
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Big-name billionaires worth a collective $1.2 trillion—including four of the five richest men in the world—attended the inauguration of President Donald Trump Monday morning as many looked to strengthen their relationship with the pro-business president as he takes office.&nbsp;<strong>(Follow here for&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/01/20/trump-inauguration-live-updates-trump-will-return-to-office-in-hours/"><strong>Inauguration Day</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;updates.)</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2194374953.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-64393 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2194374953.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2194374953-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2194374953-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<p><em><strong>Donald Trump Jr., Howard Lutnick, Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk, and Doug Burgum attend the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th President of the United States. (Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)</strong></em></p>
</div></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p>The world’s three wealthiest people attended multiple inauguration morning events:<strong>&nbsp;</strong>Amazon founder<strong>&nbsp;Jeff Bezos&nbsp;</strong>(worth $239.4 billion according to Forbes’ estimates), Meta’s&nbsp;<strong>Mark Zuckerberg</strong>&nbsp;($211.8 billion) and&nbsp;<strong>Elon Musk&nbsp;</strong>($433.9 billion), the Tesla CEO, world’s richest person and presidential confidant who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-spent-over-quarter-billion-dollars-help-elect-trump-2024-12-06/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">spent</a>&nbsp;over a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win November&#8217;s election.</p>



<p>OpenAI CEO&nbsp;<strong>Sam Altman</strong>&nbsp;($1.1 billion) and Apple CEO&nbsp;<strong>Tim Cook&nbsp;</strong>($2.2 billion), who donated money to the inauguration, were in the Capitol Rotunda Monday morning, as was billionaire backer&nbsp;<strong>Miriam Adelson&nbsp;</strong>($31.9 billion) and former Fox News Chairman&nbsp;<strong>Rupert Murdoch</strong>&nbsp;($22.2 billion).</p>



<p><strong>Bernard Arnault&nbsp;</strong>($179.6 billion), the head of the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton luxury empire and the richest person in France, was&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elizlanders/status/1881398108179046670?s=46&amp;t=bUTQCdKx4w7TbNWl8KRyJw" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">at the inauguration</a>&nbsp;with his son, Alexandre.</p>



<p><strong>Mukesh Ambani</strong>&nbsp;($98.1 billion), the richest man in India,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-inauguration-billionaires-ceos-ambani-zuckerberg-bezos-attend-church-2025-01-20/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;attended inauguration events, and Trump’s friend&nbsp;<strong>Phil Ruffin</strong>, a Las Vegas casino executive worth $4.7 billion, was also spotted at the Capitol, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/20/us/trump-inauguration-president/e39d0884-13c3-5d0c-912c-72acfc9cd270?smid=url-share" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>



<p>Several billionaires and their spouses have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/12/22/the-billionaires-trumps-picked-for-next-administration-elon-musk-tilman-fertitta-and-more/">offered top roles</a>&nbsp;in the Trump administration, including&nbsp;<strong>Howard Lutnick</strong>&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2024/11/20/the-most-hated-guy-on-wall-street-the-unspoken-story-around-howard-lutnick-trumps-pick-for-commerce-secretary/">$1.5 billion</a>) and&nbsp;<strong>Vivek Ramaswamy</strong>&nbsp;($1 billion), both of whom were seen at the inauguration.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="594" height="396" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2194369892.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-64391" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2194369892.jpg 594w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2194369892-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><strong><em>(Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)</em></strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>Coinbase CEO&nbsp;<strong>Brian Armstrong</strong>&nbsp;($12.8 billion) was invited to inauguration-related events, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-10/openai-meta-uber-ceos-plan-to-attend-trump-inauguration-events" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>, but hadn’t yet been seen as of the swearing in.</p>



<p>Other billionaires who have been offered jobs in the administration, but their attendance wasn’t confirmed, include&nbsp;<strong>Stephen Feinberg</strong>&nbsp;($5 billion),&nbsp;<strong>Warren Stephens</strong>&nbsp;($3.4 billion),&nbsp;<strong>Jared Isaacman</strong>&nbsp;($1.9 billion),&nbsp;<strong>Steve Witkoff&nbsp;</strong>($1 billion), Linda McMahon (husband&nbsp;<strong>Vince McMahon</strong>&nbsp;is worth $3 billion) and Kelly Loeffler (husband&nbsp;<strong>Jeff Sprecher</strong>&nbsp;is worth $1.1 billion).</p>



<p>Zuckerberg co-hosted a pre-Inaugural Ball&nbsp;<a href="https://puck.news/mark-zuckerberg-is-throwing-an-inauguration-party-for-trump/?_gl=1*17fobxi*_up*MQ..*_ga*OTIwODg3ODI1LjE3MzY5MzkxMjY.*_ga_SEFD191RFM*MTczNjkzOTEyNi4xLjAuMTczNjkzOTEyNi4wLjAuMA.." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reception</a>&nbsp;for Trump alongside Adelson,<strong>&nbsp;Tilman Fertitta</strong>&nbsp;($10.2 billion) and Todd Ricketts, whose father&nbsp;<strong>J. Joe Ricketts</strong>&nbsp;and family are worth an estimated $4.2 billion.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How Much Is Trump Worth?</h2>



<p><strong>Trump&nbsp;</strong>himself is worth an estimated $6.7 billion thanks to his stake in Truth Social&#8217;s parent company, his real estate investments and other assets.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Other Billionaires Could Attend?</h2>



<p>Dozens of other billionaires also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/10/30/kamala-harris-has-more-billionaires-prominently-backing-her-than-trump-bezos-and-griffin-weigh-in-updated/">supported Trump</a>&nbsp;on his road to a second term who haven’t been confirmed as attendees, including&nbsp;<strong>Robert “Woody” Johnson</strong>&nbsp;($3.3 billion),&nbsp;<strong>Elizabeth&nbsp;</strong>and&nbsp;<strong>Richard Uihlein</strong>&nbsp;(each worth $5.9 billion),&nbsp;<strong>Roger Penske</strong>&nbsp;($6.5 billion) and&nbsp;<strong>Timothy Mellon</strong>&nbsp;(family was worth $14.1 billion).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Did Billionaires Like Musk, Bezos And Zuckerberg Back Trump’s Campaign?</h2>



<p>Some of them did, but others either stayed out of the presidential race or were Trump foes before they started trying to make nice. Zuckerberg’s Meta previously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/01/07/mark-zuckerberg-blasts-trump-and-announces-indefinite-ban-on-presidents-facebook-instagram-accounts/">banned</a>&nbsp;Trump from Instagram and Facebook—and Trump once&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/28/trump-zuckerberg-election-book-00176639" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">threatened</a>&nbsp;to send him to prison—before he fell in line following the election results. Since then, Zuckerberg has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/12/23/ford-will-donate-1-million-fleet-of-vehicles-to-trump-inauguration-latest-company-to-contribute/">donated</a>&nbsp;$1 million to his inaugural fund,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-zuckerberg-meet-mar-a-lago-semafor-reports-2025-01-11/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">met with Trump</a>&nbsp;at Mar-A-Lago, made&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/01/07/meta-ditches-fact-checks-for-x-style-community-notes-zuckerberg-says-it-will-restore-free-expression/">changes</a>&nbsp;to how its platforms fact-check posts and put Trump’s friend Dana White on Meta’s board. In the leadup to the election, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate but did&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-19/mark-zuckerberg-calls-donald-trump-badass-without-endorsing-for-president" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">call</a>&nbsp;Trump’s response to his assassination attempt “badass.” Bezos also has a history of clashing with Trump: Amazon in 2019&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2019/12/09/amazon-blames-trumps-personal-dislike-of-bezos-for-losing-pentagon-jedi-contract/">blamed Trump&#8217;s</a>&nbsp;&#8220;personal dislike&#8221; of Bezos for losing a multibillion-dollar cloud computing contract with the Pentagon, and Trump has been critical of the Bezos-owned Washington Post. Bezos didn’t endorse Trump last year but&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1812315786507088370?lang=en" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;he “showed tremendous grace and courage under literal fire” following the assassination attempt, and donated $1 million to the inaugural fund. Others have supported him all along. Musk is among Trump’s biggest donors, alongside&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/miriam-adelson/?list=rtb/">Adelson</a>, the widow of billionaire Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, who donated $100 million to the pro-Trump super PAC Preserve America during the election.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/tilman-fertitta/?list=rtb/">Fertitta</a>, owner of the Houston Rockets and Landry’s restaurant group, has been nominated to serve as U.S. ambassador to Italy after the Texas billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/21/donald-trump-tilman-fertitta-ambassador/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">hosted a fundraiser</a>&nbsp;for Trump last year. Ricketts, a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, has been a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/trump-collides-with-the-world-of-baseball" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">major fundraiser</a>&nbsp;for Republican politicians and, while he initially fundraised within the party against Trump during his first campaign, he ultimately went on to spearhead pro-Trump fundraising in 2020 and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/todd-ricketts-attending-trump-campaign-fundraiser" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">last year</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tangent</h2>



