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Bezos, Musk top Forbes' billionaire list; Ambani among world's 10 richest

New York - This year’s billionaires are worth a combined $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion last year.

Forbes’ annual world’s billionaires list includes a record-breaking 2,755 billionaires, with Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos topping it for the fourth consecutive year, the media company said on Tuesday.

The ranks of the ultra-wealthy are expanding after a year in which the coronavirus pandemic upended world economies and threatened the livelihoods of people across the globe.

This year’s billionaires are worth a combined $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion last year, Forbes said.

“The very, very rich got very, very richer,” said Forbes’ Chief Content Officer Randall Lane, in an interview with Reuters Video News.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk jumped into second spot on the list, up from 31st last year.

Bernard Arnault, chief executive of luxury goods firm LVMH, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg round out the top five of the world’s richest billionaires.

Investor and business tycoon Warren Buffett fell out of the top five for the first time in over two decades, as tech executives dominate the Forbes rankings.

This year’s list has 493 newcomers, including Whitney Wolfe Herd, chief executive of dating app Bumble, which went public this year.

Kim Kardashian is a billionaire

Reality television star, influencer and business owner Kim Kardashian West is officially a billionaire, according to an estimate from Forbes, making her debut on the exclusive global list only one year after her younger sister Kylie Jenner fell off of it.

Kardashian West's money comes from TV income and endorsement deals, according to the magazine, as well as her two lifestyle brands.

The star saw her wealth jump more than $200 million just since October, Forbes estimated, from a worth of $780 million last fall to $1 billion this spring, only five years after the magazine first reported she had made her first $51 million.

Ambani India's richest, Gautam Adani second

With an estimated net worth of $84.5 billion, Reliance Industries' chairman Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, is ranked at number 10.

Ambani topped the Forbes list of India's 10 richest billionaires, followed by Adani Group chief Gautam Adani.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Ambani accomplished a fund-raising feat, garnering $35 billion through a string of deals to achieve his target of reducing his flagship Reliance Industries' net debt to zero by 2021.

"He also sold a third of telecom unit Jio to marquee investors such as Facebook and Google and offloaded 10 per cent of Reliance Retail to private equity firms such as KKR and General Atlantic, plus concluded a $7.3 billion rights issue of Reliance shares," Forbes said.

Second richest Indian, Adani, who has also diversified the group's business and has taken a significant share in India's airport management and operations business has a net worth of $50.5 billion. Adani acquired a 74 per cent stake in Mumbai International Airport, the country's second-busiest, last September. He also sold 20 per cent in his listed renewables firm, Adani Green Energy, to French energy giant Total for $2.5 billion.

The third richest Indian is HCL founder Shiv Nadar as per the Forbes list of India's 10 Richest Billionaires 2021, with a net worth of $23.5 billion.

Last July, Nadar stepped down as chairman of $9.9 billion (revenues) HCL Technologies, handing over the position to his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra.

Avenue Supermarts' founder Radhakishan Damani ($16.5 billion) and Kotak Mahindra Bank MD Uday Kotak ($15.9 billion) took the fourth and the fifth spot in the list.