Katie Holmes

Forbes’ 36 Under 36 ranking of the top individuals shatters preconceived notions of glamour and success, revealing a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds and unassuming origins who’ve become tycoons, millionaires and legends in their own right.

31. Carlos Slim Helu

Slim, owner of Mexico’s leading newspaper, La Jornada, and the Mexican radio station, XEPRS, is one of the world’s richest and most famous billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $74.9 billion.

Slim is recognized for his philanthropy, devoting a significant portion of his fortune to non-profit organizations in Mexico and around the world, especially those focused on education, health and the environment. For decades, Slim has been considered one of the most prominent business leaders in the world, routinely ranking among the Forbes 400 richest individuals.

30. George Soros

The famous Hungarian-American investor and philanthropist is the world’s 20th richest person, with an estimated net worth of $27 billion.

Since investing in the stock market in the 1960s, Soros has become known as the man who “broke the Bank of England,” buying and selling stock based on speculation, rather than on the fundamentals of the companies themselves.

Soros donated $18 million to the Open Society Foundations, a grant-making body that funds projects around the world, with a special focus on supporting media freedom, civic participation and entrepreneurialism, especially in emerging markets.

29. Mark Zuckerberg

Since creating Facebook in a dorm room at Harvard University in 2004, the 28-year-old CEO and his company, Facebook, have changed the world, becoming one of the best-known and most influential figures in tech, with an estimated net worth of $16.9 billion, and, at last count, nearly 2.7 billion users (as of April 2022).

The Facebook co-founder is also the co-author of the New York Times bestseller, The World’s Smartest Person, a celebration of innovators, artists and entrepreneurs, and an inspiration to anyone who wants to start a business or venture. According to the book’s foreword, John D. Mackey, co-founder and CEO of American Express, sums up Zuckerberg’s impact in three words: “Mark has changed the game.”

28. Donald Trump

The 45th President of the United States owns real estate in Manhattan and other luxury suburban towns, which he lists on his federal tax returns. Forbes estimates Trump’s net worth at $10 billion.

Before launching a career in politics, Trump spent six years working in the entertainment industry, notably as the co-managing partner of NBC’s reality show, The Apprentice. Since then he’s remained in the spotlight, maintaining a presence on social media and attending various business and social events, such as the St. Regis Ballet’s Fall Dance Tour in 2021.

27. N.R. Narayana Murthy

Murthy, the founder of India’s Infosys Ltd., one of the country’s biggest software companies, is worth $12.9 billion.

The 68-year-old entrepreneur started his career as a software engineer at $2 a week in India during the ’70s. He and his team built the business from the ground up, bootstrapping the company with their own savings.

He is also the chairman of the board of trustees of the Infosys Prize, a $3 million grant awarded annually to exceptional young Indians for their college education.

Murthy is one of the most connected and influential figures in his country’s economy, having founded the NASSCOM business group, of which Infosys is a member, and serving as its chairman. He also serves on the boards of several other prominent companies, including WNS, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies, and L&T. In 2020, Murthy was named to the Global Power List, which recognizes those who influence politics and society in their professional capacity.

26. Richard Branson

The entrepreneur, industrialist and adventurer is worth $12.4 billion, according to Forbes. He is the founder of the Virgin Group, a multinational corporation that’s become the archetypal corporate brand of the 21st century, with interests in airlines, retail, media and space travel.

The youngest of four brothers, Branson built his business on a foundation of extreme risk-taking. He funded his first business venture, a punk band called the Sex Pistols, which he managed and cultivated for around £500, a monthly income in the 1970s.

As a youth, he was jailed several times for his civil disobedience, most notably for stranding American Airlines Flight 293 in 1969, after he locked the cockpit and refused to let the plane land. In the early 1980s, with the recession looming, he began divesting his businesses, and since then, he’s focused on philanthropy and sustainable development, donating over £600 million ($1.05 billion) to various good causes, notably the Virgin Islands Biodiversity Foundation, the British Museum and the United Nations Environment Programme.

25. Jeff Bezos

Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, is the world’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of $112.9 billion, and the second-richest person in the world, after his partner, Slim.

Bezos started his career as an employee of a small publisher in Oregon, eventually rising to CEO and co-owner of the company, before splitting from the business, later selling it to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., and then starting his own company, Amazon.

The world’s biggest online retailer, whose shares currently trade at nearly 300 times their estimated 2020 earnings, is considered one of the greatest success stories in business, credited with changing the way we shop and enjoying unparalleled brand recognition, customer engagement and product variety. But, behind the scenes, Bezos is also known to be one of the greatest philanthropists in history, having committed $10 billion to charitable causes, including $2 million a year to the Bezos Family Foundation, which supports educational and philanthropic causes across the globe.

24. François-Henri Pinault

The chairman of the Kering Group, a French luxury goods conglomerate, is worth $11.9 billion.

Pinault, who is also one of France’s richest individuals, with an estimated net worth of $11.9 billion, is considered to be one of the wealthiest businessmen in the world. He started out in the family business, the company he now chairs, Pinault, Renaud & Cie, eventually becoming its CEO and in 1967, sole owner. In the 1950s, he began diversifying the business, expanding into textiles and fashion design, later setting up holding companies in Luxembourg and the Bahamas, where he lives.

The designer’s most famous creation is the Gucci brand, which he licensed in 1967 and then purchased outright in 1972. In 2019, Forbes ranked him as the 66th richest person in the world, estimating his net worth at $11.9 billion. Gucci is now valued at over $20 billion.

23. James Dyson

Founded in Singapore in 1991, Dyson, the billionaire inventor and founder of the company, Dyson, is worth $11.5 billion, as estimated by Forbes. He was named after the scientist and inventor who developed the first practical vacuum cleaner in 1884. Dyson also designed the famous Dyson Sphere, a gigantic ball surrounded by reflective silvery walls that’s designed to trap solar energy and provide a continuous supply of electricity for an entire city.

The company that Dyson founded, Dyson, manufactures vacuums, air purifiers and other household items, as well as motorbikes, boats and aircraft.

22. Michael Dell

Dell, the co-founder and CEO of the multinational corporation, Dell Technologies, is the world’s 22nd richest person, with an estimated net worth of $11.3 billion.

The computer and electronics company, founded by Dell in 1985, has grown to include not just laptops and desktops, but also tablets, cell phones and more, with headquarters in Austin, Texas, and around 25,000 employees globally.

Dell began his career selling electronic components in a computer store in California, eventually setting up a small company, Dimension Computer, which he grew to become Dell Inc. In 1996, he sold his first company for $1.65 billion and used the proceeds to found a second company, also called Dell Inc.