<p>Other corporate leaders planned on attending the inauguration, including Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/donald-trump-inauguration-ceos-business-fundraising-2b0d5086" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a>. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attended, after his platform took itself offline Sunday due to a nationwide ban taking effect—and restored service when Trump vowed to delay the ban upon taking office. Other supporters are throwing events around Washington over inauguration weekend,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/donald-trump-inauguration-ceos-business-fundraising-2b0d5086" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">including</a>&nbsp;an “Inaugural Crypto Ball” that featured Snoop Dogg and a party held by Uber and its CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-10/openai-meta-uber-ceos-plan-to-attend-trump-inauguration-events" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Dara Khosrowshahi</a>. James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola Company, on Tuesday&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/margomartin/status/1879330618225676448" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">presented Trump</a>&nbsp;with the &#8220;first ever Presidential Commemorative Inaugural Diet Coke bottle.&#8221; Microsoft, Ford, Google and AI search startup Perplexity also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/01/09/google-will-donate-another-1-million-to-trumps-record-high-inaugural-fund/">donated $1 million</a>&nbsp;to the inaugural fund.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/donald-trump-inauguration-ceos-business-fundraising-2b0d5086" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ripple</a>, a crypto company, gave $5 million worth of its cryptocurrency to the inaugural committee. Other major donors include Goldman Sachs, Intuit, Toyota, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, General Motors, Bank of America, AT&amp;T and Stanley Black &amp; Decker, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/trump-inauguration-sponsors-large-company-donations-a3cc1b92?mod=article_inline" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Journal reported</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Big Number</h2>



<p>More than $170 million. That’s how much Trump’s inaugural fund is believed to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/us/politics/trump-inauguration-donors.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">have raised,</a>&nbsp;almost three times as much as the $62 million raised by President Joe Biden four years ago and well above the previous record of $107 million, set by Trump&#8217;s 2016 inauguration. Donors who gave $1 million, or raised $2 million from others, were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/trump-inauguration-sponsors-large-company-donations-a3cc1b92?mod=article_inline" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly given</a>&nbsp;six tickets to a series of events in the days leading up to the inauguration, including a “candlelight dinner” with Trump and Melania Trump and a black-tie ball.</p>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Amazon founder Jeff Bezos overtook French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault as the second-wealthiest person in the world Monday morning after LVMH’s shares fell and Amazon shares slightly increased—and the pair continued to flip-flop throughout the day for the title.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Bezos had a net worth of about $204.3 billion as of just after 4 p.m. EDT on Monday—an increase of about $2.4 billion on the day—according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#76751fb33d78">Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List</a>.</p>



<p>Arnault, who oversees the LVMH empire of luxury fashion and cosmetics brands like Louis Vuitton and Sephora, was just behind Bezos with a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#76751fb33d78">net worth</a>&nbsp;of $203.9 billion, down $4.3 billion as of 4 p.m.</p>



<p>Shares of Arnault’s LVMH were down 2.21% at market close Monday, while Amazon shares were up 1.5%, helping Bezos’ net worth slightly increase.</p>



<p>The wealthiest person in the world remains Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who Forbes estimates to have a net worth of $207.8 billion as of Monday afternoon.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



<p>How the pair continues to flip throughout the day. As of 4 p.m., Bezos and Arnault had swapped the No. 2 and No. 3 spots at least four times.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>The top of our billionaires tracker has seen a number of changes in recent weeks. Prior to Bezos passing Arnault, Musk and Arnault were jostling for the position of wealthiest person in the world. Amazon is trading up more than 6% over the last three months, while Tesla is up only 0.39% and LVMH has fallen 12.99% over the same period. Musk’s fortune has fluctuated this year as Tesla stock has struggled, but Musk could run away with the No. 1 spot if Tesla shareholders vote to reinstate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/06/05/tesla-shareholders-vote-on-elon-musks-50-billion-pay-package-next-week-heres-whats-at-stake/?sh=71173676fa42">his $50 billion pay package</a>&nbsp;on Thursday, which would increase his equity in Tesla from 13% to 22%.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tannget">TANNGET</h2>



<p>Earlier this year, Bezos was going back and forth with Musk for the position of second-wealthiest person in the world and wealthiest in the U.S. The pair swapped spots <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2024/03/28/jeff-bezos-overtakes-elon-musk-as-richest-person-in-the-us-13th-flip-flop-this-month/?sh=4f85db26488f">13 times</a> in March, and prior to that, Musk had <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/03/06/jeff-bezos-briefly-overtakes-elon-musk-as-us-richest-person/?sh=48c7a574111a">not lost</a> his status as the richest person in the U.S. for more than two years.</p>


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<p>Earlier this week, while Bezos was in Glasgow at the COP26 climate summit, he sold more than $2 billion worth of Amazon shares. The sale came as Bezos, the world’s second richest person, promised in a speech at the summit that he will spend&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sofialottopersio/2021/11/02/billionaire-jeff-bezos-takes-stage-at-cop26-to-pledge-2-billion-towards-nature-conservation/?sh=41e3a18c782c">$2 billion from his Earth Fund</a>&nbsp;on restoring nature and transforming food systems.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“We must conserve what we still have, we must restore what we’ve lost, and we must grow what we need to live without degrading the planet for future generations to come,” Bezos said during his talk in Glasgow.</p>



<p>The sale, after accounting for capital gains taxes Bezos likely owes, barely changes his net worth. As of midday Thursday, Bezos is worth $199.4 billion,&nbsp;<em>Forbes&nbsp;</em>estimates. He trails the number one richest, Elon Musk (worth an estimated $317 billion), by about $118 billion.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Bezos has sold more than $8.8 billion worth of Amazon stock this year. Since taking Amazon public in 1998, the founder of the e-commerce giant has sold some $29 billion worth of Amazon shares,&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;calculates; his stake in the company has gone from 42% in 1997 to just under 10% currently. Last year&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/06/24/heres-how-much-money-jeff-bezos-has-reaped-from-selling-amazon-stock/?sh=62bf2e63389a">he unloaded $10 billion worth</a>&nbsp;of his Amazon stake.</p>



<p>In July, Bezos gave up the role of Amazon CEO but has stayed on as the company’s chairman. Since then he’s shifted his focus to his rocket company, Blue Origin, and has made several announcements about philanthropic gifts. In September he announced a $1 billion pledge toward conservation efforts.&nbsp;MORE FOR YOU<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hanktucker/2021/09/23/evergrande-chairman-hui-ka-yan-has-been-paid-8-billion-in-cash-while-property-developer-piled-on-debt/">Evergrande Chairman Hui Ka Yan Has Been Paid $8 Billion In Cash While Property Developer Piled On Debt</a><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2021/09/26/walter-scott-jr-warren-buffetts-longtime-friend-and-business-partner-dead-at-90/">Walter Scott Jr., Warren Buffett’s Longtime Friend And Business Partner, Dead At 90</a><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2021/09/25/democrat-on-powerful-house-ways-and-means-committee-apparently-violated-stock-trade-rules/">Democrat On Powerful House Ways And Means Committee Apparently Violated Stock-Trade Rules</a></p>



<p>Amazon stock has more than doubled in value since the beginning of 2019; it’s risen about 6% since early January 2021.</p>



<p>A spokesperson for Jeff Bezos at Amazon declined to comment regarding the share sales.</p>



<p><strong><em>By Kerry A. Dolan, Forbes Staf</em></strong></p>


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<p><strong>It’s been a rollercoaster year among the very wealthiest, with Musk, Jeff Bezos and LVMH’s Bernard Arnault all vying for the number one spot.</strong></p>



<p>Athree-way race for the title of wealthiest person in the world intensified Thursday as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/">Elon Musk</a>, worth an estimated $177.4 billion at the day’s end, overtook French luxury magnate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bernard-arnault/">Bernard Arnault</a>&nbsp;for second place. Arnault, who held pole position to start the week, got nearly $21 billion poorer over the past two days as LVMH shares tumbled 12.6%. That led to Amazon founder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/">Jeff Bezos</a>&nbsp;reclaiming the top spot with a fortune estimated at $185.5 billion.</p>



<p>It’s been a rollercoaster year atop the billionaire ranks. Since January, the three have periodically jockeyed for the lead on&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>’&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/">real-time tracker</a>&nbsp;of the world’s richest people, with each coming out on top—and losing the title—multiple times over the past eight months.</p>



<p>The constant shuffling is unusual. Over the first three decades after&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;began tracking billionaires’ net worths in 1987, only six people held the title of world’s richest person. In the early years, two Japanese real estate moguls—Yoshiaki Tsutsumi and Taikichiro Mori—topped the list, until&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/">Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;came along in the late 1990s. From 1997 to 2017, Gates dominated the list, save for a single year when&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett/">Warren Buffett</a>&nbsp;took the top spot (2008) and a three-year stint when Mexico’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/carlos-slim-helu/">Carlos Slim Helu</a>&nbsp;wrested the title (2010 through 2013). (Spanish retailer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/amancio-ortega/">Amancio Ortega</a>&nbsp;also grabbed the top spot for a few hours in 2015, and a couple days in 2016.)&nbsp;</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-race-to-the-top">RACE TO THE TOP</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="750" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-20-at-13.39.52-1024x750.png" alt="" class="wp-image-52223" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-20-at-13.39.52-1024x750.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-20-at-13.39.52-300x220.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-20-at-13.39.52-768x563.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-20-at-13.39.52-1536x1125.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-20-at-13.39.52.png 1540w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Forbes.com</figcaption></figure>



<p>In recent years, the longtime Microsoft chief, has found himself firmly outside the top three thanks to gifts of stock to his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, transfers of at least $5 billion worth of shares in public companies to his ex-wife&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/melinda-french-gates/">Melinda French Gates</a>—and the meteoric rise of Bezos, Musk and Arnault.</p>



