo, come over here, I want to show you something," the entrepreneur wrote.

Bernard Arnault went from bags to riches

The richest man in France earned his wealth through purses and champagne. Bernard Arnault is the chairman and CEO of the LVMH group, which stands for Louis Vuitton, Moët, Hennessy. In addition to the prestigious fashion, champagne, and cognac labels, LVMH also owns an extensive portfolio of luxury businesses. This includes wine and spirits brands like Veuve Clicquot, fashion and leather goods like Christian Dior and Celine, perfumes and cosmetics including Sephora. In the watches and jewelry category, LVMH already owned big names like Bulgari and Chaumet before acquiring Tiffany & Co in 2021. Outside of retail, Arnault also owns the newspaper Le Parisien and the hotel chain Cheval Blanc. All of these companies plus other holdings put Arnault's net worth at $160 billion in 2022, Bloomberg estimated. Arnault started his empire when he acquired Christian Dior's parent company and famous Paris department store Le Bon Marché in 1984, per Business of Fashion. As his acquisitions grew, so did his family — Arnault has five children and four of them work in LVMH.

With the rise of the metaverse, some fashion companies like Gucci started selling digital goods. As The Guardian reported in 2021, the fashion house offered virtual shoes called Virtual 25 that were available for digital use for $17.99. Arnault has a different version of the future of fashion. Taking a dig at his competitor Gucci, Arnault said of LVMH, "It's not our objective to sell virtual sneakers for 10 euros," per Business of Fashion.

Bill Gates spends big and gives big

Between 1991 and 2021, Bill Gates was ranked as either first or second on the Forbes 400, which ranks the wealthiest individuals in America. Though he finally lost that title to other billionaires, his net worth was no less impressive. As of February 2022, his net worth sits at an estimated $127 billion, according to Bloomberg. As the co-founder and longtime CEO of Microsoft, Gates was influential in helping create the world of personal computing. More than just advancing technology and software, Gates is also known for his charitable side. He invested $20 billion of his own shares in Microsoft to create the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in 2020, which became the largest private charity in the world, per Forbes. Sadly, this power couple separated and finalized their divorce in August 2021. In his annual blog post, Gates confessed that 2021 was the "most unusual and difficult year of my life."

With his sustained wealth, Gates has also built an impressive real estate portfolio. Most famous might be his lakeside estate outside Seattle nicknamed Xanadu 2.0, a nod to the mansion from the classic film "Citizen Kane." Among the wild features in the house that sound like a dream, Gates literally shipped sand in from the Caribbean to create a private beach on the lake, per Dirt. The estate is worth an estimated $130 million. In addition, Gates had several properties in California, a ranch in Wyoming, and a tropical oasis in Florida.

Larry Page found money from his search

The idea for Google reportedly came to Larry Page in a dream, per Business Insider. What started as a way to rank websites from search terms grew into the mega technology corporation. After co-founding the website with Sergey Brin, Page went on to be Google's CEO from 1998 to 2001. Ten years later, Page once again took over as CEO, per The Verge.

In 2015, Google became a part of a parent company called Alphabet. Page became the CEO of Alphabet while Sundar Pichai would stay on as CEO of Google. According to Page, the restructure could allow room for other projects in the company while keeping "tremendous focus on the extraordinary opportunities we have inside of Google," via TechCrunch. In 2019, Page stepped down as CEO of Alphabet and left the company Pichai's hands. Page and Brin wrote that there was "​​no better person to lead Google and Alphabet into the future" than Pichai, via TechCrunch. Page continued to stay on the board of Alphabet Inc. and also continued to earn profits from the success of the company. Like in 2022, Page sold part of his stock in the company — $80 million worth — after a big share price increase, Market Watch reported.

As the longtime CEO of Google and for his role in helping create one of the biggest names in technology, Page's bank account was accordingly grand. As of 2022, he is worth an estimated $120 billion, per Bloomberg.

Warren Buffett's long term success

Stock market extraordinaire Warren Buffett used his incredible gift at investing to become the biggest name in finance. As the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Buffett built his empire over decades through buying stock in the right companies. Showing his success, Buffett is worth an estimated $116 billion as of 2022, per Bloomberg.

