A new entrant to the rich list is Australian-based businessman Charles Gibbon, ranked 2601, with $1.1b. Educated at Canterbury University, Gibbon worked in the UK and Australia in investment banking, but his $1.1b worth came from an investment in Australian software firm, Wise Tech, which he chaired and has remained a director.
Gibbon holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Otago University and a Master of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Canterbury.
With more than 20 years of experience in institutional funds management, Gibbon was a member of the Investment Committee of Quadrant Capital Funds I, II and III for Quadrant Private Equity, and has served as the CEO of Russell Private Equity and CEO of Risk Averse Money Managers Pty Ltd, as a director of Morgan Grenfell Australia, and as an associate director of Schroders Australia.
Graeme Hart, as usual, stands out by far as the richest New Zealander, with an estimated US$10.6 billion (NZ$17.7b) from his large packaging interests.
The publicity-shy Hart is ranked 1152 on the list and has long held the title of New Zealand's richest man. His back story includes his rise from tow truck driver to billionaire through a series of debt-funded corporate deals.
Last year, Hart took delivery of a 102-metre super yacht, Ulysses, fitted out with a hangar, helipad and glass stairway.
Trailing nearly a thousand places below him with US$2.9b is Richard Chandler, a Singapore-based Kiwi with interests in Indian business finance, Vietnamese healthcare, and an Israeli electric plane maker.
The highest profile Kiwi billionaire is film-maker Sir Peter Jackson, who is ranked 2124, with an estimated $1.5b. He started with box office takings from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies and was topped up with the $1.6b sale of Weta Digital to US interests in 2021.
The 2024 Forbes Billionaires list top 10 (Credit: www.forbes.com)
 | 1 | Bernard Arnault & family | $222.4 B | ▶ $3.1 B | -1.36% | 75 | LVMH | France |
 | 2 | Jeff Bezos | $198.7 B | ▶ $263 M | -0.13% | 60 | Amazon | United States |
 | 3 | Elon Musk | $190.2 B | ▶ $4.8 B | -2.48% | 52 | Tesla, SpaceX | United States |
 | 4 | Mark Zuckerberg | $174.4 B | ▶ $2.1 B | 1.21% | 39 | United States | |
 | 5 | Larry Ellison | $153.4 B | ▶ $1.6 B | -1.04% | 79 | Oracle | United States |
 | 6 | Warren Buffett | $137.7 B | ▶ $810 M | -0.59% | 93 | Berkshire Hathaway | United States |
 | 7 | Bill Gates | $130.7 B | ▶ $569 M | -0.43% | 68 | Microsoft | United States |
 | 8 | Larry Page | $128.8 B | ▶ $608 M | -0.47% | 51 | United States | |
 | 9 | Steve Ballmer | $124.7 B | ▶ $742 M | -0.59% | 68 | Microsoft | United States |
 | 10 | Sergey Brin | $123.7 B | ▶ $569 M | -0.46% | 50 | United States |
-Additional reporting Star News