<p>Since early 2017—when Gates topped the World’s Billionaires list with an $86 billion net worth—Bezos has added more than $110 billion to his fortune on the back of skyrocketing Amazon stock, Arnault has ridden LVMH shares’ 225% climb to more than quadruple his net worth and Musk has had the steepest climb in history, gaining more than $150 billion in four years as Tesla has become the most valuable carmaker on the planet.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-jeff-bezos"><strong>Jeff Bezos</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-185-2-billion">Net worth: $185.2 billion</h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gain-in-past-12-months-6-6-billion">Gain in past 12 months: $6.6 billion</h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weeks-this-year-ended-at-no-1-26">Weeks this year ended at No. 1: 26</h3>



<p>Bezos, the longtime Amazon CEO and now executive chairman, has been the world’s richest for most of 2021. Bezos began the year in first place and, after briefly dropping to No. 2, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2021/01/16/jeff-bezos-once-again-the-worlds-richest-person-after-rollercoaster-week/">regained the No.1 spot</a>&nbsp;for about four months from mid-January until May. Bezos&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2021/06/10/after-two-weeks-at-no-2-jeff-bezos-is-once-again-the-richest-person-in-the-world/">returned to the top spot</a>&nbsp;on June 10, and maintained the lead for 50 days before losing footing when Amazon announced disappointing quarterly earnings in late July, which wiped $13.9 billion from his net worth in a single day. Even as Amazon’s stock continues to falter, an even shakier performance by the stock of Arnault’s LVMH helped Bezos to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2021/08/18/jeff-bezos-again-richest-person-in-world/">once again become the richest person</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-elon-musk"><strong>Elon Musk</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-177-1-billion">Net worth: $177.1 billion</h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gain-in-past-12-months-110-9-billion">Gain in past 12 months: $110.9 billion</h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weeks-this-year-ended-at-no-1-1">Weeks this year ended at No. 1: 1</h3>



<p>Musk’s fortune has grown by more than $100 billion in one year, thanks to an extraordinary rise in the stock price of electric vehicle maker Tesla. After a brief drop at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, shares rocketed in subsequent months. On January 8, 2021—with Tesla shares up more than 1,000% from the pandemic-period low—Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/01/08/elon-musk-is-now-the-richest-person-in-the-world-officially-surpassing-jeff-bezos/">first became</a>&nbsp;the world’s richest person, overtaking Bezos. For about a week, the two&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/01/11/elon-musk-falls-to-second-richest-person-in-the-world-after-his-fortune-drops-nearly-14-billion-in-one-day/">traded places</a>&nbsp;on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/01/12/elon-musk-is-back-at-no-1-richest-person-in-the-world-after-tesla-stock-rebounds/">near-daily</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/01/13/elon-musk-falls-to-worlds-second-richest-person/">basis</a>, but as Tesla stock began to fall, Bezos solidified his position once again. Musk, meanwhile, was overtaken by Arnault and dropped down to third place for months beginning in April.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bernard-arnault">Bernard<strong>&nbsp;Arnault</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-173-2-billion">Net worth: $173.2 billion</h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gain-in-past-12-months-61-9-billion">Gain in past 12 months: $61.9 billion</h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weeks-this-year-ended-at-no-1-6">Weeks this year ended at No. 1: 6</h3>



<p>Through <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2019/10/31/the-100-billion-man-how-bernard-arnault-stitched-together-the-worlds-third-biggest-fortune-with-louis-vuitton-dior-and-77-other-brandsand-why-hes-not-done-yet/">predatory instinct</a>, Arnault has built a luxury empire that is the largest company in Europe by market capitalization. His LVMH owns dozens of brands, including fashion mainstay Louis Vuitton, alcohol producer Hennessy and cosmetics retailer Sephora. Earlier this year, LVMH completed a $15.8 billion acquisition of jeweler Tiffany &amp; Co., victorious after a contentious saga that began with an unsolicited takeover bid. Arnault <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2021/05/21/french-luxury-tycoon-bernard-arnault-is-now-tied-with-jeff-bezos-for-richest-person-in-the-world/">first became the world’s richest person</a> in May and, after <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddawkins/2021/05/24/bernard-arnault-becomes-worlds-richest-person-as-lvmh-stock-rises/">some days</a> of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2021/05/27/bernard-arnault-becomes-the-richest-person-in-the-world-for-the-third-time-this-week/">jostling</a>, he managed to hold Bezos off for about two weeks. When shares in Amazon fell in late July, Arnault <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hanktucker/2021/07/30/bernard-arnault-once-again-the-worlds-richest-person-after-jeff-bezos-loses-nearly-14-billion-in-one-day/">reclaimed the number one position</a> and held on for most of August, before threats of Chinese wealth redistribution tanked European luxury stocks and caused Arnault’s fortune to plunge by more than $20 billion this week.</p>



<p><strong><em>By Kenrick Cai, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


Elon Musk Visits Site Of New Tesla Gigafactory In Germany

Elon Musk Is Now The Second Richest Person In The World


<p>Jeff Bezos is no longer the richest person on the planet, and this time it’s not because he physically left earth in a Blue Origin rocket. Amazon stock cratered 7.6% Friday after the company reported second quarter earnings Thursday afternoon—shaving $13.9 billion off its founder’s fortune in one day and pushing Bezos behind French tycoon Bernard Arnault.</p>



<p>Shares of Arnault’s luxury goods conglomerate LVMH fell by 1.4% Friday, making Arnault $2.9 billion poorer as well, but he still finished the week with an estimated net worth of $192.9 billion, $500 million ahead of Bezos. The two&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2021/06/10/after-two-weeks-at-no-2-jeff-bezos-is-once-again-the-richest-person-in-the-world/?sh=44e6163557aa">played leapfrog</a>&nbsp;for the top spot in late May and early June, but Bezos had spent the last 50 days as the world’s richest person, notwithstanding his brief interstellar excursion on July 20.</p>



<p>After Arnault got more than <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2021/04/13/how-lvmh-chief-bernard-arnault-got-nearly-100-billion-richer-over-the-past-year/?sh=39ada77692f1">$100 billion richer</a> during the first year of the pandemic, LVMH’s rally has plateaued for most of the summer. Arnault owns a 47% stake in the company, which has a market capitalization of more than $400 billion. Its subsidiaries include Louis Vuitton, Moët &amp; Chandon, Christian Dior and Tiffany &amp; Co.</p>



<p>Despite the stock drop, Amazon was far from a failure in the second quarter. The business generated $113 billion in revenue—27% higher than the same period last year—and $7.8 billion in net profit. But stockholders were hoping the embarrassment of riches would be even larger, especially after first quarter revenue grew 44%. Amazon said Thursday that it predicts third quarter revenue to be between $106 billion and $112 billion, lower than the $119 billion analysts were expecting. Amazon’s chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, attributed the slowdown to people feeling more comfortable leaving home to shop and spend on other activities compared with last spring and summer during the heart of the pandemic.</p>



<p>Amazon’s decline also lowered the net worth of Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott to an estimated $56 billion, a $4.6 billion drop on Friday, making her the 22nd-richest person in the world.</p>



<p>Aside from Bezos and Scott, most of the week’s biggest billionaire losers reside in China, where stocks continued to fall due to the country’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2021/07/27/chinas-internet-tycoons-suffer-136-billion-wealth-drop-as-regulatory-crackdown-triggers-market-sell-off/?sh=337731be373c">ongoing tech crackdown</a>. This month, Chinese authorities forced app stores to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/07/04/china-bans-didi-from-app-stores-just-days-after-massive-us-ipo/?sh=5ad30e731202">remove ride-hailing giant Didi</a>&nbsp;within days of its U.S. IPO,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2021/07/25/chinas-tutoring-crackdown-sends-fortunes-of-education-billionaires-into-nosedive/?sh=5bf4861b256f">crippled online tutoring companies</a>&nbsp;by requiring them to register as nonprofits, ordered food delivery companies to provide more protections for their drivers and required tech conglomerate Tencent to relinquish exclusive licensing rights to online music.</p>



<p>Tencent CEO Ma Huateng’s fortune declined by $4.7 billion to $47.5 billion this week as the company’s shares fell by 8.5%. The CSI 300 Index, which tracks the performance of the largest stocks listed in China, declined by 5.5% this week, and the Hang Seng Index tracking the Hong Kong stock market fell by 5%.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-here-are-the-billionaires-whose-fortunes-fell-the-most-this-week">HERE ARE THE BILLIONAIRES WHOSE FORTUNES FELL THE MOST THIS WEEK.</h2>



