Top 25 most successful entrepreneurs 2024

Who are the richest and most successful entrepreneurs of our time? From Jeff Bezos to Mark Zuckerberg, these people shaped the world as we know it, founding some of the most successful companies still active today. In this list, we’ll look at the 25 most successful entrepreneurs in 2024.

Entrepreneurs are people with a vision, that see a problem and try to snatch every opportunity to solve it. Entrepreneurs see the world as it is and manage to change it with their activities.

Being an entrepreneur is an inherently risky activity. Looking for funds and keeping the start-up alive can sometimes be very challenging, especially at a time of economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.

So let’s see the top 25 most successful entrepreneurs, those that best managed to profit from their innovative company.

How to become a successful entrepreneur

There isn’t a perfect recipe to become a successful entrepreneur. Having an innovative vision is often not enough, as entrepreneurs must also be talented businessmen. Making an idea profitable is as difficult, if not more difficult, than having an idea in the first place.

Furthermore, there are some environments more suited for entrepreneurs than others. Some countries are more business-friendly than others, giving direct subsidies or tax incentives for innovative start-ups.

According to the National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI), the United Arab Emirates is the most business-friendly country, where it’s easiest to create new companies. Following the UAE, the top 5 best countries for entrepreneurs and start-ups are Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, India, and the Netherlands.

Also according to NECI, European countries have a smaller failure rate than North America, where the exit rate of new businesses is over 6%.

But now let’s see the ranking of the top 25 most successful entrepreneurs in 2024.

25. Jack Ma

Jack Ma used to be the richest person in Asia, a title he held until just a few years ago. He is the founder and former CEO of Alibaba Group, one of the largest e-commerce sites in the world. In the early 2010s, Alibaba was larger than Amazon and eBay combined.

However, the Chinese Communist Party started cracking down on large companies, and Jack Ma fell squarely in the target of Beijing.

Despite this, Jack Ma remains the fourth-richest person in China, with a net worth of $24.5 billion.

24. Thomas Peterffy

Now a wealthy American businessman, Thomas Peterffy was born in Hungary in 1944, as the Russian Red Army was surrounding Budapest and liberating it from Nazi occupation. His family emigrated to the United States during the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956.

Peterffy is the founder and chairman of Interactive Brokers, the largest electronic trading platform in the United States.

As of 2024, Thomas Peterffy’s net worth amounts to $28 billion.

23. Jeff Yass

Jeff Yass was born in a middle-class Jewish family in New York and rose to be one of America’s richest magnates. He has a net worth of $28.5 billion, making him the 48th richest person in the world.

In university, Jeff Yass co-founded the Susquehanna International Group, the largest trading company of liquid stocks in the United States.

22. Ma Huateng

Ma Huateng is China’s third-richest man. He started his career at China Motion Telecom Development before founding Tencent, one of Asia’s largest and most important companies.

Tencent is a multinational telecommunication conglomerate, with over 105,000 employees and $86 billion in revenues. It occupies different entertainment and technology sectors, from cinema to social media.

At the moment, Ma Huateng’s net worth amounts to $31.8 billion.

21. Stephen Schwarzman

Stephen Schwarzman is another American entrepreneur whose family migrated from Europe. He was born in Pennsylvania to a Jewish family and attended Yale University. Schwarzman pursued a financial career, founding the Blackstone Group.

Today, Blackstone is one of the largest private equity businesses in the world, and Schwarzman rose to Chairman of the Strategic and Policy Forum under the Trump administration.

The net worth of Stephen Schwarzman amounts to $36.8 billion.

20. Kenneth Griffin

The founder of Citadel Securities, Kenneth Griffin is one of the most successful financial entrepreneurs in the US and the world. Citadel LLC has over 2,600 employees globally and has more than $62 billion in assets, being considered the most successful hedge fund of all time.

Kenneth Griffin attended Harvard and his father was a project manager for General Electric.

According to Forbes, Ken Griffin’s net worth amounts to $35 billion.

