Rockefeller Was Almost Three Times Richer Than Bezos

Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, is worth $117 billion. L’Oréal SA heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the richest woman, has $54 billion. But how do their fortunes compare with those of past plutocrats? There are those who could claim to be richer. John D. Rockefeller made about $1.5 billion in his career, according to his 1937 New York Times obit—about $26 billion in today’s dollars. A better comparison, says Samuel Williamson, an economist who runs measuringworth.com, might be “relative output,” the ratio of wealth to gross domestic product. Rockefeller’s $1.5 billion was about 1.6% of the economy in 1937. Were he to own the same percentage today, his fortune would be almost triple Bezos’. Here’s what some of history’s richest people at the height of their wealth might be worth now using this approach.

Bill Gates (b. 1955): Microsoft Corp. co-founder whose foundation alone has a $51 billion endowment