<p><em>The net worth change is from close of markets Friday, July 23 to Friday, July 30.</em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-jeff-bezos"><strong>1 | JEFF BEZOS</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-192-4-billion-down-16-8-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$192.4 BILLION, DOWN $16.8 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-united-states">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>UNITED STATES</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-amazon">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>AMAZON</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-mackenzie-scott"><strong>2 | MACKENZIE SCOTT</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-56-billion-down-5-5-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$56 BILLION, DOWN $5.5 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-united-states-1">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>UNITED STATES</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-amazon-1">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>AMAZON</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-ma-huateng"><strong>3 | MA HUATENG</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-47-5-billion-down-4-7-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$47.5 BILLION, DOWN $4.7 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-china">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>CHINA</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-internet-media-tencent">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>INTERNET MEDIA / TENCENT</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-wang-xing"><strong>4 | WANG XING</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-17-1-billion-down-4-2-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$17.1 BILLION, DOWN $4.2 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-china-1">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>CHINA</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-e-commerce-meituan">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>E-COMMERCE / MEITUAN</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-zhang-yong"><strong>5 | ZHANG YONG</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-11-1-billion-down-4-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$11.1 BILLION, DOWN $4 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-singapore">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>SINGAPORE</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-restaurants-haidilao">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>RESTAURANTS / HAIDILAO</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-yang-huiyan"><strong>6 | YANG HUIYAN</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-27-9-billion-down-2-6-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$27.9 BILLION, DOWN $2.6 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-china-2">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>CHINA</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-real-estate">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>REAL ESTATE</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-7-hui-ka-yan"><strong>7 | HUI KA YAN</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-14-6-billion-down-2-6-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$14.6 BILLION, DOWN $2.6 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-china-3">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>CHINA</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-real-estate-1">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>REAL ESTATE</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-8-mukesh-ambani"><strong>8 | MUKESH AMBANI</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-77-6-billion-down-2-5-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$77.6 BILLION, DOWN $2.5 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-india">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>INDIA</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-reliance-industries">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>RELIANCE INDUSTRIES</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-9-pierre-omidyar"><strong>9 | PIERRE OMIDYAR</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-24-3-billion-down-2-5-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$24.3 BILLION, DOWN $2.5 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-united-states-2">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>UNITED STATES</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-ebay-paypal">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>EBAY, PAYPAL</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-10-li-xiting"><strong>10 | LI XITING</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-22-billion-down-2-5-billion">NET WORTH |&nbsp;<strong>$22 BILLION, DOWN $2.5 BILLION</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-country-china-4">COUNTRY |&nbsp;<strong>CHINA</strong></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-source-of-wealth-medical-devices">SOURCE OF WEALTH |&nbsp;<strong>MEDICAL DEVICES</strong></h3>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p><strong><em>By Hank Tucker, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


Billionaire LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE Chairman Bernard Arnault at VivaTech 2021

Bernard Arnault Once Again The World’s Richest Person After Jeff Bezos Loses Nearly $14 Billion In One Day


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong>: Shares of Amazon fell as much as 8% Friday after the e-commerce juggernaut disclosed a massive fine from European regulators for allegedly breaking regional privacy laws and posted second-quarter earnings results that failed to meet Wall Street expectations, putting the longtime market leader on track for its worst day in more than a year. </p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<p>As of 11:15 a.m. EDT, Amazon stock has plunged 7% Friday to about $3,349.50, pushing the firm&#8217;s market capitalization down below $1.7 trillion and wiping out nearly $130 billion from a closing level above $1.8 trillion Thursday.</p>



<p>Ushering in the massive losses, Amazon posted second-quarter revenue after Thursday&#8217;s market close of $113.1 billion—up 27% year over year, but falling short of average analyst expectations totaling $115 billion.</p>



<p>Despite soaring more than 48%, net income of more than $7.7 billion also fell slightly short of estimates, which called for about $7.8 billion.</p>



<p>The stark decline also comes after Amazon&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001018724/000101872421000020/amzn-20210630.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">disclosed</a>&nbsp;a $885 million (746 million euros) fine, levied on July 16, by the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection, which claims Amazon&#8217;s processing of personal data did not comply with European regulations.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In the filing, Amazon, which in a statement asserts no data breach has occurred, said it believes the watchdog&#8217;s decision is &#8220;without merit&#8221; and that it intends to appeal the ruling and defend itself &#8220;vigorously&#8221; in the matter.</p>



<p>Amazon&#8217;s Friday plunge puts it on track for its worst one-day decline since the height of pandemic uncertainty tanked the broader market in March 2020.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE&nbsp;</h3>



<p>&#8220;Consumers&#8217; online shopping levels are returning to more normal levels as they shift some spending to other entertainment sources and offline shopping,&#8221; Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said in a Friday note. &#8220;Meanwhile, the company continues to add capacity [and costs] at a breakneck pace in order to meet customer demand and one day delivery,&#8221; Romanoff added, pointing out Amazon has already nearly doubled its footprint during the last 18 months.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h3>



<p>Shares of Amazon are now down more than 10% from a record closing high of $3,719 earlier this month.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



<p>Amazon far underperformed the broader market Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which doesn&#8217;t include Amazon, ticked down just 0.2%, while the S&amp;P 500, which counts the retail giant as its third-largest component, fell 0.4%.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h3>



<p>“Maintaining the security of our customers’ information and their trust are top priorities. There has been no data breach, and no customer data has been exposed to any third party. These facts are undisputed,” Amazon said in a statement Friday. “The decision relating to how we show customers relevant advertising relies on subjective and untested interpretations of European privacy law, and the proposed fine is entirely out of proportion with even that interpretation.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58024116" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon hit with $886m fine for alleged data breach</a> <em>(BBC)</em></p>



<p><strong><em>By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


Amazon Stock Loses $130 Billion In Market Value After $885 Million Fine And Disappointing Earnings Report


<p><strong>The company will begin offering commercial spaceflights next year, with an eventual goal of multiple flights per day around the world.</strong></p>



<p>n Sunday, Virgin Galactic hit a crucial milestone on its road to make commercial space tourism a reality starting in 2022: sending a fully crewed ship to space that included founder and billionaire Richard Branson. But Branson won’t be leading the charge, as he plans to step back and focus on his charitable foundations. That leaves Michael Colglazier as the “steely-eyed missile man” in charge of the company’s mission.</p>



<p>As CEO of the space tourism company, it’s Colglazier’s job to get ready for paying customers, with shareholders looking over his shoulder to make sure he does. (Not to mention the over 600 people who’ve already bought spaceflight tickets &#8211; some of whom have been holding them for over a decade). His goal is to get the company to the point where it starts opening its doors to taking customers to space starting next year.</p>



<p>Despite the pressure, the former president and managing director of Disney Parks, who took the reins of the space tourism company in July of last year, is upbeat and chipper at the end of this long day that saw the company’s founder get to the stars. Sitting down in New Mexico’s spaceport, which was built by the state for the purpose of facilitating space tourist flights the way airports facilitate airlines, he emphasizes that what Virgin Galatic needs to deliver is more than just a spaceflight, amazing as the singular event is.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“Our product, what we give you is a lifelong memory,” Colglazier says. “And so our focus is on the experience so that your emotions are so powerful that the memory is impressed upon you in a way you talk about it your whole life.”</p>



<p>To that end, he explains Virgin Galactic’s ultimate aim is to have spaceports located all over the world, not just New Mexico, which can offer more than just a place to hitch a ride to space, but a place that can “inspire” people to want to make their own journey. “We’ll be collaborating with New Mexico to figure out how to build a broader experience around the spaceport,” he says. “And that’s the product we’ll take to other locales.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>Doing that, he says, means operating at a near-daily cadence of spaceflights from every location it operates from, which will require a massive increase in the company’s manufacturing capacity. He estimates that each spaceport his company operates in will need “high single digit to low double digit” numbers of spaceships, along with multiple motherships needed to carry the spacecraft to altitude.</p>



<p>“We’re talking 400 flights a year for every spaceport we operate,” he says. “So we have to build a fleet. How many ships we need is going to depend on how quickly we can turn them around” for future spaceflights, he says. Something the company won’t be sure about until it’s done more tests with its next generation of spacecraft, the first of which has been built and is undergoing testing now.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>“You saw the elegance of it, you saw how gracefully it goes,” says Colgrzier of the Unity launch. “It&#8217;s a ballet and it acrobatically moves to purposely give you this amazing view of the planet.”</p></blockquote>



<p>It’s also something that will happen with some competition. In just a few days, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin is sending its founder to space on a test flight, and that company also plans on offering rides to customers. Colglazier says the market right now is way too big to worry about competition. However, he does then point out that Virgin’s experience is quite different from Blue Origin’s, starting with the fact that Virgin’s spacecraft are carried by plane while its competitor will lift customers up on a traditional rocket.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“We take off horizontally, and we believe there&#8217;s great value to that,” he says, describing how Virgin’s carrier planes take its spacecraft to around 45-50,000 feet before releasing them to rocket the rest of the way to space. “And you saw the elegance of it, you saw how gracefully it goes. It&#8217;s a ballet and it acrobatically moves to purposely give you this amazing view of the planet. ”</p>



<p>Getting to the point where the company can offer its “elegant” experience will likely be quite capital intensive. The company announced this morning that it’s selling an additional $500 million in shares. In a report published earlier this year, Morgan Stanley estimated the company likely won’t see positive free cash flow until 2028, though Colglazier dismisses that by saying “there are many financial models out there, and they range a lot because people are missing the data. Today will be a nice proof point of that.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/960x0/https%3A%2F%2Fspecials-images.forbesimg.com%2Fimageserve%2F60ec998b6830238503a22689%2F1960x0.jpg%3Ffit%3Dscale" alt="Sirisha Bandla looks out the window at Earth while in zero-g."/><figcaption>While on the Unity 22 flight, Virgin Galactic VP Sirisha Bandla also conducted a scientific experiment.&nbsp;<small>VIRGIN GALACTIC</small></figcaption></figure>



<p>Virgin’s got other ways of bringing money in to build out its vision, too. Colglazier says the company intends to open up more spaceflight ticket sales in the summer or fall (it previously stopped offering tickets in 2013). It will also be using its suborbital spaceflights as a platform for scientific research. On Sunday’s flight with Richard Branson, company VP Sirisha Bandla was busy conducting a research experiment for Virgin customer the University of Florida. Research experiments, he says, can bring in around $600,000 per flight.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Ultimately, Colglazier says, his company will spend the next few years focused on building up and scaling out both its customer experiences and its research business, and then tackle other opportunities as they come. “We now have a really interesting organization and company that you would imagine could do other things,” he says. “But we want to make sure we get the economic engine moving first.” </p>



