Some people made new fortunes, while others inherited them. According to Forbes’ 2022 World Billionaires list, many individuals made their fortunes through various ventures, including creating soy sauce and pet food businesses, mining copper and zinc, manufacturing eyewear, and creating real estate oligarchies.
But many people on the list have a trait; they either made or inherited fortunes through financial and investments. With 393 billionaires, or roughly 15% of the list, the banking and investment sector leads this year’s list of industries as the industry with most billionaires.
It has made its way up from the past years when finance and investing held the top spot with 371 list participants. Asset managers, venture capitalists, billionaires who have made investments across an array of industries, traditional bankers, fintech founders, hedge fund and private equity tycoons, etc., are all represented in this industry.
Despite the slowdowns in the supply chain that have plagued the year (including the high-profile drowning of multiple cargo ships), manufacturing is still the second-highest industry for billionaires, with 337. The continued demand for goods from businesses and consumers helps manufacturing create 36 new billionaires. Newcomers include Isabella Seragnoli of Italy, whose Gujarat Fluorochemicals company manufactures chemicals and industrial gases, and Vivek Jain of India, whose Coesia packaging company offers packaging for products ranging from cigarettes to cosmetics and many more.
With 332 billionaires this year, down one from the previous year, the tech industry—hailed throughout the world as a driver of innovation—takes third place among all sectors. Early internet pioneers still hold the leading positions in technology: The founders of firms like Google, Oracle, and Microsoft—established decades ago—make up the top ten tech forces. To better reflect how these businesses function, Forbes has put the founders of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok’s parent firm ByteDance into the media and entertainment category this year.
Money isn’t the sole consideration when choosing a career. Still, a sizable salary can make hard work seem desirable, especially if it makes you one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. GOBankingRates examined the industries in which the 500 richest people in the world got their fortunes to identify which sectors create the most billionaires. See where most millionaires and billionaires are created by continuing reading.
How Different Industries Can Be Compared
In many industrial sectors, ordinary people find their golden path to becoming billionaires. Yet, these sectors are evaluated according to how many successful people it builds yearly. And that number signifies how much one can succeed in that specific sector and how much it helps build the general world.
Most Expensive Industries With the Top Billionaires
See below the Top 14 industries with the most billionaires in the world.
1. Financial and investment – 393 billionaires, or 15% of the total,
Warren Buffet is one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a net worth of $113 billion as of June 2022. He is honoured as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and has stock in more than 60 businesses, including Duracell and Dairy Queen. Moreover, Joseph Safra, Jim Simon, Ray Dalio, James Simons, Dan Loeb, John Paulson and many others also make the top of the list. He is considered as the greatest investor in 21 century as he uses powerful investment strategies.
2. Manufacturing – 337 billionaires, or 13% of the total
The manufacturing industry is one of the most creative industries in the world. To thrive in this sector, one should be ultimately creative. Yet, if you know how to employ the creativity of robots, tools, and other people, you can also become one of the leading people who support national growth through manufacturing goods.
He Xiangjian, CEO of the gadget manufacturer Midea Group ($28.8 billion), is the most outstanding personality in this sector. This business trades on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and has more than 200 subsidiaries.
3. Technology – 332 billionaires, or 12% of the total
Even though the industry has lost a few of its leading billionaires, tech is still one of the top three industries with the most number of billionaires worldwide.
The wealthiest person in this industry is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos with a net worth of $171 billion. This individual also owns the Washington Post and the rocket business Blue Origin. Other tech giants such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates are also trailing closely.
4. Fashion And Retail – 250 billionaires in the fashion retail industry, or 9% of the total
This is an industry with a value of $2.5 trillion. The industry is multiplying because fashion is one thing everyone focuses on daily.
Bernard Arnault is the wealthiest person in the fashion and the retail world ($151 billion). He is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, which owns more than 70 brands, including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and Sephora.
5. Health Care – 217 billionaires, or 8% of the total
Cyrus Poonawalla, the founder of Serum Institute of India, the largest manufacturer of vaccines, is the wealthiest person with $24.3 billion in this industry. Pandemics like Covid-19 boosted the sector and brought up many healthcare companies.
6. Food & Beverages – 203 billionaires, or 8% of the total
Richest: Zhong Shanshan, CEO of Nongfu Spring and owner of $65.7 billion. He also controls Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, which is traded publicly.
