Despite challenging markets, a record 3, 028 entrepreneurs, investors, and heirs made Forbes’ 2025 World’s Billionaires list, including 288 newcomers (up from 265 in 2024).
These billionaire rookies, including a pioneer of heartland rock, a stand-up comedy legend, and The Terminator, are collectively worth nearly $680 billion, or $2.4 billion on average.
They hail from 33 countries and territories.
According to Forbes, the United States has the most new billionaires once again, with 103 Americans added to the ranks this year.
They include the world’s two richest newcomers, Marilyn Simons (estimated net worth: $31 billion), who is the widow of quantitative hedge fund pioneer, Jim Simons (d. May 2024), and Lyndal Stephens Greth ($25.8 billion), the daughter of oil and gas tycoon Autry Stephens (d. August 2024).
Germany has the second most newcomers, with 37, including the world’s youngest new billionaire, 19-year-old Johannes von Baumbach ($5.4 billion), and 14 other heirs to the Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical fortune.
China and Hong Kong ranked third, with 32 new billionaires combined, including jeweler Xu Gaoming ($8.2 billion). India (17 new billionaires) and Russia (15) rounded out the top five.
Nearly 70 percent of the world’s newest billionaires—196 of them—are self-made, meaning they established their fortunes themselves rather than inheriting them.
The richest self-made newcomer, 73-year-old Sulaiman Al Habib ($10.9 billion), hails from Saudi Arabia, whose billionaires are back on the list for the first time since 2017.
Scale AI cofounder and CEO Alexandr Wang ($2 billion) is the youngest self-made newcomer at age 28.
The most famous new billionaires became household names by finding success in their various art forms.
Contrary to his blue-collar Americana background, musician Bruce Springsteen ($1.2 billion) now sits among the world’s wealthiest class.
His 21 studio albums, 10 live albums, and seven EPs have sold a combined 140 million copies across the globe.
In 2021, Springsteen sold his music catalog to his longtime label, Sony, for a (pretax) lump sum of around $500 million.
Movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger ($1.1 billion) pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars from the 50 movies he has starred in over the past several decades.
He has also invested in commercial real estate, private equity, and the stock market.
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Comedian Jerry Seinfeld ($1.1 billion) is benefitting from a $500 million deal for Netflix to show his eponymous sitcom over five years —and he’s still raking in millions from standup shows and other streaming projects.
Only 15 percent of the new billionaires on this year’s list are women, and nearly two-thirds of them inherited their wealth.
The richest exception: 71-year-old Barbara Banke, who cofounded Jackson Family Wines, known for its Kendall-Jackson wines from Sonoma, with her late husband Jess Jackson (d. 2011).
Technology was the most popular field for new billionaires, with 46 building fortunes in the industry.
China’s Hao Tang ($4.3 billion) is the richest newcomer in the sector, thanks to an early investment in marketing software, and mobile game maker AppLovin, whose shares have soared by more than 300 percent over the past year.
Other notable new tech billionaires include, Texan Ben Lamm ($3.7 billion), whose startup Colossal Biosciences is trying to resurrect the woolly mammoth, as well as Dario Amodei ($1.2 billion) and all six of his Anthropic cofounders, who raised $3.5 billion for their AI startup at a $61.5 billion valuation in March.
The finance sector ranked second, with 41 newcomers this year, including controversial crypto mogul, Justin Sun and Australian-born private equity tycoon, Michael Dorrell, who are tied as the industry’s richest self-made newcomers, with estimated fortunes of $8.5 billion apiece.
The healthcare sector rounded out the top three, with 40 new billionaires, including the 15 Boehringer and von Baumbach heirs from Germany.