<p><em><strong>By Alex Knapp, Forbes Staff</strong></em></p>


Sir Richard Branson Rings Opening Bell As Virgin Galactic Holdings Joins NYSE

Virgin Galactic CEO Explains What’s Next After Billionaire Richard Branson’s Successful Spaceflight


<p><strong>The Amazon founder is heading to space in July. He isn&#8217;t the first billionaire astronaut, and he won&#8217;t be the last, but he will be the first to bring his own spaceship.</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><strong><em>By Kenrick Cai, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>



<p>On Monday, Jeff Bezos announced that he would fly into space in late July on his company Blue Origin’s spacecraft. The flight, scheduled for July 20, will take place just two weeks after Bezos steps down as CEO of Amazon, the e-commerce firm he founded in 1994. The occasion would make Bezos, now the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#1028f1363d78">world’s second-richest person</a>, the first of the “space billionaires”—entrepreneurs who are funding space industry innovations—to personally visit outer space. But Bezos isn’t the first, and he’s far from the last billionaire astronaut. (The big question mark? Elon Musk, who has often stated his desire to travel into space but hasn&#8217;t yet announced concrete plans to do so.)</p>



<p>Here are the billionaires who have already gone to space or are scheduled to go to space soon:</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-the-billionaires-who-ve-already-been-to-space"><strong>The Billionaires Who’ve Already Been To Space</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Charles Simonyi</strong></h3>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-73941854-1024x839.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51260" width="512" height="419" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-73941854-1024x839.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-73941854-300x246.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-73941854-768x629.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-73941854-1536x1259.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-73941854-2048x1678.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>When:&nbsp;</strong>April 2007 and March 2009</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Where:</strong>&nbsp;International Space Station</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>How:&nbsp;</strong>Russian Soyuz via Space Adventures</h4>



<p>Charles Simonyi, who built the first versions of Microsoft Office, was the first billionaire to go to space, and he remains the only one who’s gone twice. The Hungarian-born software developer joined Microsoft as its 40th employee in 1981 and stayed until 2002, before rejoining in 2017 when his former employer acquired his new company, Intentional Software. During his time away from the tech giant, Simonyi took two trips to the International Space Station via  space tourism firm Space Adventures, which together cost him some $60 million. Said Simonyi of the experience during a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiasavchuk/2015/01/04/what-to-pack-for-space-travel-charles-simonyi-space-adventures-virgin-galactic/">2015 interview with <em>Forbes</em></a>: “Every 90 minutes, you see spring, you see fall, you see the Arctic, you see the tropics, you see night, you see day.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Guy Laliberté</strong></h3>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-91787549-1024x780.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51263" width="552" height="420" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-91787549-1024x780.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-91787549-300x229.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-91787549-768x585.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-91787549-1536x1170.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-91787549-2048x1560.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px" /><figcaption>(Photo credit should read YURI KOCHETKOV/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>When:&nbsp;</strong>September 2009</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Where:</strong>&nbsp;International Space Station</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>How:</strong>&nbsp;Russian Soyuz via Space Adventures</h4>



<p>Former fire-breathing street performer Guy Laliberté got rich after cofounding circus entertainment company Cirque Du Soleil in 1984. The Canadian entrepreneur grew it into an international operation, then finally took a months-long break in 2009 to train for a flight to the International Space Station. He paid $35 million for the ticket, which was Space Adventures’ final private spaceflight for more than a decade. “Basically you&#8217;re going through a car crash,” he <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2011/06/09/why-cirque-du-soleil-billionaire-guy-laliberte-traveled-to-space/">said of the landing</a>. “As soon as we hit the ground I wanted to go back up there and do the ride again.”</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-the-billionaires-heading-to-space-in-the-near-future"><strong>The Billionaires Heading To Space In The Near Future</strong></h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Jeff Bezos</strong></h3>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>When:</strong>&nbsp;July 2021</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Where:</strong>&nbsp;Kármán line</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>How:&nbsp;</strong>Blue Origin New Shepard</h4>



<p>Since founding Blue Origin in 2000, Bezos, the world’s second richest person, has pumped an estimated $7.5 billion of his own cash into the aerospace company, according to space-focused venture firm Space Capital. Bezos announced Monday that he, alongside younger brother Mark, will be passengers on the firm’s first crewed space flight, set to launch on July 20, just two weeks after he transitions to become the executive chairman of Amazon. The flight is scheduled to cross the Kármán line, the internationally recognized border to outer space, more than 60 miles above the Earth’s surface, before making its descent. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” Bezos said in an Instagram post on June 7.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Jared Isaacman</strong></h3>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1230932973-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51261" width="516" height="344" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1230932973-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1230932973-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1230932973-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1230932973-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1230932973-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 516px) 100vw, 516px" /><figcaption>(Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>When:&nbsp;</strong>September 2021</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Where:</strong>&nbsp;Geocentric orbit</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>How:&nbsp;</strong>SpaceX Dragon spacecraft</h4>



<p>Payment processing entrepreneur Jared Isaacman is also a flight geek—<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2020/10/07/meet-the-new-billionaire-who-dropped-out-of-high-school-and-flies-fighter-jets-for-fun/">he’s flown in air shows, and pilots fighter jets for fun</a>. Now, Isaacman is set to be the commander on the world’s first <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/valeriestimac/2021/02/01/spacex-announces-first-all-civilian-mission-to-space-inspiration4/">all-civilian mission to space</a>. The billionaire purchased all four seats aboard the SpaceX-operated flight, which is meant to raise awareness for St. Jude Children’s Hospital; among <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/valeriestimac/2021/03/30/meet-the-final-two-members-of-the-worlds-first-all-civilian-spaceflight-mission-inspiration4/">the crewmates</a> selected is Hayley Arceneaux, a childhood cancer survivor.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Yusaku Maezawa</strong></h3>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1047841562-1024x747.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51265" width="575" height="419" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1047841562-1024x747.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1047841562-300x219.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1047841562-768x560.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1047841562-1536x1120.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1047841562-2048x1494.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 575px) 100vw, 575px" /><figcaption> (Photo by TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>When:&nbsp;</strong>December 2021 and month TBD in 2023</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Where:&nbsp;</strong>International Space Station and around the Moon</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>How:</strong>&nbsp;Russia Soyuz via Space Adventures and SpaceX Starship</h4>



<p>Japanese billionaire Maezawa made his fortune by founding Zozotown, which at one point was his home country’s largest online fashion mall. In 2018, SpaceX’s Elon Musk announced that Maezawa would be its first private customer to fly around the Moon. Earlier this year, the entrepreneur <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/valeriestimac/2021/05/13/japanese-billionaire-yusaku-maezawa-announces-new-space-tourism-flight-plan-for-late-2021/">added another space destination</a> to his plans: through Space Adventures, he will now be the first space tourist to visit the International Space Station since Laliberté in 2009.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Richard Branson</strong></h3>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1178649355-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51262" width="608" height="405" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1178649355-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1178649355-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1178649355-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1178649355-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1178649355-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>When:&nbsp;</strong>Late 2021 (exact time TBD)</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Where:&nbsp;</strong>About 55 miles above the Earth’s surface</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>How:&nbsp;</strong>Virgin Galactic Unity spacecraft</h4>



<p>Continued setbacks mean Bezos is set to beat Branson as the first “space billionaire” to reach outer space. Branson is scheduled to be a passenger on Virgin Galactic’s third rocket-powered test flight, which CEO Michael Colglazier earlier told investors was planned to launch by March of this year. The first of those flights was ultimately completed in May; Branson’s flight, the third in the Virgin Galactic test flight series, is scheduled for later this year. The flights take passengers to about 55 miles above the Earth’s surface, which meets the FAA’s definition of spaceflight. After the series of test flights is completed, the company’s commercial service will begin operation. More than 600 passengers, including actors Angelina Jolie and Tom Hanks, have already booked flights. Some have waited more than a decade since their ticket purchase.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Sergey Brin</strong></h3>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1057560642-1024x750.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51266" width="508" height="372" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1057560642-1024x750.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1057560642-300x220.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1057560642-768x562.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1057560642-1536x1124.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1057560642-2048x1499.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 508px) 100vw, 508px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>When:&nbsp;</strong>TBD</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Where:&nbsp;</strong>International Space Station</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>How:&nbsp;</strong>TBD via Space Adventures</h4>



<p>In 2008, Google cofounder Sergey Brin became an investor in Space Adventures through a $5 million deposit usable for a future orbital spaceflight. While Space Adventures will be resuming its private flights to the International Space Station this year, starting with billionaire Maezawa, it is unclear if or when Brin plans to go up.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss</strong></h3>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-676417528-860x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51264" width="540" height="643" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-676417528-860x1024.jpg 860w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-676417528-252x300.jpg 252w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-676417528-768x914.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-676417528-1291x1536.jpg 1291w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-676417528-1721x2048.jpg 1721w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px" /><figcaption>  (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>When:</strong>&nbsp;TBD</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Where:&nbsp;</strong>Suborbital space</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>How:&nbsp;</strong>Virgin Galactic spacecraft</h4>



