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Jeff Bezos
Michael Prince for Forbes
Tech billionaires are worth a combined $2.5 trillion, far outpacing the next-best-performing industries, fashion and retail ($1.7 trillion) and finance and investment ($1.5 trillion).
Stock markets have rebounded in a big way since the Covid crash that began in February 2020, helping boost the fortunes of the world’s billionaires to record highs. But no group of the ultrarich has benefited like tech billionaires—who are worth a combined $2.5 trillion on Forbes’ 2021 World’s Billionaires list, up about 80% from $1.4 trillion a year ago.
This year Forbes found 365 billionaires with fortunes in technology, up from 241 last year. It’s the industry with the second-largest number of billionaires after finance and investments—with 371 billionaires. But the total fortunes of its ultrarich far exceeds that of any other sector. Tech billionaires’ $2.5 trillion in collective net worth outpaces the $1.7 trillion total for fashion and retail and the $1.5 trillion total for finance and investments fortunes.
A key reason for technology’s dominance comes from the top-heavy nature of the list. The 20 richest tech titans alone are worth a combined $1.2 trillion, nearly 50% of the total net worth of all the billionaires in their industry. And tech tycoons account for 8 of the 20 wealthiest people in the world, including 6 of the top 10.
While the United States is still home to most of tech’s wealthiest billionaires, China’s fast-growing internet sector has propelled a new generation of tech moguls toward the top. Of the 20 richest in tech now, 9 hail from China, up from 6 last year.
Here are the top 20 richest people in tech; net worths are as of March 5, 2021.
No. 1 | Jeff Bezos
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $177 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: AMAZON
The Amazon founder will no longer be CEO at the end of the year. In February, Bezos announced that he would step down from the position in the third quarter of 2021 to focus on other projects, including his space company, Blue Origin, the Washington Post and charitable initiatives such as the Amazon Day 1 Fund. In 2020, his $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund gave away $791 million to 16 climate change nonprofits.
No. 2 | Bill Gates
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $124 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: MICROSOFT
Although Gates fell below the top two richest people in the world for the first time on the Forbes Billionaires list since 2008, this year marks the first time he crossed the $100 billion mark. The Microsoft cofounder’s fortune grew by $26 billion, benefiting in part from a 66% increase in the company’s stock, as well as surging shares of tractor maker Deere & Co. Climate change figures among the big issues Gates is tackling with his fortune—in February, he told Forbes he has given $2 billion to organizations working toward zero emissions.
No. 3 | Mark Zuckerberg
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $97 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: FACEBOOK
Mark Zuckerberg
Jeff Chiu/AP
Facebook continues to be one of the preeminent platforms for communication during the pandemic, but it has caught significant flak along the way. Zuckerberg testified (virtually) before Congress last summer regarding potential antitrust violations, and again in March on Facebook’s role in spreading disinformation and extremism. The company notably came under fire for its role in enabling the planning of the Capitol Hill riot on January 6. His philanthropic and advocacy organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, announced a $500 million pledge in December toward efforts to achieve racial equity.
No. 4 | Larry Ellison
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $93 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: SOFTWARE
Ellison is a leading figure in the purported tech exodus out of the San Francisco Bay Area to new hot spots such as Texas and Florida. In his case, Oracle, the software company he cofounded in 1977, moved its headquarters to Austin, Texas, while Ellison told employees he was moving to Hawaii. In 2012, the tycoon paid $300 million to buy the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which he has turned into a laboratory for health and wellness. A closer Trump ally than most tech moguls, Ellison was also a central figure behind Oracle’s agreement to acquire social networking app TikTok’s U.S. operations, though so far the deal has not taken place.
No. 5 | Larry Page
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $91.5 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: GOOGLE
No. 6 | Sergey Brin
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $89 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: GOOGLE
The Google cofounders have stayed out of the spotlight since stepping away from executive control of Google parent company Alphabet in late 2019. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai appeared alongside Zuckerberg during congressional hearings in March and last summer. The pair still hold more than 50% of Alphabet’s voting rights, which allows them to maintain control over company decisions.
No. 7 | Steve Ballmer
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $68.7 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: MICROSOFT
Ballmer is the richest sports team owner in America, thanks to a fortune he built up during his time at Microsoft, where he served as CEO from 2000 to 2014. His Los Angeles Clippers basketball team is expected to break ground on a new $1 billion arena this year, after Ballmer purchased The Forum in Inglewood for $400 million in 2020. Ballmer Group, a philanthropic organization he established with his wife, Connie, has given $54 million to various Covid-19 relief projects in the past year.
No. 8 | Ma Huateng
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $65.8 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: INTERNET MEDIA
As with Facebook and Google in the United States, Chinese internet magnate Pony Ma is facing pressure as his home country attempts to curb the power of big tech companies. Shares of Tencent, which Ma chairs, fell steadily after peaking this January, as the company’s digital payments arm became a target of regulators. Still, Tencent’s strong performance, particularly in its gaming business, helped Ma cement his position as China’s richest tech mogul, and its second-richest personal overall (behind breakout bottled water billionaire Zhong Shanshan).
No. 9 | Colin Zheng Huang
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $55.3 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: E-COMMERCE
The cofounder of online discounter Pinduoduo got $38.8 billion richer over the past year, as his firm became China’s largest e-commerce platform by active users in March—just six years after its 2015 inception. Last July, Huang stepped down as CEO; in March, he abruptly exited as chairman and entrusted his voting rights to the board. Huang told shareholders he would turn his attention to research in food and life sciences.
