Ten people had the highest net worth on the Forbes list read on 9 October 2026
Net worth is the estimated value of everything a person owns, mostly shares in companies, minus what they owe. Forbes updates its Real-Time Billionaires list as share prices move, so the order changes daily and so does the cut-off for tenth place. This list is the ten highest names when the list was read on 9 October 2026, using figures updated to 7 October, and the module asks for the names, never the order. Bloomberg publishes a separate index that uses its own method, and its lower places have differed from Forbes's. Name them all first. Then try the harder part: grouping the ten by where their wealth comes from.
Net worth measures wealth on one day and says nothing about income
Net worth is a stock of wealth: assets less debts on a given day. Income is a flow of earnings over a period. A person with a very large net worth may take a small salary, because most of the value sits in shares that rise and fall with the market. For that reason a fortune can change by billions in a single day without any income being earned or spent.
Check yourself
Can you name the ten richest people in the world?
The ten highest net worths on Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, read on 9 October 2026 (figures to 7 October). Four platform fortunes (Bezos, Page, Brin, Zuckerberg), five in tech and space (Musk, Dell, Huang, Ellison, Ballmer), one investor: Buffett. Buffett holds tenth place by about $3.7bn over Amancio Ortega, who is 11th. Bloomberg publishes a separate index with its own method, and its lower places have differed from Forbes's.
Check yourself
Can you name the four whose wealth comes from internet platforms and online retail?
Page and Brin built Google and Zuckerberg built Meta, both online advertising businesses; Bezos built Amazon, an online retailer.
Check yourself
Can you name the six whose wealth comes from software, computer hardware, chips, space and electric cars, or from investing?
Five fortunes come from software, hardware, chips, rockets and cars; Buffett's comes from investing through Berkshire Hathaway.