<p>he Winklevoss twins are among the hundreds of passengers who have booked commercial space flights through Virgin Galactic, though they remain the only (publicly disclosed) customers who used bitcoin for the purchase. They used the cryptocurrency to purchase a pair of tickets that cost the equivalent of $250,000 each in January 2014. Based on current trading prices, the bitcoin they spent is worth more than $10 million today.</p>


gettyimages-1171215140-594×594-1

Jeff Bezos And The Other Billionaire Space Cowboys


<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?sh=28bb8a6a1b23">Jeff Bezos</a>&nbsp;didn’t have to wait long to reclaim his throne as the richest person in the world: A few hours after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddawkins/2021/05/24/bernard-arnault-becomes-worlds-richest-person-as-lvmh-stock-rises/?sh=355a97ab2ad9">losing</a>&nbsp;the title to French luxury fashion magnate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bernard-arnault/?sh=23d080666fa4">Bernard Arnault</a>, he’s now back at No. 1 after Amazon’s shares ticked up when markets opened in New York. As of 1:30 pm ET, Bezos leads with a fortune of $188.4 billion, ahead of Arnault’s $187.3 billion.</p>



<p>The two men entered the weekend on level terms, worth $186 billion each, after shares in Arnault’s&nbsp; luxury goods conglomerate LVMH rallied in the second half of last week. LVMH stock performed even better on Monday, closing nearly 1% higher and boosting Arnault’s fortune by $1.7 billion—enough for him to briefly eclipse Bezos and become the world’s richest person for a few hours. Then Amazon shares ticked up more than 1% as of 1:30 pm ET on Monday, making Bezos $2.4 billion richer today.</p>



<p>Arnault has briefly ranked as the world’s richest person several times already: Just before the markets closed on Friday in the U.S., Arnault was about $100 million&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2021/05/21/french-luxury-tycoon-bernard-arnault-is-now-tied-with-jeff-bezos-for-richest-person-in-the-world/?sh=364d38d42b91">richer</a>&nbsp;than Bezos, before ending the day with the same net worth. At around 10:30 am ET on December 16, 2019, Arnault&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinstoller/2019/12/16/french-billionaire-bernard-arnault-was-briefly-the-worlds-richest-person-today/?sh=43b1d3ad7ce1">pushed</a>&nbsp;past Bezos to claim No. 1 for the first time, until Amazon shares closed higher and Arnault fell back to number two.</p>



<p>While Bezos is now trading the top spot with Arnault, he was previously locked into a tight competition with Tesla CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=5a9c30fe7999">Elon Musk</a>, currently the third richest person in the world with a net worth of $150.8 billion. In early January, Musk overtook Bezos to become the richest on three separate occasions—on January 8, 12 and 14—before the Amazon founder definitively clawed his way back on January 15.</p>



<p>All three men have seen spectacular growth in their net worths throughout the pandemic, collectively gaining more than $300 billion. Since <em>Forbes</em> calculated net worths for its 2020 World’s Billionaires list at the worst of the market crash in March 2020, Bezos has gotten more than $75 billion richer, compared to gains of nearly $127 billion for Musk and $111 billion for Arnault. Bezos’ net worth peaked at a staggering $200 billion on two occasions: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2020/08/26/worlds-richest-billionaire-jeff-bezos-first-200-billion/?sh=495faf434db7">first</a> in August 2020 and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/04/28/jeff-bezos-is-once-again-worth-a-staggering-200-billion/?sh=287e3af24b4e">again</a> late last month in April 2021.</p>



<p><em><strong>By Giacomo Tognini, Forbes Staff</strong></em></p>


Jeff Bezos’s India Visit Marked By Probe and Protests

After Briefly Dropping To No. 2, Jeff Bezos Is Again The Richest Person In The World


<p><strong>Amazon, Facebook, TikTok and a growing number of venture-backed startups are all seeking to replicate QVC&#8217;s success selling stuff via live demos and time-pressured promotions. But the original home shopping is still way ahead &#8211; for now.</strong></p>



<p class="has-drop-cap">In March, a year into the pandemic, QVC is pitching a predictably eclectic assortment of items. A set of three collapsible storage boxes for $33, perfect for the springtime ritual of clearing away clutter — 28,000 sold! A pink amaryllis bulb for Easter – yours for three payments of $10.89! An “ingenious” planter in the shape of a frog — only 500 left!</p>



<p>Hardly the essentials needed to endure a lockdown, but it’s made for brisk business for QVC and its sister channel HSN, which now reach into 380 million homes worldwide and continue to find a massive audience for its hokey sales pitches that push everything from mattresses and mops to cooking supplies and jewelry.</p>



<p>Last year, the two channels — plus a handful of smaller clothing and home décor brands — delivered revenue of $11.4 billion for publicly-traded Qurate Retail. QVC has been around for 35 years but has suddenly become the company to beat in the industry’s new fervor for live shopping. Amazon, Facebook and TikTok are in hot pursuit, along with a number of venture-backed startups. Walmart wants in too, as do Macy’s, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, Wayfair, Estee Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi Strauss, all of whom have begun to experiment with the approach as a way of reaching shoppers who are staying at home — and may never come back.</p>



<p>“They are more relevant now than ever,” says Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, of the two channels born at the dawn of the cable TV era.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50467" width="175" height="262" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px" /><figcaption>Qurate Retail Group CEO Mike George . (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fashion Footwear Charitable Foundation )</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>Livestream shopping, the internet-era name given to programming that leans heavily on lively demos, time-pressured promotions and real-time interactions with shoppers, is set to grow four-fold to $25 billion in the U.S. in the next two years, according to Coresight Research. And that’s nothing compared to what’s happening in China, where data firm iResearch expects consumers to spend $300 billion on livestream purchases this year, about 15% of the country’s total online sales. Qurate, with 22 million active customers, is the largest in the U.S. by far and still growing, adding 7.6 million new shoppers during 2020. Shares of Qurate, which is controlled by cable billionaire John Malone, have delivered total returns of 300% in the past 12 months.</p>



<p>“The world is shifting to what we do,” says Qurate CEO Mike George, who is set to retire at the end of the year. “As we see others copy what we do, it motivates us to move that much faster to expand our leadership.”</p>



<p>While most livestreamers are still fumbling for footing, QVC is a well-oiled machine that has already won over millions of bargain-hunting, middle-aged women, who buy an average of 26 items every year at a cost of $1,335, an enviable advantage. Big tech is still in the trial and error phase. Amazon’s first effort, “Style Code Live,&#8221; was cancelled in 2017 after a year. The online behemoth has since revamped the strategy to allow brands and influencers to host their own livestreams, which run throughout the day on the Amazon Live page. Last year, Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/05/introducing-facebook-shops/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">began making it easier</a>&nbsp;for small businesses to sell products during livestream sessions, while TikTok is running tests with Walmart. A pilot event in December attracted seven times more viewers than it anticipated, prompting&nbsp;<a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2021/03/09/walmart-doubles-down-on-tiktok-shopping-hosts-all-new-live-stream-shopping-event" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a second livestream earlier this month</a>.</p>



<p>A rash of copycats has also emerged, with ambitions of overtaking the incumbent with a slicker, more digitally savvy version geared toward young shoppers. “I love it,” says George, who keeps a thick file of stories about companies purporting to be the ‘new QVC,’ most of them failed. “It’s good to be talked about.”</p>



<p>If any of them do gain traction, they could threaten the value of that 380-million home reach. That’s why George has embraced streaming services like YouTube TV, the company&#8217;s own branded websites and mobile apps, as well as social media. He’s now testing 15-second spots on TikTok and on-demand content like a 30-minute show where celebrity chef Curtis Stone travels to far-flung destinations to sample local cuisine. A new app, currently in beta in the U.K., will let users themselves livestream content, the same kind of user-generated content approach that has boomed in China.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>The world is shifting to what we do. As we see others copy what we do, it motivates us to move that much faster to expand our leadership.</p><cite>-Mike George, CEO of Qurate Retail</cite></blockquote>



<p>George won’t disclose how many orders still start with a customer tuning in through their television, and instead points out that QVC and HSN are now mostly digital businesses, with about 60% of their revenue coming from online sales and two-thirds of those purchases made from mobile devices. Still, sales rose just 5% in 2020, hardly the numbers posted by a game-changing growth business.</p>



<p>The 59-year-old retail veteran began running QVC in 2005, shortly after cable giant Comcast sold its stake in the business to Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. in 2003, and oversaw the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/business/dealbook/qvc-home-shopping-network-merger.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2017 acquisition</a>&nbsp;of its main rival, HSN. Before he took the job, he was put off by what felt like a dated concept even then, but was won over by its connection with customers and the way it sent units flying out the door. The son of a carpenter who learned as a kid he was no good with his hands, George&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/jobs/21boss.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">became convinced that QVC’s “best days were yet to come.”</a></p>



<p>“The people that watch QVC and HSN and buy stuff on there woke up that morning and didn’t know they needed a pan or makeup or whatever it is,” says Evercore ISI retail analyst Oliver Wintermantel. Its biggest problem? An aging audience.</p>



<p>That’s what led him&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/qvc-to-acquire-online-shopping-site-zulily-for-2-4-billion-1439813202" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">to pay $2.4 billion for flash sales site Zulily</a>&nbsp;in 2015, giving him a brand that also relies on time-pressured promotions but is popular among moms with young children. He also ramped up the marketing budget for QVC and HSN to $170 million last year, with a focus on social media ads and partnerships with influencers.</p>



<p>George says he’s got the problem in hand, but not because he believes that youth is the future. Gen Z shoppers lack the disposable income, hobbies and life experience to be interested in what he’s selling. “We’ve never worried a whole lot about being cool,” he says. Instead, he sees plenty of runway left for his core audience of women 35 and older.</p>



<p>His bigger worry is becoming a showroom for Amazon. That’s led to exclusive merchandise deals, both with emerging entrepreneurs like IT Cosmetics founder Jamie Kern Lima and celebrities like Katy Perry, Martha Stewart, Jaime Foxx and HGTV’s Property Brothers, who are drawn to the company’s massive reach.&nbsp;</p>



