When it comes to who gets the top spot as the richest person in the world, there's a constant battle of the billionaires. Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos spring to mind when talking about the rich and wealthy, but although these famous A-listers have personal fortunes worth billions and are the faces behind big name companies such as Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN), neither of them takes the top spot on the Forbes "Real-Time Billionaires List" tracking the richest people in the world.
This was true at the start of 2024, and it's truer here at the end of the year. There have been some shakeups at the top of the Forbes' billionaires list over the course of the year, particularly as a result of stock market movements — and the results of the presidential election. Some changes since January 2024 include Warren Buffett dropping out of the top-5, while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg moved back in.
