Warren Buffett becomes fifth world’s richest man again

Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has increased his net worth by more than 7% this year to roughly $117 billion, according to Bloomberg. After dropping to as low as the world's 11th richest person in October, the 91-year-old has once again been ranked as the world's top five wealthiest people.

Buffett's fortune has increased by 7.2 percent to $116.7 billion this year, thanks to a rally in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares, putting him in the fifth position on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the 91-year-old investor's nearly $117 billion fortune places behind Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault, and Bill Gates in the global fortune rankings.

Buffett's wealth has grown about $7.8 billion in 2022, compared to the other billionaires of the top five, who have all lost money this year. Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, has lost $62 billion, compared to $12.5 billion for Bill Gates.

Surprisingly, it was the loss of wealth by other members of the top-five, rather than again in Buffett's personal net worth, that propelled him back to the fifth position. Mark Zuckerberg's fortune has plummeted by $54 billion as Facebook shares have been hammered this year. As of January, Zuckerberg's net worth was more than $120 billion.

Other former top-ten tech executives, including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, would've been ahead of Buffett if their net worth hadn't been slashed by the stock market's decline this year.

In recent weeks, investors have abandoned tech companies, with the Nasdaq Composite Index falling 3.6 percent on Monday to its lowest level in a year. The stock market in the United States has dropped the most in 17 months as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has sparked fears of extended oil shortages and rising inflation. Berkshire Hathaway announced the purchase of over 30 million more shares in Occidental Petroleum Corp.  The deal, which was valued at around $1.6 billion at midday Monday, helped Berkshire Hathaway reduce its near-record $146.7 billion cash pile.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway stock has risen more than 7% so far this year, owing to the investor's confidence in diversity. Despite the fact that Apple accounts for 44% of Berkshire's portfolio, which is down 10% this year, the company's portfolio is well-diversified, allowing it to withstand tech sell-offs.

Buffett has long advised investors to put their money into index funds, which carry all of the stocks in an index and are thus automatically diversified. Apple, Coca-Cola, and Google, for example, are all represented in the S&P 500.