19. Jensen Huang

Jensen Huang is probably one of the most influential CEOs today. He is at the head of NVIDIA, the largest chipmaker in the world. Huang managed to make Nvidia one of the most profitable companies today, thanks to its competitive advantage in making chips for artificial intelligence.

Huang’s role in chip manufacturing was almost dictated from birth. He was born in Tainan, Taiwan, where the vast majority of the world’s semiconductors are manufactured.

The net worth of Jensen Huang amounts to $43.8 billion as of 2024.

18. Colin Zheng Huang

Another Chinese entrepreneur, Colin Zheng Huang is the founder of PDD Holdings, today’s largest e-commerce site in China. PDD Holdings owns Temu, an e-commerce platform that recently made headlines for its sketchy code that allegedly stole users’ personal information.

According to some analysts, Temu is a dangerous app also because it allegedly installs malware on the users’ phones.

In any case, Colin Zheng Huang’s net worth amounts to $51.6 billion.

17. Gautam Adani

The first Indian entrepreneur on this list, Gautam Adani is the founder and chairman of the Adani Group. His company is one of the largest conglomerates involved in port and industrial development.

In 2023, the Adani Group was at the center of a massive scandal and Gautam Adani himself was accused of fraud.

Still, Gautam Adani is one of the richest men in India with a net worth of $77.8 billion.

16. Zhong Shanshan

Zhong Shanshan is the richest man in China with a net worth of $62.3 billion. As a child, he lived through Mao’s Cultural Revolution, when millions of people were believed to be killed by the CCP’s policies.

When China started opening up to Western economic policies, Zhong started his entrepreneurial career. He founded Nongfu Spring, a beverage company that grew to become the largest in the world, even beating Coca-Cola.

Today, Zhong Shanshan owns 84.4% of Nongfu Spring.

15. Michael Dell

Michael Dell is an American entrepreneur who founded Dell, one of the largest tech companies in the world. After its founding, Dell became the world’s largest PC manufacturer and continues to be a very important player in the personal computing sector.

From this position of the ranking, it will coincide with that of the world’s richest people. This is a testament to how rich entrepreneurs can get, especially in a capitalist world that values innovation over anything.

Therefore, Michael Dell is the world’s 15th richest man, with a net worth of $69.2 billion.

14. Amacio Ortega

Amacio Ortega is the third richest man in Europe with a net worth of $73 billion. Ortega has been featured in the ranking of the world’s richest man for at least 20 years.

He is the founder of Zara, a budget brand of “fast fashion”, with over 2000 stores opened across the globe. It’s one of the most recognizable fashion brands in history: in 2022, Zara closed with almost $24 billion in revenues.

Amacio Ortega is notoriously allergic to interviews, conceding only three since Zara went public in 2000. Nevertheless, he remains head of the company, which continues to grow over time.

13. Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg is the founder and chairman of Bloomberg L.P., a software data management. Its core product is Bloomberg Terminal, a professional service that provides a trading platform and data services.

Bloomberg also owns Bloomberg News, one of the most reputable financial sources in the world together with a radio and a television network. Michael Bloomberg was also very active politically, being the former mayor of New York.

As of 2024, Michael Bloomberg’s net worth amounts to $96.3 billion.

12. Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani is the most successful entrepreneur in India. Similar to Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani operates in the industrial sector. He is the managing director of Reliance Industries, the largest company in the country.

Ambani is also currently the richest person in Asia and is considered one of the most influential people in the world. He was also accused of market manipulation and political corruption.

As of 2024, the net worth of Mukesh Ambani amounts to $101.4 billion.

11. Carlos Slim Helu

One of the most influential people in Mexico, Carlos Slim Helu has his hands in many business sectors, from manufacturing to real estate, from mass media to mining. Helu’s most important company is Grupo Carso, a conglomerate that owns over $12 billion in stocks.

He also owns America Movil, one of the largest telecommunication companies in Latin America. Its monopoly cost the Mexican economy $25 billion per year, according to the OECD.

In any case, Carlos Slim Helu’s net worth amounts to $103.8 billion, making him the richest man in Latin America.