7. Property – 193 billionaires, or 7% of the total
Lee Shau Kee, the co-founder of the construction company Sun Hung Kai, holds the top of the list with $32.6 billion. Prior to that, he established Henderson Land Development in 1976.
8. Automotive industry – 14 billionaires
This industry has a few dozen Billionaires. There aren’t many billionaires in this sector among the top 500. but most of them are among the top 100 richest people on earth. Three German billionaires are at the top of the list, with American Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk coming in at number four with a net worth of just under $20 billion. Only two women have become billionaires in the automotive sector, and none are under 40.
9. Tech Industry – 143 billionaires
Compared to the previous year, 332 billionaires built their riches in the technology sector. It has the third-highest number of billionaires in the world, after manufacturing (337 billionaires) and finance and investments (393 billionaires). The wealth of the world’s billionaires in technology is $2.1 trillion, down from $2.5 trillion the year before, but it is still the biggest of any industry.
What still holds true? Domination of technology at the top of the list. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer are six of the wealthiest persons in the world.
10. Construction industry – 8 billionaires
The construction industry is worth $8 billion. Despite being an excellent area for employment in general, the building and engineering business has only created eight billionaires, of which only one is female. Yet, it’s visibly growing with the evolving technology.
The only nation with two billionaires in the top 500 is Switzerland, and the lone American on the list is Diane Hendricks, co-founder and head of ABC Supply. Pallonji Mistry, the owner of Mumbai’s Shapoorji Pallonji Group, estimated to be worth almost $17 billion, is the richest person in the sector. No one under 40 has amassed billions in the engineering and construction industries.
11. Diverse Industry – 32 billionaires
Nine of the top 100 billionaires come from diverse industries. However, only two women and no one under 40 belong to the group. With a net worth of around $50 billion each, the American Koch brothers, Charles and David, top the list. With a net worth of $20 billion, Len Blavatnik also ranks in the top 10 across various categories. Born in Ukraine and raised in Russia, Blavatnik attended school in the United States before embarking on a 7 billion Dollar stock of a Russian oil company sold.
12. Energy – 30 billionaires
Among the 30 billionaires of the 500 richest people in energy, four are women, and one is under 40. However, half of the 30 on the energy list are billionaires in America. Including Scott Duncan, at 35, the youngest on the list. Duncan’s net worth and the net worth of his three siblings, Randa Williams, Milane Frantz and Dannine Avara, came from 2010 when he inherited Enterprise Products Partners from his father. However, he is not actively involved in the business.
13. Gambling – 7 billionaires
There are just seven gambling industry millionaires among the 500 richest people, one in the top 100, one woman, and no one under the age of 40. Sheldon Adelson is at the top of the list and is worth $37 billion, surpassing the combined value of the following four players and casino billionaires. The only female billionaire in the sector is Pansy Ho from Hong Kong. She is the remaining controlling stakeholder of MGM China and one of the 17 kids of gaming superstar Stanley Ho.
14. Metal And Mining – 23 billionaires among top 100
Eight of the 23 billionaires in the world are in the top 100, and the metal and mining industries have made a significant financial contribution to their net worth. No Americans appear on the list because nine Russians—including the richest person on the list, Alexey Mordashov—dominate this industry. Mordashov owns a majority stake in a steel company and also has financial ties to businesses engaged in gold mining, engineering, and tourism. Gina Rinehart, the wealthiest woman on the list, is only $1 billion behind Mordashov. The richest Australian, Rinehart, built her fortune in the iron ore industry by reviving her father’s bankrupt land.
Billionaires by industry
When categorising billionaires by industry, these sectors are in lead for years.
- Renewable Energy – led by Gautam Adani from India.
- Biotech – Led by Germany-based Ugur Sahin of BioNTech.
- Luxury Goods – led by France-based LVMH’s Bernard Arnault.
- Semiconductors – led by US-based Nvidea’s Jen-Hsun Huang.
- Software Services – led by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
- Dispatch – led by Switzerland-based Klaus-Micheal Kuhne of Kuhne & Nagel.
According to Hurun, the top 3 cities in the world for billionaires are in China: Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, surpassing New York for the first time this year. The cities with the fastest-growing number of billionaires were London, Mumbai and New Delhi.
