The 10 wealthiest couples in the world
Howard Lake | 22 July 2015 | News
Wealth intelligence specialists Wealth-X has published a list of the world’s wealthiest couples. Together they have a combined net worth of $85.7 billion. Fortunately many of them are engaged in philanthropy.
The list is topped in terms of financial value by Bill and Miranda Gates. The co-founder of Microsoft married the Microsoft employee, in 1994. They set up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. It gives primarily to agricultural development, health, educational and other social causes. In 2010, the couple joined billionaire investor Warren Buffett to form the Giving Pledge, a group of wealthy individuals who have committed to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
In second place is Spanish retail businessman Amancio Ortega Gaona and his second wife, Flora Pére. They have a combined net worth of US$70.7 billion. They married in 2001, and Flora currently serves as the vice president of the Amancio Ortega Foundation.
At 31 and 30 respectively Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are the youngest couple on the list. The Facebook founder and his wife, who met at Harvard in 2004, have a combined net worth of $38.5 billion.
The majority of couples in the list are based in the USA, and six out of the ten have generated the wealth themselves, with the rest inheriting it.
The Wealthiest 10 couples, according to Wealth-X
Photo: lembi / Shutterstock.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.