Eighty-two Canadians made Forbes’ 2026 World’s Billionaires List, released in March, as the annual ranking counted a record 3,428 billionaires worldwide, led globally by Elon Musk at an estimated US$839 billion. Only one Canadian cracked the top 100 globally. All figures below are as reported by Forbes and Financial Post.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the former chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange Binance Holdings Ltd., topped the Canadian list and ranked 17th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$110 billion. Zhao stepped down as Binance CEO in 2023 as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators but retains a majority ownership stake in the exchange, which continues to drive his fortune.
Stuart Hoegner, general counsel for Tether and an early figure behind stablecoin issuer Tether and exchange Bitfinex, ranked second among Canadians with an estimated US$24.7 billion, reflecting how much of the country’s newest wealth is now concentrated in cryptocurrency rather than traditional resource or retail fortunes.
Joseph Tsai, co-founder of Alibaba Group and owner of the Brooklyn Nets, followed at an estimated US$13 billion. Jim Pattison, the 96-year-old founder of the diversified Jim Pattison Group — whose holdings span car dealerships, grocery stores and billboard advertising — ranked fourth at US$12 billion, remaining Canada’s most enduring billionaire name after decades atop the country’s rich lists.
Sherry Brydson held the distinction of Canada’s richest woman and the fifth-richest Canadian overall, with an estimated US$11.5 billion. Brydson is one of six heirs to the Thomson Reuters Corp. fortune and holds the largest individual stake, at 23 per cent, in the family’s media and information conglomerate.
Shopify Inc. co-founder and chief executive Tobi Lütke ranked sixth among Canadians and 302nd globally, with a net worth of US$10.7 billion tied to his roughly six per cent stake in the Ottawa-based e-commerce company. David Cheriton, a Stanford computer science professor known as the “billionaire professor” for his early investment in Google, followed at US$9.8 billion.
Alain Bouchard, founder of convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard, and Ling Tang, an early investor in AppLovin before its initial public offering, tied for eighth at an estimated US$7.9 billion each. Peter Gilgan, founder of homebuilder Mattamy Homes, rounded out the top 10 at US$7.7 billion.
This list marks the first entry in an ongoing index Canada News Media will maintain on the country’s wealthiest people, tracking changes in fortune, new business developments and philanthropy as they’re reported by Forbes, Bloomberg and other reputable financial press.
via Financial Post/Yahoo Finance, citing Forbes’ 2026 World’s Billionaires List.
