Tadashi Yanai

                             
Net Worth    $19.7 Billion
Tadashi Yanai, the retailer, whose fortune is up more than $3 billion in the past year, drives the global expansion of his Fast Retailing at a fast pace. His core brand, Uniqlo, reported a 65% increase in international sales in 2014 in part from his strategy of creating flagship stores and keeping tight control of company culture, which includes 3 months of training for every new employee. He is also promoting women in the workplace, making it easier for them to work shortened hours. Yanai opened the first Uniqlo as a small roadside outlet in 1984. Now his sons, Kazumi and Koji, whose $1 billion-plus fortunes are reflected as part of this sum, are his heirs apparent. He announced $1.2 million in fellowships for Japanese students at the Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Design. Long-serving (for past 13 years) board of director of fellow billionaire and friend Masayoshi Son's Softbank is obsessed with failure: his autobiography is entitled One Win, Nine Losses.