The 10 Richest American Billionaires 2022

The 10 Richest American Billionaires 2022

Forbes' new list of the world's wealthiest people shows that Americans are significantly wealthier than they were a year ago.

The pandemic year has been kind to America's 724 billionaires, who are now worth a combined $4.4 trillion, up roughly $1.5 trillion from last year, according to Forbes' new 2021 World's Billionaires list. Even among the ultra-wealthy, wealth is concentrated at the top: the top ten American billionaires are worth a combined $1.05 trillion, accounting for 24% of the total U.S. billionaire population and about a third of the year's increases.

Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world (and the United States) on this year's Forbes World's Billionaires list, has risen from the 20th-wealthiest American on the 2020 Forbes World's Billionaires list to the second-richest person in the world (and the United States) on this year's list. He may thank a 728 percent increase in the stock price of his electric carmaker Tesla since last year's list for this (which used stock prices from March 18, 2020). Musk momentarily surpassed Jeff Bezos of Amazon to become the world's richest person in January before dropping back to second place.

On this year's list, Bezos remains the wealthiest American and the wealthiest person on the planet. Due to a 64 percent spike in the e-commerce giant's share price as the quarantining world shifted to online shopping, the Amazon CEO is $64 billion richer than a year ago. Following Bezos and Musk comes Bill Gates, who is wealthier than ever thanks to surging Microsoft stock. Gates, who stepped down from Microsoft's board of directors last year, has devoted much of his time to combating the Covid-19 pandemic. He also wrote a book about how to use innovation to avoid a climate calamity.

Eight of the top ten richest billionaires in the world this year were also among the top ten richest billionaires in the world last year. Walmart heirs Rob and Jim Walton were surpassed this year by Musk and Google cofounder Sergey Brin.

#1 | Jeff Bezos
NET WORTH: $ 177 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: AMAZON
RESIDENCE: SEATTLE

Despite temporarily relinquishing the title to Elon Musk in January, Bezos is the world's wealthiest person for the fourth year in a row. The 57-year-old founder of Amazon will stand down as CEO in 2021. He currently controls just under 11% of the stock in the tech behemoth.

#2 | Elon Musk
NET WORTH: $151 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: TESLA, SPACEX
RESIDENCE: AUSTIN, TEXAS

Thanks to a soaring private market valuation for his space exploration company SpaceX and even higher public market enthusiasm for Tesla stock, the Tesla CEO's fortune has increased by 514 percent (yes, $126.4 billion!) since March 2020 (when Forbes finalised the 2020 billionaires list), thanks to a soaring private market valuation for his space exploration company SpaceX and even higher public market enthusiasm for Tesla stock.

#3 | Bill Gates
NET WORTH: $124 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: MICROSOFT
RESIDENCE: MEDINA, WASHINGTON

More than $1.75 billion has been donated or pledged to Covid-19 relief by the Microsoft cofounder's humanitarian foundation, with much of it going into mass production and handling of medical supplies.

#4 | Mark Zuckerberg
NET WORTH: $97 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: FACEBOOK
RESIDENCE: PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA

Zuckerberg's fortune has remained unaffected despite continued congressional inquiry and advertising boycotts. Facebook's stock has increased by 80% in the last year, making Zuckerberg $42 billion richer than he was a year ago.

#5 | Warren Buffett
NET WORTH: $96 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY
RESIDENCE: OMAHA

Despite gifting $2.9 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to charity charities in July 2020, Berkshire Hathaway's 90-year-old chairman and CEO is $28.5 billion richer than last year, thanks to a 36 percent growth in Berkshire stock. Even yet, others were outpacing him. This year, Buffett is the world's sixth richest person. It's the first time he hasn't been in the top five richest people on the planet since 1993.

#6 | Larry Ellison
NET WORTH: $93 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: ORACLE
RESIDENCE: LANAI, HAWAII

During the pandemic, the Silicon Valley mogul relocated to Hawaii. Oracle, the software behemoth he cofounded in 1977, has moved its headquarters from the Bay Area to Texas.

#7 | Larry Page
NET WORTH: $91.5 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: GOOGLE
RESIDENCE: PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA

In December 2019, Larry Page stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, while he remains a board member and major shareholder.

#8 | Sergey Brin
NET WORTH: $89 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: GOOGLE
RESIDENCE: LOS ALTOS, CALIFORNIA

Page and Brin, who created Google in 1998, continue to serve on the board of Alphabet, the business's parent company, but keep a low profile. Google was chastised in Australia earlier this year for allegedly hurting the media there, according to opponents.

#9 | Steve Ballmer
NET WORTH: $68.7 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: MICROSOFT
RESIDENCE: HUNTS POINT, WASHINGTON

Because of the rise in Microsoft's stock price, the former CEO's fortune has increased by $16 billion since last year. In terms of generosity, in 2020, Ballmer and his wife, Connie, gave $54 million to the Covid-19 relief efforts.

#10 | Alice Walton
NET WORTH: $61.8 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: WALMART
RESIDENCE: FORT WORTH, TEXAS

Walton and her siblings, together with other family members, hold over half of Walmart, the world's largest retailer. The company's stock has risen more than 5% since last year's ranking, mainly to attempts to grow online sales in order to compete with Amazon Prime.