Leading the world's most powerful economy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic crisis and increased political polarisation put Joe Biden in the top position on the 2022 WRTW index. 

Current affairs surrounding the war in Ukraine have increased the already evident global tensions between Russia and NATO, which has resulted in the USA growing exponentially in popularity. This was also instrumental in Biden taking the top spot, which proves that political leaders still rank higher than business leaders. Even Google search results for the USA tripled this year in comparison to 2021. 

On the other hand, Larry Page has increased his personal net worth by 45% since last year! The majority of Page’s wealth comes from his stake in Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google. And even aside from his personal net worth growing so drastically, Alphabet’s net worth has grown by almost 13% since 2021, the combination of which has resulted in Larry Page holding on to a high-ranking spot in the 2022 index, in second place, right behind the President of the USA.

Moving up 10 places from last year’s index and coming in in third place is Bill Gates. Mr Gates has nearly doubled his cumulative score on the WRTW ranking from 2021 to 2022, thanks largely to his work with NFTs and cryptocurrency. His scores for both influence and power have increased over the last twelve months – and unsurprisingly, so have his profits. His money score is also influenced by Microsoft’s market capitalization value, which doubled since 2021.

Sergey Brin remains Alphabet’s co-founder, controlling stakeholder and, as of 2022, the fourth most powerful person in the world. His net worth has increased by 43% since 2021, making him and Larry Page centibillionaires. The wealth of the co-founders of Google has been growing prodigiously following the growth of Alphabet shares during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Li Keqiang is a newcomer to this year’s WRTW list, claiming the sixth spot. Mr Keqiang is the Premier of the People’s Republic of China, and, when his power and influence are combined with that of President Xi Jinping, this power couple come a close second to President Joe Biden in terms of influence and are considered one of the most powerful pairings in the world. With recent reports indicating that the Chinese media are giving more airtime to Mr.  Keqiang, there is strong speculation afoot that the Premier is taking charge of the government’s economic policy.

Last but not in any way least in this analysis of the 2021 vs. 2022 Top 10, Elon Musk has proven to be one of the most powerful and most consistent billionaires on our list. 

His bid to take over one of the biggest social media channels, Twitter, at the agreed price of 54,20$ per share, is testament to this. 

But Twitter deal aside, the CEO of Tesla is by far the richest person in the 2022 index, with a personal net worth growth of almost 30% and entity growth of 17.51%, compared to last year’s data.

Also moving down a position is Xi Jinping, leader of China’s only political party - the Chinese Communist Party - and President of the People’s Republic of China, who lands at number five in this year’s index. President Jinping presides over the world’s second largest economy and a population of 1.4 billion people. Furthermore, in 2020 China had the largest army in the world with over two million active military personnel. China's parliament recently amended its constitution, broadening President Jinping's reach and scrapping governing term limits, affording him immense and ongoing political power.

Dropping three places since 2021 to come in at number eight is Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. According to Forbes rich list, Mr Bezos is now the second richest man in the world with a net worth of just over $170 billion. He, like many other billionaires, faced a loss due to stock market crashes hitting his investments. Since stepping down as CEO of Amazon to become the executive chairman, Mr Bezos has sold his majority in his shares, with the drop in his score reflecting that.

Facebook stocks plummeted 26% in February this year - their biggest drop ever. Following which, Zuckerberg lost billions in a matter of hours and his net worth dropped by almost 22% in comparison to last year’s data.

Facebook management emphasised that this was not only due to technical problems but also the rise of their competitors, including TikTok and YouTube, which they say may have led people to  dilute their use of Facebook as a social media platform 

This hasn’t affected his ranking significantly however, Zuckerberg retained the #9 spot.

After rather negative predictions following the succession of the Apple throne after Steve Jobs, Tim Cook proved everybody wrong. Apple’s market value has grown by a whopping 34% since 2021 and continues to grow each day, as Apple products become ever-more prevalent and popular. His net worth has grown by 100% and (according to some sources) he is now worth approximately 2 billion USD, which is why his place in the Top 10 of the 2022 index is secured.