BC’s Jim Pattison was ranked among the fifth-rich Canadian and among the world’s wealthiest people on Forbes’ annual World Billionaire list released this week.
The total wealth from the 2025 global billionaires list will total $16.1 trillion from March 7, 2025, using stock prices and exchange rates to edit the list using stock prices and exchange rates.
Total wealth has increased nearly $2 trillion in 2024. Countries, the US leads with $90.2 billion, followed by 516 with China with 205 with India.
The five wealthiest billionaires in Canada
#5 Jim Pattison
On April 1st, Jim Pattison’s recorded net worth was $11.4 billion, up from $9.3 billion in 2024. Marked as Forbes’ fifth richest Canadian, Pattison’s wealth lies in a diverse portfolio, including 1961 purchases in the wood, beverage, media, packaging, entertainment and automotive industry.
According to Forbes, Pattison controls more than half of its forest products. He is considered the 213th richest billionaire in the world.
At 96, he married three children and is said to work every day.
#4 Joseph Zai
The fourth is Joseph Tsai, with a net worth of $12.1 billion. The 61-year-old is co-founder of Alibaba Group. Yale alumni also became owner of the NBA team Brooklyn Net. Born in Taiwan, he holds a Canadian passport.
#3 David Cheriton, “Billionaire Professor”
The third wealthiest Canadian billionaire is David Cheriton. 74 years later, he has net worth of $14.3 billion. According to Forbes, the “billionaire professor” is professor emeritus at Stanford University. But after investing in Google early on, he grew a wealthy portfolio far beyond his professor’s salary.
#2 Shelley Bridson, Thomson’s heir
Canada’s second-wealthest billionaire is Shelley Brideson, the granddaughter of Roy Thomson. Bridson, 78, has a net worth of $16.7 billion. She is one of Thomson’s six heirs. The Thomson Empire has invested in sports teams and media publishing companies, earning over 310 million shares in its family’s biggest holding, Thomson Reuters.
#1 Changpeng Zhao, “CZ” Crypto Titan
Canada’s wealthiest are the Changpen, a Chinese-Canadian who answers the CZ. While he got his start in coding, he later became founder and former CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The 48-year-old has a net worth of 62.9 b, and is ranked as the 24th wealthiest billionaire in the world.
Forbes first began tracking billionaires around the world in 1987. This included 140 people. In 2017, that number rose to 2,000. Fast forward to 2025, $302.8 billion will travel around the world as investors, tech giants, media moguls and heirs. In addition to the number of billionaires, Forbes also noted that the amount of wealth has increased significantly per capita.
The world’s wealthiest billionaire is Elon Musk
To make the top of the world’s wealthiest list is Elon Musk of Doge. The 53-year-old’s net worth rose from $195 billion in 2024 to $342 billion in 2025. He is the co-founder of seven companies, including Tesla, Space X and Xai. On April 1, his net worth was $342 billion, rising to $386.8 billion in real time on April 2.
