Reaching your 90s is rare enough. Reaching that age while still being worth billions is something else entirely.
The oldest ultra-rich people in the world include business founders, investors and family dynasties whose fortunes have survived wars, recessions, market crashes and huge changes in technology. Some are still involved in the companies they built, while others have already passed day-to-day control to children or trusted executives.
Their wealth comes from very different industries, including insurance, property, petrochemicals, media, fashion and investing. Some built their fortunes from scratch, while others became major shareholders through family businesses that grew across generations.
Net worth figures are estimates rather than fixed amounts because stock prices move and private companies are difficult to value precisely. The real story is what sits behind those numbers: how the fortunes were built, who controls them today, and what happens to billions of dollars when the people behind them reach their 90s and even 100s.
1. George Joseph — 104 Years Old
Estimated fortune: about $2.9 billion
George Joseph has lived through the Great Depression, World War II and nearly the entire modern history of the American insurance industry. Born on September 11, 1921, to Lebanese immigrant parents, the future businessman served as a B-17 navigator during the war before studying mathematics and physics at Harvard. Mercury General sold its first policy in 1962 with just six employees and 90 agents, eventually growing into a major insurance company.
More than six decades later, the founder remains chairman and still owns roughly 35% of Mercury General. His approach has stayed surprisingly consistent despite massive technological change: the company says Joseph continues to place customer service and direct relationships with agents above technology itself. His former wife, Gloria Joseph, also retained a large stake in Mercury and appears separately among the world’s oldest billionaires. Mercury’s official biography confirms both his September 1921 birth date and continuing chairman role.
2. Robert Kuok — 102 Years Old
Estimated fortune: about $13 billion
Robert Kuok’s empire began with rice, sugar and wheat flour rather than hotels or skyscrapers. Kuok Brothers started in Johor Bahru in 1949 as a small family trading business and gradually expanded across Asia into property, hospitality, logistics, agribusiness, maritime operations and digital infrastructure. Shangri-La Hotels became one of the group’s most recognizable international brands.
The 102-year-old founder is now surrounded by a much younger generation running different parts of the family empire. His children and grandchildren have taken senior roles across Kuok Group, Kerry Properties and related businesses, showing how succession can be spread across an extended family rather than handed to a single heir. The group still describes perseverance, loyalty and integrity as values inherited from its founder—an unusually understated philosophy for a business spanning six continents.
3. Gloria Joseph — 102 Years Old
Estimated fortune: about $1.7 billion
Gloria Joseph’s wealth comes from the same company as George Joseph’s, but through a separate ownership story. She became a vice president when Mercury was founded and stayed involved until the couple divorced in 1985. The settlement left her with a substantial holding in the insurer, and she later remained on the board until 2003.
That stake still matters decades later. Current estimates put her ownership at about 17% of Mercury General, enough to support a fortune of roughly $1.7 billion. There is very little reliable public reporting about her present-day routine, so inventing a neat centenarian “success habit” would add more fiction than value. The real story is the compounding power of holding a major ownership position for decades.
4. Li Ka-shing — 98 Years Old
Estimated fortune: about $49.7 billion
Li Ka-shing’s early life looked nothing like the beginning of one of Asia’s largest fortunes. After fleeing mainland China with his family, he left school young and began working before eventually launching Cheung Kong Plastics in 1950 with savings and family loans. Property, ports, retail, telecom, energy and infrastructure later transformed the business into a global conglomerate.
Operational control has already moved to the next generation. Victor Li now chairs CK Hutchison and CK Asset, while his father remains a senior adviser. Younger son Richard Li built a separate business empire around telecommunications and investments. Long-term thinking has always been central to the older tycoon’s public philosophy, and his career reflects it: diversification happened over decades rather than through a short burst of dealmaking.
5. Lin Shu-hong — 98 Years Old
Estimated fortune: about $5.9 billion
Lin Shu-hong started Chang Chun Group in 1949 with two classmates and only about $100 in capital. What began as a tiny industrial venture grew into one of Asia’s major petrochemical companies, with operations in Taiwan, mainland China and Southeast Asia.
The Taiwanese industrialist stepped down as chairman at the end of 2013, so his present wealth is primarily an ownership story rather than a daily management story. He is also the only surviving member of the original founding trio. Even the company name carries a personal touch: “Chang Chun” loosely means “long spring” and was chosen to reflect the founders’ hope that their friendship would last. More than seven decades later, the business certainly has.
6. Sidney Kimmel — 98 Years Old
Estimated fortune: about $1.6 billion
Sidney Kimmel built his fortune in fashion, creating the company that became Jones Group and assembling brands including Nine West and Stuart Weitzman. The business was eventually sold to Sycamore Partners for about $2.2 billion in 2014, turning decades of retail growth into a major exit.
