A gazillionaire is someone who has an extraordinarily large amount of money or wealth. The term “gazillionaire” is used to describe individuals with massive fortunes that are difficult to quantify precisely. It is an informal and exaggerated way to say that someone is incredibly rich beyond most people’s wildest imaginations.
What does the term gazillionaire mean?
The word “gazillionaire” is a made up term using the suffixes “-illionaire” like billionaire or trillionaire but with “gazillion” instead, which is a fictional very large number. A gazillionaire therefore implies someone who has a gazillion of something, in this case dollars.
Unlike well-defined -illionaire terms like millionaire or billionaire, gazillionaire has no precise value. It is commonly used in a hyperbolic way to refer to an absurdly wealthy person or entity. Calling someone a gazillionaire is a humorous way to say they have an unfathomably large fortune.
What is the origin of the term gazillionaire?
The origins of the term gazillionaire are unclear, but it appears to have come into widespread usage in the mid 20th century. It seems to have arisen as an exaggerated way to refer to incredibly wealthy public figures and characters in popular media.
Some sources suggest that gazillionaire may have originally been used to describe wealthy characters in comic books and cartoons in the 1940s and 50s. For example, popular cartoon character Richie Rich was sometimes referred to as the “gazillionaire kid” for his vast undefined riches.
The term likely gained even more usage as incomes rose and the ranks of the super wealthy, like billionaires and centimillionaires, grew in the later decades of the 1900s. As the numbers got bigger, gazillionaire became a catchall for impossibly rich people beyond standard -illionaire terms.
What net worth makes someone a gazillionaire?
There is no definite net worth threshold for being considered a gazillionaire. Unlike millionaire or billionaire, the term gazillionaire has no formal definition. However, most uses imply a net worth of at least:
- $1 trillion
- 1,000 times billionaire status
- $1 quintillion
- A net worth orders of magnitude beyond even the richest billionaires
So while there is no exact gazillionaire cutoff, it is generally meant to reflect unfathomable levels of wealth substantially above even the wealthiest individuals on earth. Any net worth in the trillions would reasonably be considered gazillionaire status.
Who are the world’s gazillionaires?
There are likely no individuals who have actually amassed a gazillion dollar net worth. The term is usually reserved for hypothetical characters, exaggerations, and jokes. However, there are a handful of individuals and entities whose wealth is conceivably large enough to warrant the gazillionaire label:
- Jeff Bezos – The founder of Amazon has a net worth estimated at around $150 billion. This makes him the richest man in the world as of 2022.
- Elon Musk – With an estimated net worth of $200 billion, primarily from Tesla stock, Musk could be regarded as a gazillionaire based on his extreme wealth.
- Bill Gates – Microsoft’s founder is worth over $100 billion, making him one of the few centibillionaires in the world.
- Luxury brands – Massive companies like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Hermes have estimated brand values in the hundreds of billions, conceivably putting them in gazillionaire territory.
- Saudi Aramco – This Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company is estimated to be worth over $2 trillion, making it one of the most valuable companies and gazillionaire-like entities in the world.
While no human being has actually accumulated a gazillion dollars yet, the term can reasonably apply to individuals, companies, or even countries that have balance sheets in the trillion dollar range and up.
How does one become a gazillionaire?
Becoming a gazillionaire is almost impossible for any ordinary person. Short of winning the lottery multiple times consecutively or inheriting the wealth of nations, here are some of the more plausible ways an individual could potentially become a gazillionaire:
- Founding an incredibly successful business – Starting a company that grows to be worth multiple trillions like Saudi Aramco.
- Developing revolutionary technology – Inventing and patenting world-changing technologies that amass unfathomable riches.
- Investing early in astronomical growth stocks – Getting in early on the next Apple, Amazon, or Berkshire Hathaway.
- Having an exclusive monopoly – Controlling the sole supply of some extremely scarce and valuable resource or commodity.
- Creative asset management – Savvy investing leading to compound growth over decades into the trillions.
However, becoming a gazillionaire still remains practically impossible for anyone starting from ordinary means. It essentially requires building a large private empire and accumulating associated assets at an exponential rate over a long period of time.
How many gazillionaires are there in the world?
Currently there are likely no gazillionaires in the world who have actually amassed net worths that could reasonably warrant the term. No living individuals have crossed the trillion dollar threshold yet.
There are around 2,700 billionaires worldwide as of 2022. However, their wealth would need to increase around one thousand fold to reach gazillionaire status. The world’s richest men like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk still have another zero or two to go before potentially being dubbed gazillionaires.
There are also around 60,000 centimillionaires with over $100 million. And around 18 million millionaires globally. So while the ranks of the super rich are growing, becoming a gazillionaire remains firmly in the realm of fantasy.
Are there female gazillionaires?
Since the term gazillionaire currently applies hypothetically to no living individuals yet, there are no definitive female gazillionaires. However, women have certainly attained billionaire status through business ventures.