<p>One of those lines was with plus-sized model Hunter McGrady, the curviest woman ever featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, who watched QVC with her mom growing up and debuted a clothing line with the channel last year. She worked with the in-house design team to create a line of hoodies, joggers and cardigans in sizes XXS to 5x, then began going on-air to walk customers through the story behind each piece. Doing it live she can demonstrate how the clothing moves on her body. On one segment, the 27-year-old explained how she created a ruched tank top because she could never find one that sufficiently covered her backside. She has sold 155,000 units since launching last April, most to customers she never would have reached on her Instagram page.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“I think what a lot of livestream shopping folks miss is they’re trying to sell you something in the moment with technology, a flashy influencer and slick production values,” says George, who says his viewers often watch hours and hours of programming before springing for a purchase. “They’re not establishing any connection, relationship or intimacy with you. They’re not enticing you to come back tomorrow to discover something new. That is the magic of what we try and do.” </p>



<p><em>-by Lauren Debter,Forbes Staff</em></p>


Teleshopping

Where QVC Is Still Way Ahead Of Amazon


<p>When Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo announced on Wednesday that it had reached 788.4 million active users, surpassing Alibaba’s 779 million and Amazon’s 300 million, its founder and chairman, Colin Huang, revealed he’d be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/palashghosh/2021/03/17/pinduoduo-is-now-chinas-biggest-e-commerce-platform-as-billionaire-chairman-colin-huang-steps-down/">stepping down</a>. But why would Huang, who resigned as CEO in July and has a net worth of $50 billion according to&nbsp;<em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;estimate, exit upon reaching such a milestone?&nbsp;</p>



<p>Rarely is stepping down easy for a chief executive, but it can be especially challenging for those who are employee No. 1. For Huang, the increased scrutiny his company, as well as the rest of the Chinese tech sector, has come under in recent months may have contributed to his decision to walk away. He’s not the only founder to have done so in recent months.&nbsp;</p>



<p>After CEO churn dropped 20% year-over-year with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.challengergray.com/blog/companies-ramp-up-ceo-changes-in-february-turnover-spikes-to-106/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1,314 exiting</a>&nbsp;in 2020—due, in part, to companies’ reluctance to make major leadership changes amid the coronavirus crisis—195 departed in the first two months of 2021, according to recruiting firm Challenger, Gray &amp; Christmas. Several have been founders. And while some did not resign voluntarily—including John Matze, who was ousted as the CEO of Parler after Amazon Web Services took the social app offline in response to its ties to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Leon Black, who stepped down as CEO of Apollo Global Management following an independent review of his relationship with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—most stepped down on their own accord, a result, says Jane Stevenson, vice chair of organizational consultancy Korn Ferry, of the pandemic.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“People are more mindful of the things they want to do, and if it’s a successful founder, there may be other priorities that they want to address sooner than later,” she says. “I’ve seen CEOs and board members who have said, ‘You know what, life is really short, and this is too much. I’m out.’”</p>



<p>For evidence of this trend, look no further than one of the most notable founder-CEO resignations of the year so far: Amazon’s billionaire Jeff Bezos. In February, he announced plans to step down as chief executive of the e-commerce giant he launched from his Seattle garage in 1994. Bezos, who&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;estimates is worth $178.1 billion, will be taking on the role of executive chair, while Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy succeeds him. In a memo to staff about the news, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/email-from-jeff-bezos-to-employees" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a>, “When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else,” nodding to the time he now hopes to spend on his philanthropic Day 1 Fund and Bezos Earth Fund, aerospace company Blue Origin and&nbsp;<em>The Washington Post</em>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>At the time his announcement took the world by surprise, but perhaps it shouldn’t have. Amazon had just reported a record-breaking $125.6 billion in sales during the fourth quarter, and after 27 years at the helm, he’s going out on top, having spent more time in the chief executive role than most of his counterparts: While the average CEO tenure is longer than that of any other C-suite executive, it’s just 6.9 years, down from 8 years in 2016, according to <a href="https://www.kornferry.com/about-us/press/age-and-tenure-in-the-c-suite" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> from Korn Ferry. “There are a lot less CEOs that have been over a decade in the job than there used to be,” Stevenson says. Many of the founder-CEOs who’ve stepped down this year have, like Bezos, been exceptions to this rule. “Founders are very tightly tied to the organizations [they start], from an identity standpoint,” she adds.</p>



<p>Kendra Scott, for example, stepped down as CEO of her namesake jewelry business in February, nearly 20 years after founding the company. With a majority stake in the brand, the Texas jewelry tycoon is worth $510 million by&nbsp;<em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;estimate, and like Bezos, will remain involved with her brand, focusing on design, customer experience and philanthropy as executive chairwoman when Tom Nolan, currently president, takes over. After guiding her business through a period of rapid retail transformation in response to Covid-19, it’s likely Scott sees the impending return to normalcy as an opportunity for a leadership transition.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“It might be a time for a change. It might be that the CEO says, ‘You know what, I&#8217;m going to see it through to stability but then I&#8217;m done,’” Stevenson says. “I think everybody’s been holding on in a lot of ways for a year.”</p>



<p>That’s certainly the case for Girls Who Code CEO Reshma Saujani. A decade after founding the nonprofit, she decided it’s due for a leadership change, and when she steps down in April to become board chair, her COO, Dr. Tarika Barrett, will step up. “I&#8217;m a big believer that leaders cannot or should not stay in organizations forever, and that you can’t stay innovative if you have the same person leading the movement forever,” Saujani told<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2021/02/10/exclusive-dr-tarika-barrett-to-succeed-reshma-saujani-as-girls-who-code-ceo/"> <em>Forbes</em></a> in an exclusive interview last month. “I think that especially with Covid-19 happening, we were at a juncture as an organization. And in many ways, that is the right time for leadership change.” </p>



<p>A time of crisis can shine a light on the importance of succession planning, especially for founder-CEOs, who have both a professional and personal stake in their companies. For this reason, Stevenson says they tend to tap successors from within.</p>



<p>“When you think about where a company is heading, having the right leader to take it there is really critical,” Stevenson says. “It’s pretty clear from the data that it’s advantageous when possible to promote internally versus going externally for succession process, because you’ve got the cultural credibility, you&#8217;ve got an understanding, you’re already engaged in the market.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>It’s for this reason that just last week, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-salesforce-com-ceo/exclusive-salesforces-taylor-emerges-as-ceo-candidate-sources-idUSKBN2B12C0?il=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters report</a>&nbsp;that said Salesforce COO Bret Taylor is being groomed to take over as chief executive led to speculation that billionaire founder Marc Benioff might be the next founder-CEO to make a move. If these recent founder exits are any indication, though, if he does depart, he’ll likely not be going very far.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“Very often, the founder moves to a chair role, whether it&#8217;s executive chair or non-executive chair,” Stevenson says. “It’s hard for a founder to step away entirely.”</p>



<p><em><strong>-by Samantha Todd, Forbes Staff</strong></em></p>


Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Attends Amazon’s Annual Smbhav Event In Delhi

From Jeff Bezos To Kendra Scott: These Leaders All Recently Stepped Down From The Companies They Founded


<p><strong>South African- born, billionaire technology and space entrepreneur, Elon Musk, made history at the start of 2021, overtaking Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the richest man on Earth. While his fortune was made on this planet, his dreams to venture to the final frontier remain. FORBES AFRICA takes a look at his journey to becoming one of the world’s most celebrated innovators and one of the wealthiest men alive.</strong></p>



<p class="has-drop-cap">THE MAN WHO FAMOUSLY SAID THAT HE WOULDN’T BE HAPPY UNTIL WE WERE ALL LIVING ON MARS, IS NOW ONE OF THE RICHEST MEN ON EARTH. WHILE ELON MUSK’S PLANS TO BE BURIED IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY REMAIN UNCHANGED, HE’S STILL GOT MUCH TO CELEBRATE IN THE HERE AND NOW.</p>



<p>On January 8 this year, at approximately 11.30AM on the American East Coast, Musk, known for founding some of the world’s most progressive tech companies, along with his unrelenting space-age ambitions, made yet another historical leap.</p>



<p>His net worth soared by $12.5 billion, to $189.7 billion, making him, for a time, the wealthiest person on the planet, according to <em>Forbes</em>, who broke the news. For the first time, Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, who had held the top spot for a record four years, came second with a cumulative net worth of $185 billion.</p>



<p>However, in a twist of fate, stock in his electric car company, Tesla, fell by 8%, denting his personal wealth by a hefty $14 billion, overnight. But like the man himself, Musk’s wealth wouldn’t be down for long.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-819x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49882" width="376" height="470" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-1638x2048.jpg 1638w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-300x375.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-600x750.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px" /><figcaption>UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA &#8211; FEBRUARY 26: Model Maye Musk (Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>Elon’s aim is to save the planet and he also loves the thought of going to Mars&#8230;. I get very excited every step of the way. We all do. Kimbal and Tosca [Elon’s siblings] and I go to the main [SpaceX] launches, we can’t go to all the launches, as he has launched, how many now&#8230; 50 rockets? I’m not sure. I lose track. But we go to the main ones, and we are anxious beforehand and excited afterward and we are very proud of him and support him with all this. He just feels that we should be inter-planetary, starting with Mars. Mars seems to be the most friendly [planet], and that is what he would like to explore.<br></p><cite>-Elon Musk’s mother Maye Musk, in an interview from Los Angeles with FORBES AFRICA last year about her memoir, <em>A Woman Makes A Plan</em>, released by Jonathan Ball Publishers</cite></blockquote>