No. 10 | MacKenzie Scott
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $53 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: AMAZON
MacKenzie Scott
Evan Agostini/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
Since receiving a quarter of ex-husband Jeff Bezos’ Amazon stock as part of their 2019 divorce settlement, Scott has started giving it away at a scale and speed that outpaces every other U.S. philanthropist. Last year, her charitable giving totaled $5.8 billion, including a four-month span when she donated $4.1 billion to nearly 400 organizations providing relief for Americans during the pandemic. In March, it was revealed that Scott had remarried after her new husband joined her on the Giving Pledge, which she initially signed in 2019.
No. 11 | Jack Ma
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $48.4 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: E-COMMERCE
In recent months, the Alibaba cofounder has become a central figure in China’s regulatory action against Chinese tech companies. Ma disappeared from the public eye in October after criticizing regulators for stifling innovation. Less than two weeks later, authorities halted the IPO of his fintech giant, Ant Group, which had been set for a record-breaking $34 billion raise. In January, Ant Group announced an agreement with authorities to restructure the company to conform to regulatory requirements. Days later, Ma resurfaced in a livestream where he promoted entrepreneurial support for the state tenet of “rural revitalization.”
No. 12 | Michael Dell
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $45.1 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: DELL COMPUTERS
Shares of Dell Technologies increased by 187% over the past year, contributing to a $22.2 billion increase in the fortune of its chairman and CEO. Last year, Dell announced a $100 million donation to fight Covid-19 through the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Four fifths of the gift went to providing relief for small businesses and nonprofits impacted by the pandemic, while the rest was donated to medical groups making efforts to treat the virus.
No. 13 | Zhang Yiming
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $35.6 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: BYTEDANCE
Zhang, CEO and chairman of ByteDance, owns an estimated 22% of the Beijing-based internet giant, which he founded in 2012. Propelled by the popularity of news app Toutiao in China and video social-networking app TikTok worldwide, ByteDance continued to experience rapid growth in the face of then President Trump’s August 2020 order that it must divest TikTok’s U.S. assets. In December, ByteDance closed a new funding round that valued the company at $180 billion. And it still owns the U.S. assets of TikTok.
No. 14 | William Lei Ding
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $33 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: ONLINE GAMES
Ding is founder and CEO of Chinese online gaming giant NetEase, which has developed hit titles such as Fantasy Westward Journey. His fortune has nearly doubled after a year where Covid-19 lockdowns drove surging demand for NetEase’s games and, in turn, its stock. NetEase, which has traded on Nasdaq since 2000, raised an additional $2.7 billion last June after completing a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
No. 15 | Wang Xing
Wang Xing
Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $26.1 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: E-COMMERCE
Wang gained nearly $20 billion as his company Meituan’s (formerly Meituan-Dianping) revenue skyrocketed, while its share price jumped 350% since March 2020. The diversified internet giant, which Wang originally founded in 2010 as a Groupon analog, is spending big to bulk up on digital offerings. A key contributor to its recent success: its food delivery arm, akin to DoorDash in the United States, which saw massive demand as a result of the pandemic.
No. 16 | Shiv Nadar
COUNTRY: INDIA
NET WORTH: $23.5 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: SOFTWARE SERVICES
Nadar is now the richest tech billionaire outside of the United States and China. His IT services company, HCL Technologies, which he founded in 1976 from a garage, recovered from a pandemic stock plunge and is now trading at record highs. Last year, HCL achieved $10 billion in annual revenue for the first time in company history.
No. 17 | Zhang Zhidong
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $23.4 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: INTERNET MEDIA
Before retiring in 2014, Tencent cofounder Tony Zhang was the company’s longtime chief technology officer, alongside CEO and former classmate Pony Ma. His fortune has continued to grow since his departure—this year, it rose by more than $10 billion—thanks to his estimated 3% stake in Tencent.
No. 18 | Lei Jun
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $23 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: SMARTPHONES
Lei is the cofounder and CEO of Xiaomi, which ranks among the top five smartphone vendors by market share in the world. His web of companies also includes software supplier Kingsoft, which Lei led to an IPO in 2007, and its spinoff ,Kingsoft Cloud, which went public last year. He chairs venture capital firm Shunwei Capital, which last year celebrated the IPOs of eight companies in its portfolio.
No. 19 | Richard Qiangdong Liu
Richard Qiangdong Liu
Imagine China/Newscom
COUNTRY: CHINA
NET WORTH: $22.4 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: E-COMMERCE
Liu founded JD.com in 1998 and has led the e-commerce company to the top of the retail sector in China. With nearly 500 million active users, the firm exceeded $100 billion in annual revenue in 2020. Last year, Liu and his wife, Nancy Zhang, donated 5 million medical masks, 50 ventilators and other medical equipment to the United Kingdom to support its fight against Covid-19.
No. 20 | Pierre Omidyar
COUNTRY: U.S.
NET WORTH: $21.4 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: EBAY
The eBay cofounder stepped down from the board last September as part of a company overhaul. The Paris-born billionaire’s fortune derives largely from his 6% stake in PayPal, a onetime eBay acquisition. Omidyar and his wife Pam’s philanthropic group, Omidyar Network, has donated to causes including education and refugee relief in Africa and Asia. They also donated more than $10 million to Covid-19 relief efforts, including $1 million in their home state of Hawaii.