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Buffett talked about how he first met Bill Gates on July 5th, 1991. He said the two quickly became friends, even though the Microsoft founder was "a little reluctant at first but he got there." The two titans of their industries stayed connected for decades and collaborated on several projects. Perhaps the most important discussion between the two men was about an idea called The Giving Pledge. What started as a small idea turned into hundreds of very wealthy people, including billionaires, pledging to give away half of their wealth to charities and other organizations. Buffett credited much of his success and his plans to give back to the world to his late wife Susie. He admitted to Charlie Rose that even though he was gifted in finance, the rest of his life was all over the place until meeting her. "She put me together," Buffett said.

The finance world waits in anticipation of Buffett's annual letters to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Even at 90 years old, Buffett still appeared to have a firm handle on investing and published his letter in 2021, per CNBC.

Sergey Brin completed his objectives

Sergey Brin is one of the best stories of an immigrant arriving in America and creating something amazing. According to the Academy of Achievement, he and his family moved to America from Russia when he was 6 years old and Brin excelled in school, landing at Stanford University as a grad student. While at school, Brin linked up with fellow student Larry Page and the two began working on projects together. For example, both men found that search features were lacking when looking for a website. So, the guys designed a ranking system that would more accurately guess what users were trying to search for. Working out of a garage they rented in Menlo Park, California, Brin and Page began to build what would become Google.com.

Brin served as the president of Google and later as the president of Alphabet. After decades with his creation, Brin stepped away from parent company Alphabet in 2019, as did his co-founder. At the time, Google was approaching a market capitalization of $1 trillion, per The Verge. By 2021, the company was worth $2 trillion, per Yahoo! Finance. As for Brin, he became worth an estimated $115 billion by February 2022, according to Bloomberg.

Showing his computer science savvy, Brin wrote a hidden message in the source code of his digital resume when he was still at Stanford. He also wrote an objective that mostly came true: "A large office, good pay, and very little work. Frequent expense-account trips to exotic lands would be a plus."

Steve Ballmer switched from tech to sports

Even though Bill Gates created Microsoft and profited as its leader for decades, the company was so successful that it also made others involved wildly rich. Steve Ballmer bailed on getting his master's degree in order to become the 30th employee at Microsoft, per Forbes. Ballmer worked his way up the corporate ladder and became Microsoft's CEO in 2000 after Gates stepped away from the role. Until 2014, Balmer controlled the company and helped it become a leader in computer software and hardware. Ballmer then switched professions and instead of leading Microsoft, he scooped up the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion. To grow the team, he immediately got to work on building a new stadium so they no longer had to share the Staples Center with the Los Angeles Lakers. "We're going to have our own identity," Ballmer told ESPN about his club. The Intuit Dome located in Inglewood, California, is scheduled to be completed by 2024 and Ballmer estimates the technologically advanced venue will cost him a total of $2 billion.

While it might seem expensive, Ballmer certainly has the funds for this massive undertaking. As of 2022, the former Microsoft CEO is worth an estimated $106 billion, according to Bloomberg. Ballmer also is involved with philanthropic efforts. He co-founded the Ballmer Group to help children and families in America living in poverty. Ballmer also ran the USA Facts organization to monitor government spending.

Larry Ellison is living in style

In one of the earliest success stories in Silicon Valley, engineer Larry Ellison and his colleagues Bob Miner and Ed Oats founded Software Development Laboratories in 1977. The company rebranded as Oracle in 1982 and went public four years later. Oracle went on to become the world's largest database management company and specialized in computer software like cloud services. Ellison stayed at the top of the company as the CEO until 2014 but remained as the chairman and chief technology officer. This allowed him more time for hobbies like racing sailboats and being a pilot. The tech founder is also especially good at making money — he became worth $97.7 billion by February 2022, Bloomberg estimated.

Ellison is also making part of his fortune based on the success of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk. The Oracle founder has a sizable share in Tesla, worth an estimated $10 billion, according to Forbes. In fact, Ellison is so rich that his real estate properties alone are worth one billion dollars. For example, Ellison had properties all across America including homes in Lake Tahoe, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Malibu, and Palm Beach among others. One of his homes in the Bay Area is a mansion in Woodside, California, in an area referred to as "Billionaire's Row," per The Mercury News. Showing the unfathomable wealth among his neighbors, in 2022, the villa across the street from him listed at the mind-blowing asking price of $110 million.

Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani are leading India

In India, the two richest men in Asia are constantly overtaking each other as to who is the richest. Mukesh Ambani earned his money through the energy industry and became worth an estimated $89 billion as of February 2022, per Bloomberg. With some of his money, Ambani purchased an extravagant SUV by Rolls-Royce. His Cullinan hatchback was the third in his collection and his 2022 purchase was India's most expensive car, according to Deccan Herald. Ambani is also setting his sights to outer space and is trying to compete with satellites by Elon Musk's company SpaceX. Under his conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited, Ambani is seeking to further grow his telecommunication business with satellite internet access, per The Economic Times.

His fellow countryman Gautam Adani became wealthy through the industrial industry. As of 2022, his net worth sits at $86.6 billion, according to Bloomberg. Though similar in total value, his path to wealth was much different than Ambani. After dropping out of college, Adani tied himself up in multiple industries. He failed at many but continued to move forward, per the Times of India. He went on to found Adani Group, which is involved in the aerospace and shipping industries among other industrial processes. He also profited in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within a year, Adani more than doubled his net worth, CNN reported. The billionaire is focusing on renewable energy technologies and experts believe his influence, and bank account, will continue to grow.

Mark Zuckerberg's big idea

Many Harvard grads go on to hold prestigious jobs across all fields in business. While Mark Zuckerberg was smart enough to get into the famous university in Massachusetts, he was also smart enough to build his own company and drop out. Zuckerberg used his coding skills to develop computer programs on the side while he studied psychology. While he was still in school, he created a program that would eventually morph into a little social media site called Facebook. Per The Guardian, Zuckerberg was sued by his fellow classmates the Winklevoss twins, who claimed the Facebook founder stole their idea. Zuckerberg's story was later dramatized in Best Picture nominee "The Social Network." As the founder and CEO of Facebook, Zuckerberg was worth $83.1 billion in 2021, per Bloomberg. That same year, Zuckerberg rebranded his company as Meta, a big bet that the metaverse would become a popular aspect of technology, per The Guardian

Another Harvard alumni followed a similar path to riches: Bill Gates famously dropped out and created Microsoft. Zuckerberg and Gates both received honorary degrees from Harvard University after giving commencement speeches. A 2017 video shows Zuckerberg asking Gates for advice, who joked that his address was about 30 years later than if he stayed in school instead of founding Microsoft.

Beauty bucks for Francoise Bettencourt Meyers

As of 2022, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is the richest woman in the world worth an estimated $82 billion, per Bloomberg. She is part of the family tree branched out from Eugène Schueller, the founder of L'Oréal. The Parisian born chemist started with hair dyes in the early 1900s and the company continued to grow until it became one of the leaders in the beauty industry. Schueller also made a substantial amount of money from the second World War because of his involvement with the Germans, like apparently providing the paint for military vehicles. "His tax returns for the period show that his personal net income increased nearly tenfold between 1940 (248,791 francs) and 1943 (2,347,957 francs). Between 1940 and 1944, L'Oréal's sales nearly quadrupled," according to the Smithsonian Magazine.

After Schueller died in 1957, his inheritance passed down to his daughter Liliane Bettencourt. She was an integral part of French society until she died in 2017. Thanks to her family's 33% stake in L'Oréal, Bettencourt died as the richest woman in the world, per Forbes. The title then passed to her only daughter, Francoise. Soon after receiving the massive inheritance, Meyers donated a substantial sum — 200 million euros — in the aftermath of the devastating fire of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Reuters reported. Similar to other French billionaires Bernard Arnault and Francois Pinault, Meyers' funds were delayed after the initial donation promise, per the AP.

Changpeng Zhao is wealthy with digital money

Once an obscure niche for technology hobbyists, cryptocurrency has taken off a legitimate form of currency around the world. Even celebrities have gotten into the digital currency, like when Justin Bieber paid $1.3 million in cryptocurrency for a digital ape. This is pennies to a star in the crypto world, Changpeng Zhao. He worked on Wall Street before founding Binance in 2017, a cryptocurrency exchange that includes an entire ecosystem in the finance space. Binance then became the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, which helped Zhao's bank account quickly swell, per Forbes.

As of 2022, Zhao became worth $76.8 billion, per Bloomberg. This was a long way to go for Zhao, who started with humble beginnings. According to TechStory, Zhao and his family moved from China to Vancouver when he was a kid, and when he was in high school, he worked at McDonald's to help supplement his household's income. After going to college for computer science, Zhao worked in the finance sector all around the world. And then, he started working in cryptocurrency around 2013, ultimately leaving his job at OKCoin to launch Binance.

