World's Richest People In 2025: Have you ever thought about what the wealthiest people in the world studied and which programs they pursued? The list of the world's richest individuals is quite extensive, and interestingly, some of them even left school midway, only to go on and become some of the most influential figures on the earth-demonstrating sharp decision-making skills that later helped them thrive as entrepreneurs.
From Elon Musk to Larry Page, here's a look at the top five richest people in the world (based on Forbes Real-Time data), celebrated not just for their wealth but also for their impactful work and global influence.
1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of several leading companies such as the Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter). He is also known for leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-an initiative under the second Trump administration aimed at reducing excessive spending and regulations.
His net worth as of today, August 31, 2025 is 415.6 billion dollars, a 9.4 billion dollar increase from July, 2025. He studied Bachelors of Arts in Physics from University of Pennsylvania and Bachelor of Science in economics from the university's Wharton school.
He did two internships during his college years and was later accepted into Stanford University's graduate program in Materials Science, but he chose not to enroll and started looking for jobs- he ended up founding Zip2, an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry with his brother Kimbal.
2. Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle is the second richest person on earth as of today with a net worth of 270.9 billion dollars. He has been praised by Elon Musk as one of the smartest person.
Larry attended the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois but left before completing his degree.
3. Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg is the third richest person on earth with a net worth of 253 billion dollars. He is the CEO of Meta- the conglomerate of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
Mark attended the Harvard University but later dropped out to focus on his entrepreneurial journey. He was awarded multiple awards in Mathematics during his school period.
4. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon has a net worth of 239.4 billion dollars and is the fourth richest person in the world. Jeff earned his degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University which is ranked 22nd among the top universities of the world.
5. Larry Page
Larry Page is the co-founder of Google and has a net worth of 178.3 billion dollars as of today. He is fifth richest person in the world.
Larry completed his Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan and a master's in Computer Science from Stanford University.
