The pandemic has cast a gloomy spell over the entire world. People had to remain locked down in their homes. Many employees were asked to work from home, and many others lost their jobs due to redundancy.

People used to do many activities while away during the lockdown period. Some of the activities of the people during the lockdown were Eye of horus free play and online gambling, watching movies on OTT platforms, playing video games, etc.

This pandemic condition that has engulfed the world is affecting even the financial performance of the billionaires in the world. Some of the billionaires of the year 2019 have lost some of their fortunes. They have lost their places in the top 10 charts or have moved further down. Some new names have arrived on the billionaires’ list.

Here is the list of some of the richest people in the world in 2020 and some fascinating facts about them. The list below is in random order.

• Jeff Bezos. The founder and CEO of the eCommerce giant Amazon, Jeff Bezos (56), remains the richest person in the world, even after transferring $ 36bn worth of Amazon stake to his wife Mac Kenzie as a divorce settlement. His net worth is $188.3bn. He started Amazon in 1994. Bezos is the owner of “The Washington Post” newspaper as well. He has made huge investments in space technology. Even during the pandemic, Amazon is making gains as people are heavily dependent on online shopping from Amazon.

• Bill Gates. Bill Gates (64), the founder of Microsoft and co-founder of Bill and Melinda foundation, is the second richest man. He has been in the list of top 10 richest people in the world for more than 20 years. Bill Gates now retains only 1% of his shares in Microsoft and is now predominantly into philanthropic work. He committed $125m to fight the global coronavirus emergency.

• Bernard Arnault. Bernard Arnault (71) is the man who continued his financial growth even during the pandemic. He is the CEO of LVMH, the French luxury goods company that deals with more than 70 luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton. This European business executive has a net worth of $110bn. Arnault is trying to get to US luxury goods consumers by acquiring Tiffany & Co for more than $16bn. Arnault has pushed out Warren Buffett to reach the number three position in the list in 2020.

• Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg (37), co-founder, CEO, and Chairman of Facebook, has a net worth of $97 billion. He started Facebook at the age of 19 in 2004 after dropping out of college in his sophomore year. He introduced Instagram Reels as a counterpart to TikTok, which made him $5bn richer. He, with his wife Priscilla Chan, started the Chan Zuckerberg initiative and has dedicated 99% of their Facebook shares for charity.

• Warren Buffet. Buffet (87), the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the top 10 richest businessmen on the list. He has remained as one of the most outstanding investors in the world for the past few decades. Berkshire Hathaway owns more than 60 companies, including well-known ones like Duracell, Geico Insurance, and Dairy Queen Restaurant, etc. He jumped into stock market trading at the age of 11, and at present, his net worth is $84bn. His net worth was influenced by the stock market volatility during the pandemic. Commonly known as “Oracle of Omaha,” Buffet has pledged to donate 99% of his riches to charity.

• Larry Ellison. Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation, the software company, started in 1977. He was the CEO of the company from 1977 to 2014. Larry owns about 36% of the shares in this company. Later, he became the Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of the company. He also has 3 million shares of Tesla. Larry was also a board member of Tesla. Larry owns almost all of the Hawaiian island Lanai. He donated $200 million to the University of Southern California in 2016 for establishing Cancer Research Centre.

• Amancio Ortega. He is the co-founder of the world’s largest fashion firm, Inditex, which owns the fashion chain, Zara. Ortega also owns popular brands such as Pull&Bear, Tempe Massimo Dutti. He is the second richest person in Europe and earns a dividend of $400 million a year. The current net worth of this 84-year-old Spanish business tycoon is $71bn. He owns 60% of Inditex. This businessman owns prime real estate property worth $11bn in London, which he acquired with the dividends received from Inditex.

• Mukesh Ambani. He is the only Indian to feature in the top 10 list of world’s richest business magnates. Mukesh (63) has a 42% stake in Reliance Industries, the largest oil-refining complex in the world. Reliance group under him has ventured into a wide array of trades like Jio mobile services, broadband, petrol pumps, Reliance grocery chain, Jio Mart online grocery store, etc. Mukesh’s net worth is over $85bn.

• Elon Musk. Elon Musk (49) is a well-known name in the automobile segment. He is the CEO of the popular electric car company Tesla, CEO and founder of SpaceX. The rocket company is now worth $36 billion. His total net worth is $89.3 billion. He is the only man who revolutionized transportation, both in space and on Earth. Tesla is doing very good business and has a capitalization of over $340 billion.

• Steve Ballmer. This 64-year-old American businessman was the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He was responsible for getting Microsoft out of the troubled waters and turned it into a sustainable conglomerate. Steve is currently the owner of Los Angeles Clippers NBA team and franchise. His net worth is $77.7bn.