how do billionaires earn their wealth 
less than half of billionaires inherit wealth with the remainder building their fortunes through shrewd investments or entrepreneurship 5 according to forbes the most common path to riches is through the finance and investments industry 15 of billionaires with the tech sector providing another 12 6the bottom line robber barons was a derisive term for the nineteenth century capitalists who built their fortunes using monopolistic and exploitative business practices today the term is sometimes applied to moguls in the tech industry who are accused of using similarly monopolistic practices to take control of their markets 