Retirement from apparel did not end his involvement in business. Kimmel moved into film production through Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and later sold a majority stake in that company as well. His later years have also included substantial philanthropy, with more than $200 million donated to Thomas Jefferson University, much of it supporting cancer research. The recurring pattern here is reinvestment: first fashion, then film, then medical philanthropy.
7. George Soros — 96 Years Old
Estimated fortune: about $7.5 billion
George Soros became famous through financial markets, but his current net worth tells only part of the wealth story. The investor made billions through hedge funds and currency trading, then transferred enormous amounts into philanthropy. Open Society Foundations says more than $32 billion of his personal fortune has been given to the organization since the 1980s.
That changes how a $7.5 billion estimate should be interpreted. It does not mean less wealth was created; it means a significant share was deliberately given away. The family transition is also visible, with Alexander Soros taking a leading role in the Open Society network. Survival through Nazi-occupied Hungary, migration to Britain and a later career in American finance make his path very different from the conventional inherited-billionaire story.
8. Kwong Siu-hing — 96 Years Old
Estimated fortune: about $18 billion
Kwong Siu-hing’s fortune is tied to Sun Hung Kai Properties, the Hong Kong real-estate giant co-founded by her late husband, Kwok Tak-seng. She became the company’s largest shareholder and even stepped into the chairman’s role from 2008 to 2011 during a difficult period for the family.
The family tree is now a major part of the wealth story. Her sons and grandchildren have held senior roles and substantial interests across the property empire, with Raymond Kwok serving as chairman. At 96, her importance lies mainly in ownership rather than day-to-day management, but that ownership is powerful enough to keep her among Asia’s wealthiest people.
9. Warren Buffett — 95 Years Old
Estimated fortune: more than $140 billion
Warren Buffett is not the oldest person on this list, but financially he sits in a completely different league. Decades of investing through Berkshire Hathaway built a fortune above $140 billion even after enormous charitable donations. Berkshire’s 2025 annual report listed Buffett at age 95 and confirmed that Greg Abel would become CEO from January 1, 2026 while Buffett remained chairman.
One habit has followed the Omaha investor throughout his career: reading. Buffett has repeatedly described a working day dominated by annual reports, newspapers and business information rather than packed meeting schedules. His three children did not inherit the operating role at Berkshire; the company instead moved leadership to longtime executive Greg Abel. That separation between family wealth and professional corporate succession is unusual among the dynasties on this list.
10. Rupert Murdoch — 95 Years Old
Estimated family fortune: about $24 billion
Rupert Murdoch spent decades turning a newspaper inheritance into a global media empire spanning television, newspapers and digital publishing. Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London became some of the most visible properties associated with the family. The longtime media boss stepped down as chairman in 2023, shifting the center of control toward his son Lachlan.
That succession became much clearer after the family’s trust dispute was settled in 2025. Reuters reported that Lachlan secured firm control of the core media interests, while siblings James, Elisabeth and Prudence agreed to receive cash for portions of their holdings. The settlement turned a long-running family fight into a defined succession plan, making Murdoch’s current role less about daily management and more about ensuring the empire survives into the next generation.
What Do the World’s Oldest Billionaires Have in Common?
There is no single secret routine connecting these fortunes. Their industries, lifestyles and family structures are too different for a neat “10 habits of billionaires” formula. George Joseph built insurance, Robert Kuok created a diversified Asian conglomerate, Sidney Kimmel made money in fashion, Li Ka-shing expanded across infrastructure and property, and Warren Buffett spent decades allocating capital.
A few patterns do repeat, though. Long ownership periods matter. Several fortunes became enormous because shares or private businesses were held for decades rather than quickly sold. Succession also tends to happen before ownership disappears: Victor Li runs much of his father’s original empire, Robert Kuok’s descendants occupy senior roles, and Lachlan Murdoch now controls the family’s main media interests.
Patience appears more often than flashy “billionaire routines.” Reading, long-term decision-making, strong business relationships and gradual transfer of control show up repeatedly in documented accounts. That is probably more useful than claiming every wealthy nonagenarian wakes at 5 a.m. and drinks the same green smoothie.
Who Is the Oldest Billionaire in the World in 2026?
George Joseph, at 104, is the oldest billionaire on this list and the oldest living billionaire identified in current 2026 tracking. Mercury Insurance confirms that he was born on September 11, 1921, while current billionaire data places his fortune around $2.9 billion.
Robert Kuok and Gloria Joseph are both 102, making the three part of an exceptionally small group of centenarians still associated with billion-dollar fortunes. At the other end of the wealth scale, Warren Buffett is younger at 95 but remains by far the richest person among these ten.
That contrast is what makes this list more interesting than a simple age ranking. Longevity alone did not create these fortunes. What lasted was ownership—stakes in companies, investments and family businesses strong enough to remain valuable across recessions, technological revolutions and, in several cases, nearly an entire century.
