The largest Lebanese fortunes were not made in Lebanon. They were built in Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Marseille, and the Gulf, by families who left and turned trading roots into global empires. Inside Lebanon, a smaller set of billionaires holds on through years of financial crisis.
This ranking covers the 10 wealthiest people of Lebanese origin worldwide, ordered by net worth. Figures come from Forbes and reflect its most recent World's Billionaires List. Where Forbes tracks a fortune as a family rather than one person, that is noted.
1. Carlos Slim: about $82.5 billion
Carlos Slim sits far above everyone else on this list. The son of a Lebanese father who emigrated to Mexico in 1902, Slim ranks among the 20 richest people on the planet. His fortune was tracked by Forbes at roughly $82.5 billion, even after a reported drop of about $19.5 billion over the previous year.
His money runs through America Movil, Latin America's largest mobile operator, the conglomerate Grupo Carso, and financial group Inbursa. He held the title of world's richest person for several years in the early 2010s.
2. Vicky Safra and family: about $20.7 billion
Vicky Safra is the widow of Lebanese-Brazilian banker Joseph Safra, who was born in Beirut and built the world's largest private banking fortune. After his death in 2020, the family wealth passed to Vicky and her children, valued by Forbes at around $20.7 billion.
The fortune sits in Banco Safra in Brazil and J. Safra Sarasin in Switzerland. It is one of the largest banking fortunes anywhere, all of it rooted in a family that started in Beirut.
3. The Saade family: about $7.8 billion each
The Saade family controls CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container shipping line, founded by Beirut-born Jacques Saade. Forbes tracks three family members, Jacques Jr., Rodolphe, and Tanya, each at roughly $7.8 billion, placing the family 401st in the world.
Rodolphe Saade runs the company today from Marseille. The fortune grew sharply during the shipping boom of recent years, when freight rates surged worldwide.
4 and 5. Najib and Taha Mikati: $3.1 billion each
The two richest people based in Lebanon are brothers Najib Mikati and Taha Mikati, each worth about $3.1 billion. Both added roughly $300 million over the past year, and Forbes places them 1,172nd in the world.
Najib Mikati is a former prime minister of Lebanon. He and Taha founded the telecom firm Investcom in 1982 and later sold it to South Africa's MTN Group. They now run the Beirut-based investment firm M1 Group.
6. Bahaa Hariri: $2 billion
Bahaa Hariri is the eldest son of assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Forbes values his fortune at $2 billion, reported to be down about $100 million from the year before.
His wealth comes mainly from real estate and his Horizon Group. The wider Hariri family fortune traces back to construction giant Saudi Oger, built in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s and 1980s.
7. Robert Mouawad: $1.5 billion
Jeweler Robert Mouawad holds a stable fortune of $1.5 billion. He heads the Mouawad Group, a luxury jewelry house founded in Lebanon in 1890 that still operates across the Middle East and parts of Asia.
His wealth spans high jewelry, diamonds, gemstones, and real estate. It is one of the few fortunes here built on a single craft passed down through generations.
8. Ayman Hariri: $1.4 billion
Ayman Hariri, another son of Rafik Hariri, is worth $1.4 billion, a figure unchanged from the year before. His wealth is tied to inherited stakes in family businesses, including Saudi Oger, Turk Telekom, and Arab Bank.
He has also moved into technology, co-founding a private social network company. That makes him one of the few names on this list active in a newer industry.
9. Fahd Hariri: $1.2 billion
The youngest Hariri brother on the list, Fahd Hariri, holds $1.2 billion, also flat from the previous year. His money comes from real estate and furniture interests.
With Bahaa, Ayman, and Fahd all ranked, the Hariri family accounts for three of Lebanon's six homegrown billionaires and about $4.6 billion in combined wealth.
10. The wider diaspora
Below the top names sits a long tail of Lebanese-origin billionaires scattered across the world, in art dealing, real estate, finance, and industry. Many appear on Forbes lists tied to the countries they live in rather than Lebanon, which is why their roots often go unnoticed.
That spread is the real story of Lebanese wealth. The biggest fortunes belong to families who left generations ago, while the country itself, deep in financial crisis since 2019, has produced almost no new billionaires at home.
