The amount of wealth created by the tech industries of the US has been phenomenal over the years that catapulted the tech billionaires into the top spots of the lists of top billionaires globally. No list of billionaires can be complete without mentioning the richest US tech billionaires who amassed enormous wealth that keeps growing exponentially. The stupendous wealth and influence of the US tech companies have compelled the US government to scrutinize them closely in an attempt to curb its veiled monopoly. However, the government’s attempts could not impact the pockets of the billionaires who are minting money happily and moving up the ladder without any concern about what is happening around them. Here is the Forbes billionaire list 2021 dominated by the super-rich tech billionaires of the US.
The data available till September 3, 2021, form the basis of the ranking in the list.
Tech Billionaires Dominate the Forbes Billionaire List 2021
The US has the highest number of billionaires globally, but China is closing the gap quickly. However, the US tech billionaires are still calling the shots.
Jeff Bezos
The net worth of the Amazon founder has gone up to $201 billion from $179 billion a year ago. He tops the list of Forbes richest people 2021. Currently, the Chairman of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, stepped down in July as its CEO for 27 years and turned his attention to other ventures. His latest interest is in his Spacecraft venture headed by his Space Company, Blue Origin. Bezos was the first to make a trip o the suborbital space in July. His increased focus on philanthropy is evident from pledging $200 million to Smithsonian Institute in 2021. He also pledged $200 million for leaders who demonstrate civility. From Bezos Earth foundation’s $10 billion funds, he will contribute $1 billion toward efforts inland and ocean conservation.
Mark Zuckerberg
The Facebook founder’s wealth has gone up from $85 billion to $134.5 billion amid the ongoing lawsuits that the company faces, yet reaching a 1 trillion market cap in June 2021 for the first time. Mark Zuckerberg is one of the youngest tech billionaires who, for the first time, overtook Bill Gates in terms of net worth by a slender margin of $0.5 billion. The Facebook CEO is pursuing the 2016 pledge made by him and his wife Priscilla Chan to make impact investments or give away 99% of their Facebook shares during their lifetimes. He sold Facebook shares almost every business day, with 90% given to Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, his philanthropic organization. Today, the organization has more than $10 billion in Facebook stocks accumulated over five years, of which it distributed $3.1 billion in grants.
Bill Gates
Besides increasing his Net worth to $134 billion from $111 billion, Bill Gates etched his name in history for the second-costliest divorce from his wife Melinda in 2021. During the divorce in August, Bill Gates transferred $5.6 billion in stocks to Melinda, whose name is now Melinda French Gates. However, there are questions about the future of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, although the pair committed $15 billion in new funds to the foundation amid the divorce. They also announced that French Gates would step down as the co-chairman and trustee if they were unable to work together effectively in the next two years.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
The founder duo of Google has a total net worth of $241.5 billion (Larry Page $123 billion and Sergey Brin $118.5 billion) has started selling stocks in the parent company Alphabet for the first time since 2017. In the past four years, both have doubled their net worth to hold their place among the richest Americans dominated by the super-rich tech professionals. Brin and Page have detached themselves from the day-to-day working of the company but still, control the boardroom decisions by holding the majority of Alphabet’s voting shares. Brin donated $104 million toward Covid19 relief efforts through the Sergey Brin Family Foundation. Page supposedly donated medical supplies by secretly using a private jet while moving out to Fiji.
Larry Ellison, Steve Ballmer, Mackenzie Scott. Michel Dell and Pierre Omidyar are the other names in the Forbes billionaire list 2021.
