Meet the world's top 10 wealthiest couples

Portia Arthur

July 27, 2015 12:35 PM

In total, six out of ten of the world’s wealthiest couples are self-made, and half of those entrepreneurs made their money from technology

The three richest couples in the world all made their money themselves, the Wealth-X list has revealed.

Bill and Melinda Gates are the world’s wealthiest couple, with a combined net worth of $85.7billion. That’s more than the entire economy of Bulgaria.

The Gates made their money through Microsoft - Bill founded the software giant in 1975 and married Melinda, an employee of the company, in 1994.

They have donated billions more of their wealth to charity.

Second on the list is Amancio Ortega Gaona, the Spanish businessman behind the fashion chain, Zara, and his wife, Flora Pérez. They have a combined net worth of $70.7billion.

Third is celebrated investor, Warren Buffet, who started off selling chewing gum in the neighbourhood.

Jenny Tooth, chief executive of the UK Business Angels Association, said: "When setting out as an entrepreneur, it is vital to have the ambition to be the next global success story."

Many entrepreneurs in the UK showed that ambition, she added.

In total, six out of ten of the world’s wealthiest couples are self-made, and half of those entrepreneurs made their money from tech.

While many of the women became super rich by marriage, many of the entrepreneurs' wives work - MacKenzie Bezos is a novelist, Priscilla Chan a medic and Lin Ning has her own business interests.

But the list also shows the effect of rich parents - two of the couples that inherited wealth are from the Koch family.

The world's 10 wealthiest couples

Wealth-X

Portia Arthur