worldwide are being destroyed at unprecedented rates by the
collapse of financing markets and the plunging values of their
business interests.
US magazine Forbes, which compiles annual rich lists, has just
recalculated its ranking for 400 of the wealthiest Americans and
reports that 17 billionaires have lost more than $1 billion in the
past month.
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As a result, business guru Warren Buffett is again the wealthiest
American, replacing Microsoft’s Bill Gates. Buffett managed to
boost his wealth by $8 billion to $58 billion, putting him ahead of
Gates, whose fortune fell to $55.5 billion from $57 billion.
Gates had been ranked No. 1 on the Forbes 400 list for the past 15
years with his Microsoft fortune. Third-placed Oracle founder
Lawrence Ellison saw his estimated $27 billion fortune drop to
$25.4 billion.
The billionaire non-domiciled wealthy in Britain have also see
their fortunes plunge by billions.
Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has been the biggest single loser
after an estimated £20 billion ($34.4 billion) was wiped off the
fortune that made him Britain’s richest man.
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By GlobalDataThe Indian-born tycoon has seen the value of the shares he and his
family hold drop from £33.3 billion in June to a current £11.8
billion.
UK property magnate Robert Tchenguiz is facing losses of up to £1
billion after borrowing heavily from Icelandic bank
Kaupthing.
China, a country which has been creating billionaires faster than
almost any other, has been particularly hard-hit with plunging
property and share prices slicing a third off the average wealth of
the local mega-wealthy.
The 50 richest people in China are now worth $2.43 billion on
average, down from $3.63 billion in 2007, according to an annual
list from Asian wealth trackers Hurun.
Back in first place, with a personal fortune of $6.3 billion, is
39-year-old Huang Guangyu of the Gome electrical retail empire. He
knocked Yang Huiyan, the 27-year-old heiress who was given a
controlling stake in Country Garden, a major property developer,
into third place. Her personal wealth plummeted from $17.5 billion
to $4.9 billion as the share price of Country Garden dived.
In Russia, the 25 richest people have lost more than $230 billion
in the past five months, according to an analysis by
Bloomberg.
Moscow’s main stock exchange has lost 60 percent of its value since
June, and has been repeatedly shut down during the past 60 days as
nervous investors sell holdings. Prices for commodities have
dropped amid fears of a global economic slowdown, in the country’s
worst financial crisis since its 1998 debt default.
United Rusal’s Deripaska, 40, the richest Russian on the list, lost
more than $16 billion and in recent week cut stakes in Hocktief and
Magna International. Chelsea soccer club owner and Evraz Group
shareholder Abramovich lost $20 billion, based on assets excluding
property and cash, Bloomberg calculated.
Among wealthy in the Gulf, a leading member of the Qatari ruling
family is one of the biggest victims of the Icelandic banking
collapse after losing £150 million in a little over a
fortnight.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al-Thani spent $282 million at the end
of last month taking a 5 percent shareholding in Kaupthing, which
has now gone into administration.
The acquisition of the stake in the bank – best-known in London for
owning Singer & Friedlander – was seen at the time as a
positive sign for Iceland’s banks, which were coming under pressure
to demonstrate their solvency.
