Capitalism’s global conquest continues as entrepreneurs around the globe mint fortunes in everything from cryptocurrencies to telecom to bridal dresses. Forbes has pinned down a record 2,208 billionaires from 72 countries and territories including the first ever from Hungary and Zimbabwe. This elite group is worth $9.1 trillion, up 18% since last year. Their average net worth is a record $4.1 billion. Americans lead the way with a record 585 billionaires, followed by mainland China with 373.

Centi-billionaire Jeff Bezos secures the list’s top spot for the first time, becoming the only person to appear in the Forbes ranks with a 12-figure fortune. Bezos’s fortune leapt more than $39 billion, the list’s biggest one-year gain ever. He moves ahead of Bill Gates, who is now number 2. It is the biggest gap between no. 1 and 2 since 2001. Bernard Arnault, with a fortune of $72 billion, reclaims the title of richest European for the first time since 2012.

There are 259 newcomers including the first ever cryptocurrency billionaires; two Canadians whose toy company is behind Hatchimals and PAW Patrol; two Americans who founded online retailer Wayfair; and a 35-year-old heiress who runs In-N-Out Burger. Even in such a strong year, 121 dropped out due to falling fortunes or political headwinds, including all 10 Saudi Arabians.

CEO and Founder, Amazon.com

Amazon's chief Jeff Bezos is the first person with a net worth surpassing $150 billion in the 3 decades that Forbes has tracked the richest Americans.

He owns 16% of e-commerce colossus Amazon, which he founded in a garage in Seattle in 1994.

Bezos attended Princeton and worked at a hedge fund before quitting to sell books online.

His other passion is space travel: His aerospace company, Blue Origin, is developing a reusable rocket that Bezos says will carry passengers.

Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million.

Cofounder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

With his wife Melinda, Bill Gates chairs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable foundation.

The foundation works to save lives and improve global health, and is working with Rotary International to eliminate polio.

Gates has sold or given away much of his stake in Microsoft -- he owns just over 1% of shares -- and invested in a mix of stocks and other assets.

He remains a board member of Microsoft, the software firm he founded with Paul Allen in 1975.

In late 2016, Gates announced the launch of a $1 billion Breakthrough Energy investment fund with about 20 other people.

#3 Warren Buffett

CEO, Berkshire Hathaway

Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time.

Buffett runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.

The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age 13.

He's promised to give away over 99% of his fortune. So far he's donated $35 billion, much of it to the Gates Foundation.

In 2010, he and friend Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge, asking billionaires to commit to donating half their wealth to charitable causes.

#4 Bernard Arnault & family

Chairman and CEO, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton

One of the world's ultimate taste-makers, Bernard Arnault oversees an empire of 70 brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.

Record results at LVMH and a megadeal to buy out nearly all of Christian Dior helped boost Arnault's fortune by $30.5 billion in one year.

Arts patron is the visionary behind the $135 million Frank Gehry-designed Foundation Louis Vuitton museum in Paris' Bois de Boulogne, opened in 2014.

#5 Mark Zuckerberg

Cofounder, Chairman and CEO, Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, has seen his net worth soar as the social network's stock price has skyrocketed.

In April 2018, he testified before Congress after it was revealed that Facebook shared users' data with political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Zuckerberg started Facebook at Harvard in 2004 at the age of 19 for students to match names with faces in class.

He took Facebook public in May 2012 and still owns nearly 17% of the stock.

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stake over their lifetimes.

-Edited by Luisa Kroll and Kerry Dolan, Forbes

（The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the Boao Forum For Asia.）

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