Who was the Richest Man for 7 Minutes? Max Fosh‘s Clever Stunt Explained
You may have seen the recent viral video titled "I Became The World‘s Richest Man For 7 Minutes" by YouTuber Max Fosh. In the video, Max walks through how he formed a company, issued shares to himself, and reached a valuation of £100 trillion – making him "world‘s richest man" on paper for a brief 7 minute window before dissolving the company.
This fascinating PR stunt got me thinking – who has held the title of world‘s richest person through history, even if just for a short time? As it turns out, quite a few individuals across different eras have been able to claim that top spot at one point or another.
Let‘s explore some of the key figures who have seized the crown as richest person alive thanks to their business ventures, financial mechanisms, or just sheer power and control.
Mansa Musa – The Richest Person Ever
If we‘re talking richest person of all time, Mansa Musa is likely your guy. Mansa Musa was the emperor of the wealthy Mali Empire in Africa in the 14th century. His fortune came from Mali‘s vast gold deposits, which supplied much of the world‘s gold for several centuries.
Strategic control over critical trade routes like the Niger River also funneled wealth to the empire. At its peak, Mansa Musa‘s net worth has been estimated at around $400 billion in today‘s dollars after inflation adjustment.
To put that in perspective, here‘s how the inflation-adjusted net worth of Mansa Musa compares to today‘s billionaires:
| Name | Net Worth (Inflation Adjusted) |
|---|---|
| Mansa Musa | $400 billion |
| Jeff Bezos | $189 billion |
| Elon Musk | $147 billion |
No modern businessperson comes close to Mansa Musa‘s wealth. His lavish pilgrimage to Mecca, documented by witnesses and scholars at the time, offers a glimpse into Mansa Musa‘s immense fortune. Historical accounts tell of 60,000 men in his procession, dozens of camels laden with gold, and extravagant gifts of gold distributed to poor people along his route.
Genghis Khan‘s Peak: World‘s Richest Conqueror
While exact figures are difficult to pin down given the limited records, scholars estimate legendary Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan may have been the richest person alive around 1207 AD at the height of his rule.
Genghis Khan built the largest land empire in history spanning from the Pacific Ocean to Ukraine. Extracting taxes and tribute from the silk road trade and conquered territories filled the Khan‘s coffers with mountains of gold, silver, and other riches.
Estimates place his peak net worth somewhere between $100-$800 billion adjusted for inflation – clearly among history‘s top billionaires even factoring in uncertainty. Like Mansa Musa, Khan‘s empire controlled vital trade arteries, but through hard-won military conquest rather than geographical luck.
Andrew Carnegie – The Steel Titan
Jumping ahead to the turn of the 20th century, Andrew Carnegie built an industrial empire as America‘s steel magnate. Founding the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892, he rode America‘s rapid industrialization and railroad boom to become one of the nation‘s richest men.
With a monopoly on steel production and vertically integrated operations, Carnegie saw his net worth multiply. His fortune peaked around $372 billion in today‘s dollars. While despised by workers and unions, he propelled steel into America‘s rise as an industrial superpower.
| Name | Peak Net Worth (Inflation Adjusted) | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Carnegie | $372 billion | 1901 |
| John D. Rockefeller | $367 billion | 1913 |
| Cornelius Vanderbilt | $185 billion | 1877 |
As this table shows, Carnegie was the wealthiest of the so-called ‘robber barons‘ – the ultra-rich 19th century American tycoons who drew public scorn even as they powered U.S. industry through the Gilded Age and beyond.
Modern Short-Term Billionaires
While the individuals above maintained their immense wealth for decades or even centuries, today‘s financial environment enables billion-dollar fortunes to be made and lost in much shorter timeframes.
For example, the dot-com boom in the late 1990s created various overnight billionaires on paper as tech stock prices became inflated and detached from company fundamentals. High-flying startups dove into the public markets via IPOs, minting young 20-something billionaires who were billion-dollar babies…for a while anyway.
When the dot-com bubble inevitably burst, their temporary billions disappeared as fast as they materialized. Likewise, the volatile world of cryptocurrencies allows traders to rapidly gain and lose 10-figure fortunes based on the price swings of digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Hedge fund manager Michael Platt became crypto‘s first verifiable billionaire in 2021, only to lose that status months later.
While Mansa Musa‘s riches lasted for generations thanks to hard resources like gold and salt, today‘s billionaire crop often owes their ephemeral fortunes to financial engineering, speculative manias, and digital trading rather than time-tested empires and assets.
Max Fosh‘s clever 7-minute trick definitely fits the mold of short-term billionaire status enabled by modern mechanics like company formation, share issuance, and dissolved entities.
The Long View on Wealth
Reviewing the sweep of human history offers perspective on both the magnitude and impermanence of extreme wealth. While genetics, luck, and market timing all play a role, maintaining billionaire status often requires skillful stewardship across generations.
Empires rise and fall. Mines run dry. Speculative bubbles burst. New technologies disrupt old fortunes. The long view shows that massive fortunes have always been ephemeral. Meanwhile, true economic progress stems not from hoarding riches, but from sustainable development, education, institutions, and advances that raise living standards broadly.
The bigger question is how extraordinary wealth can be channeled back into enabling human flourishing versus further concentration. There are certainly worse owners for society‘s resources than Bill Gates, who has vowed to donate nearly all of his wealth and dedicate it to progress in health, development, and equality.
But the long arc of history also tells us concentrations of wealth and power without balance lead to instability. With technologically-enabled wealth creation happening at unprecedented speed, the lessons from the past highlight the need for wisdom and foresight when it comes to distributing the fruits of economic progress.
While the title of "world‘s richest person" will always exist, how its holders choose to steward that responsibility matters greatly. Our prosperity comes not from billionaires alone, but the collective efforts of humanity across generations – even if an emperor or mogul takes the credit during their finite moment on top.