10. Sergey Brin

The Russian-born Sergey Brin is one of the co-founders of Google, possibly the most influential and important company of the XXI Century. Brin’s family migrated to the United States in 1979.

Sergey Brin is the embodiment of the American dream: becoming one of the richest and most influential people in the world starting from a small three-room apartment in Moscow.

As of 2024, Sergey Brin’s net worth amounts to $109.7 billion.

9. Steve Ballmer

Former CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer built his fortune in sports. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, one of the most successful NBA teams. Ballmer is also the co-founder of Ballmer Group, a philanthropic investment company.

During his time as CEO of Microsoft, Ballmer tripled sales and doubled profits.

Ballmer’s entrepreneurial spirit and business success earned him a $110.2 billion net worth.

8. Larry Page

The other co-founder of Google is Larry Page. He and Sergey Brin came up with the search engine together while in college. They are considered, together with other people on this list, two pioneers of today’s tech world.

Neither Brin nor Page today have any operating role in Google, though they continue to have a stake in the company. Google is now owned by Alphabet, one of the largest conglomerates in the world.

Larry Page is slightly wealthier than Sergey Brin, with a net worth of $114.3 billion.

7. Bill Gates

Bill Gates is the historic founder of Microsoft, the world’s most popular operating system. Microsoft is the main rival to Apple, the other most important operating system on the planet.

Although he stopped running Microsoft years ago, Bill Gates continues to be a very influential person, with a very active investment and philanthropic activity.

Almost paradoxically, Bill Gates’s net worth doubled after he left Microsoft, amounting to $118 billion.

6. Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is considered the most successful investor in history, with a net worth of $121.1 billion created only through stock market investments.

His immense success is widely attributed to patience and careful investing. Buffett famously said to “invest in the company, not the stock”: a company with the right fundamentals will always yield a financial return in the long run, no matter the current economic climate.

At 93 years old, Buffett is the 6th richest person in the world.

5. Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg is the richest person under 40 years old according to Forbes. Zuckerberg is famous for founding Facebook, the first truly global social network. Today, Facebook is part of Meta, a conglomerate that also owns Instagram and WhatsApp.

For a time, Zuckerberg was the youngest billionaire in the world, as he founded Facebook when he still was attending college.

Today, Mark Zuckerberg is widely considered one of the most influential people in the world, with a net worth of $124.6 billion.

4. Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison is another tech pioneer, though probably not as famous as others on this list. Ellison is the founder of Oracle, one of the most important cloud companies, specializing in B2B services.

Oracle had almost $50 billion in revenues in 2023, with assets amounting to over $134 billion.

As of 2024, Larry Ellison’s net worth amounts to $131.9 billion.

3. Jeff Bezos

The top 3 richest entrepreneurs surely need no introduction. On the first step of the podium, Jeff Bezos is the historic founder of Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company. Amazon also owns Amazon Web Services, a sub-section of the company focused on computing services that recently became the most profitable of the whole conglomerate.

Bezos does not work at Amazon anymore but still owns shares in the company. When he was still CEO, he was the world’s richest person.

Today, Jeff Bezos’ net worth amounts to $167.6 billion, making him the third wealthiest person on the planet.

2. Bernard Arnault

The richest man in Europe, Bernard Arnault is also the second richest entrepreneur in the world. Arnault is the founder and CEO of LVMH, the largest luxury conglomerate in the world.

LVMH controls, among others, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Dior, Fendi, and Bvlgari.

For a brief period in 2023, Bernard Arnault was the richest person in the world. Today, he is in second place with a net worth of $187.5 billion.

1. Elon Musk

Finally, the richest and most successful entrepreneur in 2024 is Elon Musk. He is the CEO of many successful companies including Tesla, SpaceX, the Boring Company, and X (formerly known as Twitter).

Elon Musk is one of the richest people in history, with a stunning net worth of $243.5 billion.

However, Musk’s net worth is subject to a lot of fluctuation because of the volatile nature of his stocks. For the moment, his companies are on the rise, but Tesla continues to lose market share and might fall from grace in the following years.