Zhao believed in the technology so much that he sold his apartment and used the money to buy Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency. Ironically, Zhao later launched Binance in China but the country ultimately banned the company. It didn't really affect Zhao, who holds the biggest cryptocurrency fortune in the world, Bloomberg reported.

Carlos Slim dominated business in South America

Carlos Slim Helú's bank account is anything but slim. The billionaire is the richest man in Mexico, worth an estimated $69.4 billion as of 2022, per Bloomberg. Slim earned his money through a variety of holdings and industries. For example, he owned part of Telmex, a communications giant in Mexico that became incorporated into Slim's company América Móvil, Forbes recapped. His company dominates the wireless and fixed communication networks in Central America, South America, and parts of Eastern Europe.

In 2015, Slim became the largest shareholder of The New York Times when he cashed in on $250 million loans that he provided during the 2009 financial crisis. This meant Slim owned about 17% of the publication, or around $341.4 million at the time, per Reuters. Two years later, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reported that Slim sold over half a million of his shares in the famous newspaper, worth an estimated $10 million, via Forbes. The move was likely to reap profits after a successful quarter and subsequent stock price jump for The New York Times.

Slim faced a crisis in 2021 after a tragic bridge collapse in Mexico City, which killed 29 people. Two separate investigations found that an engineering company under Slim's Carso Group contributed to the subway system accident with faulty construction techniques, per The New York Times. As a result, Slim promised the president of Mexico that he would help repair parts of the subway system.

Low prices mean a high payday for the Waltons

In 1962, Sam Walton opened up his store in Rogers, Arkansas, called Walmart. By 1967, he expanded to 24 stores and before the end of the decade founded Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The retail chain continued to grow and became many Americans' go-to-shop. The company went even further in dominating retail by adding a supermarket within the store, which it called a Supercenter. In addition to adding the discount store Sam's Club, Walmart Inc. expanded internationally to Mexico and later China, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

In 1992, Sam Walton died at the age of 74, The New York Times reported. At this time, the Waltons were the richest family in America thanks mostly to an estimated $23 billion in Walmart stock. Sam's net worth was estimated to be $8.6 billion when he died, which meant his family's bank accounts significantly grew. Jim, the third and youngest son of Sam, was the wealthiest in the family as of 2022, worth an estimated $61.6 billion, per Bloomberg. His brother Rob Walton was not far behind with a net worth of $61.2 billion and their sister, Alice Walton, was reportedly worth $59.7 billion. This all thanks to Walmart's astounding market capitalization — the total stock worth — of $417.2 billion at the start of 2021, according to Investopedia. Even though the three siblings have incredible worth, the family is not immune to tragedy: John Walton, one of Sam's sons, died in a plane crash in 2005, NBC reported.

Amancio Ortega is fashionably rich

Amancio Ortega proved that there is big money to be made with inexpensive clothing. The Spanish billionaire is the founder of Inditex, the Spanish clothing conglomerate that is the parent company of fast fashion trailblazer Zara. Other brands in Inditex's portfolio include Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, and Pull&Bear. Ortega began his career in manufacturing textiles for clothing before opening his first store, Zara, in 1975. By 1988, Zara expanded and opened a store in Portugal, its first boutique outside of Spain. As of 2015, Zara opened its 7000th store worldwide and opened online shopping in 2018. This domination in fashion left Ortega with huge pockets. In 2015 and again in 2017 and at the age of 81, he briefly became the richest man in the world when he overtook the title from Bill Gates. Forbes estimated that Ortega was worth $81 billion, about $200 million more than Gates. Over 80% of Ortega's net worth came from his stock in Inditex but he also held real estate investments that contributed to his fortune. This worth decreased in the following years but still left Ortega among the elite billionaires with an estimated 2022 net worth of $59.7 billion, per Bloomberg.

Perhaps even Ortega couldn't have seen this future success when he started in retail as a teenager. He worked as an assistant in a local shirt making shop in A Coruña, Spain, steps away where he opened his first Zara years later, per Business of Fashion.

The truth about the Koch family

One of the wealthiest families in America outside of big names like the Waltons from Walmart are the Kochs. The name might not ring a bell because there are no Koch stores or products. Behind the scenes, Koch Industries deal mainly in oil and chemicals. Fred Koch invented a method of obtaining more gas from oil and went on to start the company and stood at the helm until he died in 1967. Per The New York Times, his second-eldest son Charles Koch followed in his footsteps and has been CEO ever since. While Charles' brother David also took a gig at the family company, the two other Koch boys, William and Frederick, had different plans. Ultimately, Charles and David bought out William's shares of the family company and then owned 80 percent of Koch Industries, per The New York Times. After being set up on a blind date in 1991, David married Julia Flesher in 1996, The New York Times reported. The couple were married for 26 years until David died in 2019. This left Julia with an incredibly big inheritance. In early 2022, Charles' worth sat at an estimated $59.7 billion and Julia $59.1 billion, per Bloomberg.