For example, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, Alice Walton, Julia Koch, and Mackenzie Scott have all achieved billionaire status through business inheritances and divorces. With around 300 female billionaires today, it is conceivable that one could eventually grow their wealth into gazillionaire territory in the future.
Who was the first gazillionaire?
No one in history has definitively attained an actual net worth in the gazillion dollar range. The term arose as a vague descriptor for unfathomable wealth. So there was no real first gazillionaire per se.
Fictional characters like Richie Rich were likely the first to be described as gazillionaires, though their fortunes were never defined. In terms of real people, hyperbolic references to billionaires like John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford as gazillionaires began in the early 1900s, though their wealth never came close in reality.
Are there gazillionaire families?
There are no current family dynasties that have amassed gazillions in collective family wealth. The Walton family of Walmart fame comes close with a net worth around $200 billion. Likewise for the Mars family of candy empire fame worth around $120 billion.
These families qualify as centibillionaires but still fall short of trillionaire status associated with gazillionaires. Families like the Rothschilds and Rockefellers have likely come the closest historically with adjusted net worths in the hundreds of billions. But no families have yet crossed into the gazillionaire stratosphere.
Can someone be a gazillionaire in specific currency?
The term gazillionaire implies such an extreme level of wealth that the actual currency doesn’t matter. Whether it’s dollars, euros, yen, or even cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the essence is having a gazillion of whatever monetary unit.
That being said, gazillionaire status would likely only apply to dollars or euros, since amassing a gazillion yen, rupees, or other lower-value currencies would not push an individual to quite the same level of impossibly unfathomable wealth.
For something like Bitcoin, with its volatile price swings, gazillionaire status could conceivably be achieved if an owner held a gazillion Bitcoins. But that seems even more far-fetched than traditional gazillionaire status.
Can a company be a gazillionaire?
Yes, it is conceivable for an extremely valuable company to attain a valuation high enough to warrant the gazillionaire label. This is more plausible than an individual human crossing that threshold.
For example, Apple achieved a market capitalization of over $2 trillion in 2020, making it one of the few corporate gazillionaire equivalents in history. Similarly, Saudi Aramco crossed $2 trillion after its IPO in 2019. Other state-owned oil companies and massive conglomerates could potentially join them in gazillionaire territory someday.
| Company | Valuation |
|---|---|
| Apple | $2.2 trillion |
| Microsoft | $1.8 trillion |
| Saudi Aramco | $2.1 trillion |
| Amazon | $1.2 trillion |
Can a country be a gazillionaire?
Sovereign nations themselves cannot technically be gazillionaires, since it is usually applied to individuals or companies. However, some nations have GDPs large enough to warrant comparison to gazillionaire wealth.
For example, with GDP at nearly $21 trillion, the United States has an economy so large it could be akin to a corporate gazillionaire. China ($14 trillion), Japan ($5 trillion), and Germany ($4 trillion) all have GDPs substantial enough to rival ultra-wealthy gazillionaire types.
So while nations can’t technically be gazillionaires, their enormous economic clout puts them in the same league in terms of aggregate power and resources.
Can you inherit gazillionaire status?
Since no living person has yet achieved confirmed gazillionaire status, it is not possible to inherit that level of wealth currently. However, it is conceivable that in the future, the children or heirs of individuals with net worths in the trillions could inherit gazillionaire status.
Billionaire fortunes are commonly passed down to create wealthy dynasties like the Waltons, Kochs, and Mars families. So if a gazillionaire ever did emerge, their heirs would be first in line to inherit that massive fortune and title.
However, it is unlikely a gazillion dollar fortune could remain intact across many generations. Inheritance taxes, splitting assets among heirs, selling off parts of vast business empires, and natural dilution would likely prevent a gazillionaire fortune from surviving intact over time.
How long can you be a gazillionaire?
Since the term gazillionaire has no technical definition, there is no set length of time the status can be maintained. As long as an individual, company, or entity can retain net assets in the trillions, they could reasonably be considered gazillionaires.
Most massive fortunes ultimately decline over time due to competitive forces, economic changes, heirs splitting money, etc. Saudi Aramco and Apple seem to be the most durable gazillionaire-like entities currently, but even they will likely cede that status at some point.
History shows it is remarkably hard to remain at the pinnacle of wealth for long. Families like the Rockefellers and Nobels failed to stay gazillionaires across generations. So permanency likely eludes even the richest gazillionaires.
Conclusion
In summary, a gazillionaire is an informal term for someone with an unfathomably large fortune that cannot be reasonably quantified or compared to standard wealthy classes like billionaires. No one has definitively achieved individual gazillionaire status yet.
The closest counterparts today are massive corporations like Apple or Saudi Aramco worth over $2 trillion. Gates and Bezos may be the most likely humans to potentially attain gazillionaire status someday. But it remains firmly in the realm of exaggeration and hyperbole for now when describing the richest of the rich.