<p>Days later, with the swift rebound of Tesla shares by 4.7%, he wrestled the top spot from Bezos with an impressive recovery of $7.8 billion bringing his total net worth to $183.8 billion against the Amazon founder’s, marginal, but impressive, $182.4 billion.</p>



<p>At the time of going to press, the yo-yo action continued. Tesla’s stock volatility returned Bezos to the top spot, making him the world’s richest by just $200 million, with Musk making a close second. The game is set to continue for much of the year, but it won’t do much to change the fact that both billionaires are still over $30 billion richer than their nearest competitor; the third person on the list, French luxury tycoon, Bernard Arnault,  according to <em>Forbes </em>estimates.</p>



<p>Musk’s dizzying ascent is quite an achievement given that, in 2014, he ranked 47th on the U.S. Rich List, compiled by <em>Forbes</em>, with his personal net worth hovering at the $9.4 billion mark, at contemporary rates.</p>



<p>Notwithstanding his meteoric rise, most studies of Musk begin at SpaceX, his landmark aerospace manufacturing outfit, launched in 2002 with plans to make space travel more affordable and meet its founder’s often parodied mandate to catalyze humanity’s colonization of Mars.</p>



<p>“I’d like to go to Mars. I suppose it depends on how old I am when I get there&#8230; But it’s not about me going to Mars. We’re developing new technologies to enable a large number of people to go to Mars and be able to develop a self-sustaining city on Mars,” he told <em>Forbes </em>in 2014.</p>



<p>Inter-planetary ambitions aside, Musk’s ideas often overshadow the story of his origins which are rooted in a very down-to-earth Pretoria suburb, a few miles north of Johannesburg, in South Africa. Born in 1971 to a Canadian mother and a South African father, it was clear that Musk was unique from the start.</p>



<p>“The kind of things he would come up with as a youngster was always surprising. When he was very small, he would ask me, ‘where is the whole world?’, when he was three or four. It was these sorts of questions that made me realize that he was a little different,” his father, Errol Musk, noted in a 2012 interview with FORBES AFRICA.</p>



<p>Eccentricities aside, the young Musk was equally academically gifted.</p>



<p>“We called Elon ‘The Encyclopedia’ because he had read the <em>Encyclopaedia Britannica </em>and <em>Collier’s Encyclopedia</em>, and remembered everything. That’s also why we called him ‘Genius Boy’. We could ask him anything. Remember, this was before the internet. I guess now we would call him ‘The Internet’,” his mother, Maye Musk, recalls in her 2019 autobiography, <em>A Woman Makes a Plan</em>.</p>



<p>Attending Pretoria Boys High School (PBHS), often considered one of the most prestigious schools in South Africa, a teenage Musk kept to himself but found plenty of company in computers. He taught himself how to program using an old manual and eventually sold a space-themed video game that he wrote called <em>Blastar, </em>to a computing magazine in 1984, reportedly for $500, arguably the earliest of his tech ventures.</p>



<p>“My impression is that Elon kept to himself and was relatively quiet and reserved. I believe he was involved with the computer club at school, but otherwise was not really visible in mainstream activities,” Gavin Ehlers, head-boy at PBHS in 1988, the same year Musk graduated, told FORBES AFRICA in 2012.</p>



<p>Yet, despite his remarkable talent and comfortable upbringing, Musk’s childhood was blighted with peculiar challenges. As the shortest, smallest, and smartest kid in the class, he was an easy target for bullies, who tormented him until he was 15 years old.</p>



<p>“I was a late bloomer. So I was the youngest and the smallest kid in class for years and years&#8230; The gangs at school would hunt me down – literally hunt me down,” Musk told <em>Rolling Stone </em>magazine in 2017.</p>



<p>At home, things weren’t easier. His parents divorced in 1980.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>If somebody else is working 50 hours and you’re working a 100, you’ll get twice as much done in the course of the year as the other company.</p></blockquote>



<p>The tumult of his early life did much to shape the man that Musk would later become. Even as a youngster, he held strong to his principles. At the time, in apartheid South Africa, mandatory two-year military service was in force for all white males who had completed their secondary school or tertiary- level education. In his objection, Musk said he didn’t prescribe to what the state was doing to its citizens.</p>



<p>“I don’t have an issue with serving in the military per se, but serving in the South African army suppressing black people just didn’t seem like a really good way to spend time,” he explained in the 2007 book, <em>Rocketeers</em>, by Michael Belfiore.</p>



<p>At 17, Musk relocated to Canada to attend university in 1989. After a number of transfers, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, part of the prominent Ivy League in the United States, with a dual degree in Economics and Physics, setting him firmly on the path of a tech entrepreneur. Like all the greats, he dropped out of his Ph.D. program at Stanford, instead of establishing his first startup, against the euphoria of the dot-com boom of the nineties. He founded the company, Zip2, with his younger brother, Kimbal – who has been a keen business partner to Musk throughout his entrepreneurial career – in 1995.</p>



<p>“When my brother and I were starting our first company, instead of getting an apartment we rented a small office and slept on the couch. We were so hard-up we had just one computer so the website was up during the day and I was coding at night. Seven days a week&#8230; all the time. I briefly had a girlfriend during that period and in order to be with me she had to sleep at the office,” he said with a smile, during a 2014 Commencement Speech at the University of Southern California (USC).</p>



<p>Hard work is a cornerstone of Musk’s entrepreneurial ethos. His constant refrain to anyone who inquires on his success is to outwork the competition, where possible, to get that all important edge.</p>



<p>“If somebody else is working 50 hours and you’re working a 100, you’ll get twice as much done in the course of the year as the other company,” he told the audience at USC.</p>



<p>Clearly, the hard work has paid off for Musk who joined the five-man centi-billionaires club; all with a net worth over $100 billion, in August 2020.</p>



<p>Members include Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and veteran tech titan, Bill Gates.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>&#8220;Given that as a South African, he has managed to conquer the industry he’s in should be an inspiration to us and to Africa, in general. There are many sides to him&#8230; But let us draw inspiration from him because he is a product of the public school system in South Africa.&#8221; &#8211;<strong><em><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Fred Khumalo, author and journalist, South Africa</span></em></strong></p></blockquote>



<p>However, it hasn’t been an easy ride to the top. In 2018, Tesla was in dire straits, the company was struggling to build a viable product and was hemorrhaging cash almost daily. Musk had already sunk a bulk of his early fortune in the business, some of which came from the $165 million sale of his stake in PayPal, the online payments pioneer, after his exit as CEO.</p>



<p>Leading the company during that time took a toll. In a very personal interview with <em>The New York Times</em>, Musk revealed that he was losing sleep and had spent most of his birthday working on the factory floor, where he was also spending most of his days and nights. The work had taken over to the point of almost missing Kimbal’s wedding, where he was the best man. A disheveled Musk admitted that while he regretted the havoc it wreaked on his life, he had no regrets about being so determined to pull Tesla from the brink of collapse.</p>



<p>“The worst is over from a Tesla operational standpoint. But from a personal pain standpoint&#8230; the worst is yet to come,” he told <em>The New York Times</em>.</p>



<p>Musk’s passion is evident in almost everything he has done, and in every business he has built. After leaving PayPal, and selling his stake in the company, he used a bulk of the $165 million fortune to found the companies that would make his name – SpaceX and Tesla. Any seasoned entrepreneur would have considered the move a risky one but Musk was quite adamant about his ambitions and making them a reality.</p>



<p>“I think there was like literally one week where I actually worked 120 hours and just didn’t leave the factory. I didn’t even go outside,” Musk told American television news magazine program, <em>60 Minutes</em>, in 2018.</p>



<p>His intense work ethic has not only worked to transform Tesla but has inspired a number of other young entrepreneurs to build the electric car industry and get rich in the process.</p>



<p>For example, William Li, who founded electric car maker, Nio, in 2014, was 12 times richer in 2020 thanks to his shares in the U.S.-listed carmaker.<br>In fact, he’s now among the world’s 500 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Chinese entrepreneur, He Xiaopeng, chairman of XPeng Motors, has also seen his wealth jump more than 600%. Overall, fortunes of the handful of people tracked by the Bloomberg index in the electric vehicle industry have gone up by over $140 billion including Musk’s $111 billion surge.</p>



<p>However, far removed from his status on the global billionaire league tables, which have come to form the foundation of his popularity, Musk maintains his very own niche but loyal following, all devoted to his Twitter feed; his preferred mode of communication. Muskians, as they are known, see him as an eclectic superhero figure of the modern age where he is at once a conscientious technology entrepreneur and demi-god.</p>



<p>However, in 2020, following statements made on the impact the Trump administration’s Covid-19 policy responses had on his business, Musk received heavy back- lash from the mainstream and even managed to alienate some of his loyal fans. But all is forgotten now that the South African-born entrepreneur is among the world’s richest men.</p>



<p>While his wealth may be a relentless conversation starter, globally, it’s hard to ignore Musk’s legacy in the business arena. The journey from a quiet, intelligent and passionate young entrepreneur to an influential manufacturing magnate has been driven not just by a belief in hard work but by an ability to settle for dreams beyond the stars.</p>



<p>For generations to come, his place in time will always be confirmed by his commitment to not only conjure up ‘moonshot’ ideas but to actively pursue them; to Mars and back.</p>



<p>&#8211;<strong><em>BY MARIE SHABAYA</em></strong></p>



<p><strong>Get Your Copy Of FORBES AFRICA <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-the-billionaires-list-feb-march-2021/">here</a></strong></p>



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