Wealth
Ranked: Top Sources of Billionaire Wealth by Industry
Published 3 days ago
on September 2, 2025
By Pallavi Rao
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Ranked: Top Sources of Billionaire Wealth by Industry
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Key Takeaways
- Forbes found finance and investments leads the top sources of billionaire wealth (464 billionaires) in 2025.
- Technology is the second-most common sector for billionaires (401), adding 59 new names since 2024.
The world’s ultra-rich aren’t evenly spread across either the globe or the economy.
Instead, their fortunes tend to cluster in a handful of high-growth, high-margin industries.
This infographic breaks down the top sources of billionaire wealth by industry. Figures are sourced from Forbes’ 2025 World’s Billionaires List.
All numbers in this article, including net worths, are as of March 7th, 2025.
Finance & Investments Remains the Billionaire Engine
With 464 billionaires—15.3% of the 2025’s total—finance and investments retains its crown as the dominant billionaire factory.
| Rank | Industry | # of Billionaires in 2025 | Change in # of Billionaires (YoY) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finance & Investments | 464 | +37 |
| 2 | Technology | 401 | +59 |
| 3 | Manufacturing | 342 | +14 |
| 4 | Fashion & Retail | 297 | +12 |
| 5 | Healthcare | 230 | +33 |
| 6 | Food & Beverage | 223 | +13 |
| 7 | Diversified | 210 | +9 |
| 8 | Real Estate | 206 | +16 |
| 9 | Media & Entertainment | 116 | +12 |
| 10 | Energy | 106 | +8 |
| N/A | Other | 433 | +34 |
| N/A | Total | 3,028 | +247 |
The group added 37 new names year-over-year, propelled by strong equity markets, record private-equity exits, and a resurgence in hedge-fund performance.
Per Forbes, some of these include: Theresia Gouw (venture capitalist, estimated net worth: $1.1 billion), Adebayo Ogunlesi (private equity, $2.2 billion) and George Raymond Zage III (stake in Grindr, $1.2 billion).
Nevertheless, the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, worth an estimated $154 billion, remains the richest billionaire in the sector.
His firm Berkshire Hathaway continues to all but print money, compounding returns across its sprawling portfolio of railroads, insurers, utilities, and beloved consumer brands.
Tech’s Billionaire Creation Accelerates in 2025
Technology claims 401 billionaires in 2025, nearly 14% of the global total and up by 59 individuals since last year.
After a rocky 2022–2023, the sector enjoyed a sharp recovery as AI‐driven productivity tools, cloud demand, and semiconductor shortages boosted valuations.
| Rank | Industry | Richest Billionaire | Net Worth (March 7th, 2025) | Company |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finance & Investments | Warren Buffett | $154.0B | 🇺🇸Berkshire Hathaway |
| 2 | Technology | Mark Zuckerberg | $216.0B | 🇺🇸Meta |
| 3 | Manufacturing | Reinhold Würth & family | $35.1B | 🇩🇪Würth Group |
| 4 | Fashion & Retail | Bernard Arnault & family | $178.0B | 🇫🇷LVMH |
| 5 | Healthcare | Thomas Frist Jr. & family | $27.0B | 🇺🇸HCA Healthcare |
| 6 | Food & Beverage | Zhong Shanshan | $57.7B | 🇨🇳Nongfu Spring |
| 7 | Diversified | Mukesh Ambani | $92.5B | 🇮🇳Reliance Industries |
| 8 | Real Estate | Harry Triguboff | $19.1B | 🇦🇺Meriton |
| 9 | Media & Entertainment | Rupert Murdoch & family | $23.0B | 🇺🇸News Corp |
| 10 | Energy | Vagit Alekperov | $28.7B | 🇷🇺Lukoil |
| N/A | Other | Elon Musk | $342.0B | 🇺🇸Tesla |
The richest tech billionaire is Mark Zuckerberg, now worth $216 billion. In the last year Zuckerberg’s AI ambitions have been fully revealed: aggressively buying talent to find the next big AI breakthrough.
In fact, one new tech billionaire works for Zuckerberg now, 28-year-old Scale AI cofounder and CEO Alexandr Wang.
Where is Elon Musk?
He’s the richest person in the world, at $342 billion, but thanks thanks largely to his stake in Tesla, Forbes classifies Elon Musk as an “automotive billionaire.”
But in 2025, Elon’s all in on AI as well.
In fact, the rise of conglomerate founders and multi-industry entrepreneurs suggests that future billionaire lists may be defined less by one core business and more by sprawling, cross-sector empires.
