The
World's Billionaires
March,6 2008
Warren
Buffett, tops the Billionaire list
The
number 13 has long been considered unlucky by superstitious people
around the globe. How fitting, then, that Bill Gates' reign as the
world's richest person ends after his 13th year at the top.
Despite
being worth $58 billion, $2 billion more than last year, Gates is
now just the world's third-richest person, ceding the top spot ranking
to his good friend and partner in philanthropy, Warren Buffett, whose
net worth jumped $10 billion to $62 billion. (All stock prices and
net worth valuations were locked in on Feb. 11.) Ranked No. 2 is Mexican
telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helú, whose fortune has doubled in just
two years to $60 billion.
It
is certainly a dawning of a new era. But not just because of Gates'
fall. The 22nd annual rankings of the World's Billionaires reflects
all sorts of upheavals in the list's makeup. Two years ago, half of
the world's 20 richest were from the U.S. Now only four are. India
wins bragging rights for having four among the top 10, more than any
other country.
For
the first time ever, the number of billionaires Forbes could identify
crossed into four figures, reaching 1,125. The total net worth of
the group is $4.4 trillion, up $900 billion from last year.
Despite
the turbulence in the U.S. markets, Americans account for 42% of the
world's billionaires and 37%, of the total wealth; those shares are
down two and three percentage points, respectively, from last year.
Sixteen
years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia, with 87 billionaires,
is the new No. 2 country behind the U.S., easily overtaking Germany,
with 59 billionaires, which held the honor for six years.
The
rankings include 226 newcomers. Seventy-seven of the new faces come
from the U.S., half of whom made their fortunes in finance and investments,
including John Paulson and Philip Falcone, both of whom became wealthy
shorting subprime debt. Another third of the new billionaires comes
from Russia (35), China (28) and India (19).
Two
of the most noteworthy new entrants are South Africa's Patrice Motsepe
and Nigeria's Aliko Dangote, the first black Africans to make their
debut among the world's richest. Dangote is also the first-ever Nigerian
billionaire.
It
is also a record-breaking year for young billionaires, with Forbes
finding 50 under the age of 40, 25 of whom are new to the list.
Sixty-eight
percent of these under-age-40 tycoons built their 10-figure fortunes
from scratch, including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page;
former Enron trader John Arnold, who now runs a hedge fund; India's
Sameer Gehlaut, who started online brokerage Indiabulls; and, last
but not least, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who at age 23 might
just be the youngest self-made billionaire in history.
Zuckerberg
is probably destined to be the most talked about newcomer of the year
because of his age and ingenious social-networking site, but there
are fascinating entrepreneurs of all ages climbing into the ranks.
Some
of the more notable ones include China's Gao Dekang, who is one of
the world's biggest makers of down jackets and vests; Portugal's Americo
Amorim, who turned his grandfather's small cork operation into the
world's largest; and Brazil's Eike Batista, who built and lost a gold
mining fortune, before hitting it big in iron ore. He is now the world's
richest mining billionaire.
With
all the rosy news of the past year and the overall gains, it is easy
to lose sight of the volatility that has been wreaking havoc on these
fortunes on a daily basis for months. For instance, Hong Kong's richest
person, Li Ka-shing, lost $5.5 billion of his net worth, all tied
to publicly held stocks, in the 37 days between Jan. 4 and Feb. 11.
Meanwhile,
mainland China's richest person, 26-year-old Yang Huiyan, fell from
$17.3 billion in September to $7.4 billion in the rankings.
Google
co-founder Sergey Brin's fortune touched $25.5 billion in the past
year but is now down to $18.7 billion. Others were hit much harder,
falling off the list entirely, including Lehman Brothers chief Richard
Fuld and Bear Stearns ex-chief James Cayne (he was sacked), both victims
of the world's credit crunch, and Pulte Homes' William Pulte, whose
stock collapsed along with the housing market.
What
will happen in the next 12 months as we continue our wealth watching?
There will likely be some big losers, some big winners and a lot of
ups and downs in between. The only certainty is change itself.
(Source:
Channelnewasia.com
