10 Richest People In The World Outside Of The U.S.

The United States is home to nine of the top 10 richest people in the world, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t significant wealth outside the U.S. In fact, the top three richest people outside the U.S. are all worth more than $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

Most of the wealthiest people achieve their status through their investments and holdings, often in just one or two key businesses. As these companies grow, their owners’ wealth grows along with them and can propel their net worth to staggering sums over the long term.

The precise way that each person achieved their wealth varies, but most billionaires share some common characteristics and likely sought the counsel of a few financial advisors along their journey.

Here are the 10 richest people in the world outside the United States, according to Bloomberg, as of May 9, 2025.

The 10 richest people in the world outside the U.S.

1. Bernard Arnault: $152 billion

Bernard Arnault is the richest person in the world outside the United States thanks to his 48 percent stake in LVMH, the largest luxury goods company in the world. LVMH owns many of the most well-known brands in the world, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tag Heuer, Tiffany & Co., Hennessy, Moët & Chandon and more. 

Arnault was born in northern France in 1949 and bought a controlling stake in LVMH in the 1980s. He has made several acquisitions over the years, creating the luxury goods conglomerate that LVMH is today. 

2. Amancio Ortega: $103 billion

Amancio Ortega derives the vast majority of his net worth from his 59 percent stake in Inditex, the biggest clothing retailer in the world and the parent company of Zara, as well as other retail brands. Ortega got his start at a young age, working in a clothing store at age 13 before ultimately opening the first Zara store in 1975. 

Ortega has also invested in commercial real estate properties around the world. He stepped down as chairman of Inditex in 2011. 

3. Mukesh Ambani: $101 billion

Mukesh Ambani owns a 42 percent stake in Reliance Industries, which owns the world’s largest oil refining complex, as well as other businesses, such as polymer and chemical manufacturers. Ambani also owns the Mumbai Indians, a professional cricket team.

Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh’s father, built Reliance Industries into a conglomerate before he died of a stroke in 2002 without a will. The family’s business was split between Mukesh and his brother Anil, after their mother helped them reach a settlement.

Learn more: Financial advisors can be particularly helpful with estate planning.

4. Carlos Slim: $91.8 billion

Carlos Slim holds stakes in several publicly traded companies, but the majority of his net worth comes from his holdings in America Movil, the largest mobile phone provider in Latin America. He also owns stakes in the holding company Grupo Carso and the financial company Gupo Financiero Inbursa. 

Slim took control of state-owned telephone company Telmex in the 1990s and later acquired mobile phone businesses across Latin America, which he ultimately merged with Telmex. He also bought a stake in the New York Times in 2008.

5. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers: $88.4 billion

Most of Francoise Bettencourt Meyers’ net worth comes from her holdings in L’Oreal, the largest cosmetics company in the world. She and her family own about 34.7 percent of the company, a stake she inherited from her mother when she died in 2017.

Bettencourt Meyers is the granddaughter of L’Oreal founder Eugene Schueller. Her parents, Andre and Liliane Bettencourt, worked at the company for decades before their deaths. 

6. Gautam Adani: $75.3 billion

Gautam Adani is the founder of Adani Group, a major infrastructure company in India. The group owns India’s biggest private port and is one of the world’s largest coal traders. Most of his net worth comes from large stakes in six publicly traded companies that make up the Adani Group.

Adani worked in the diamond industry in Mumbai before setting up Adani Enterprises to import and export commodities with his brothers. He eventually expanded and created the largest port in India. He was held for ransom in 1998 and was a hostage during the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack at the Taj hotel. 

7. Zhong Shanshan: $59.6 billion

Zhong Shanshan is the chairman of Chinese bottled-water company Nongfu Spring, as well as the largest shareholder of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, which makes vaccines and hepatitis test-kits. 

Zhong was born in Hangzhou, China, in 1954, and worked as a reporter in the 1980s before pursuing a career in business. He started Nongfu in 1996 and purchased his stake in Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise in 2001. 

8. Zhang Yiming: $57.5 billion

Zhang Yiming is a co-founder of TikTok parent company ByteDance. He stepped down as CEO of the company in May 2021. 

TikTok’s popular video-sharing app quickly grew to more than 1 billion users and has become one of the most popular social media platforms in recent years. Zhang owns about 21 percent of the company based on 2024 U.S. court filings. 

9. Ma Huateng: $55.5 billion

Ma Huateng is co-founder and CEO of Tencent Holdings, one of the largest tech companies in China. Tencent has businesses involved in instant messaging, gaming and online payments. It owns the popular messaging app WeChat.

Ma graduated from Shenzhen Univeristy with a computer science degree in 1993. Five years later, he and a classmate, Zhang Zhidong, founded Tencent and launched its instant messaging service. 

10. Tadashi Yanai: $49.0 billion

Tadashi Yanai is the chairman and largest shareholder in Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo and the largest clothing retailer in Asia. 

Yanai started Uniqlo in 1984 in Hiroshima under the name Unique Clothing Warehouse. The company quickly expanded and became the fastest-growing retailer in Japan. 

Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.