With all this money, the Kochs have been especially active in politics. Specifically, in support of the Republican party. The brothers founded the group Americans for Prosperity in 2004 with part of its mission "advancing economic freedom and limiting government." To push their agendas, the Americans for Prosperity group pays for staffers to run grassroots campaigns, The Guardian reported.

Michael Dell is wealthy and charitable

As a freshman at The University of Texas, Michael Dell began working on an exciting idea. When he was only 19 years old, Dell founded a computer company called Dell Technologies. This grew into a major player in the technology industry and as the founder and CEO, Dell continued to earn staggering paychecks. This went even further after his company acquired EMC for $67 billion, the largest acquisition ever in tech at the time, per TechCrunch. He became worth an estimated $57.6 billion by 2022, according to Bloomberg.

Though Dell clearly makes money on his computers, his diversified portfolio actually helped him become one the richest people in the world. Dell also founded MSD Capital in 1998, which invests in other businesses and industries. With all his money, Dell is also involved in philanthropy. He and his wife started the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in 1999 to aid children in poverty around the world. In 2017, Dell donated an additional $1 billion to his foundation. "We want to accelerate the impact that the foundation is having," Dell said during an online event, per Forbes.

Dell is actively engaged in the public and is open about his thoughts. For example, he wrote an opinion piece for CNBC about the COVID-19 pandemic. Dell maintains that the virus will never truly go away and will continue to impact the world. Despite challenges ahead, the CEO was optimistic that the world could still "grow, prosper, advance and achieve."

Phil Knight went from running to running Nike

As a business student at the University of Oregon in the late 1950s, Phil Knight was also a distance runner on the school's track team, per Lemelson-MIT. Knight became intrigued by his coach Bill Bowerman, who would create shoes for his runners, always trying to improve designs to help performance. Knight and Bowerman created Blue Ribbon Sports in 1962 and began to sell Japanese sneakers, per the Harvard Business Review. This eventually transitioned into designing shoes under the brand name Nike. The famous sportswear company went public in the '80s and started to become a leader in marketing performance. "For years, we thought of ourselves as a production-oriented company, meaning we put all our emphasis on designing and manufacturing the product," Knight said in the Harvard Business Review. "But we understand that the most important thing we do is market the product." In his opinion, Nike has less to do with the creative process and "the consumer has to lead innovation." It also helped to have many of the most popular athletes ever wearing Nike sneakers. As anyone who watched "The Last Dance" knows, Michael Jordan preferred Adidas sneakers but signed a deal with Nike in his rookie season in the NBA.

When Nike went public in the '80s, Knight was worth an estimated $178 million, per CNBC. Over thirty years and countless shoes later, he was a multibillionaire. By February 2022, Knight's worth reached an estimated $59.7 billion, per Bloomberg. For his contribution to the sporting world, especially basketball, Knight was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

MacKenzie Scott watched the rise of Amazon

MacKenzie Scott went to college to be a writer and found herself in the finance industry after school. While working at D.E. Shaw firm in New York City, she first met a young Jeff Bezos in 1992, per Forbes. Their quick romance turned into an engagement after three months and the couple married in 1993. After Bezos had a novel idea to sell books online under the brand name Amazon, he and Scott drove across the U.S. to Seattle, per The New York Times. Amazon of course continued to grow and made the couple extremely wealthy.

When the two divorced in 2019, part of the settlement was that Scott would keep 25% of the joint shares in Amazon held with Bezos. This means Scott instantly was worth an estimated $38 billion, according to CNN. In February 2022, Scott's worth hit an estimated $51.6 billion, per Bloomberg.

With all this money, Scott decided to give back. In fact, she joined the Giving Pledge and vowed to give away at least half of her fortune to charity, per CNN. Scott held her promise and if donating were a competition, she would easily crush her ex-husband. In February of 2022, Scott donated $171.5 million to various organizations, per Forbes. Around that time, as Vanity Fair pointed out, Scott had already donated about 18% of her total net worth compared to Bezos who only had given away 1% of his net worth.