Bill Gates is again world’s richest person, as Trump’s fortune takes a big tumble
.png?itok=arIb17P0)
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates once again topped the Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest billionaires, while US President Donald Trump slipped more than 200 spots, the magazine said Monday.
Gates, whose wealth is estimated at US$86 billion, led the list for the fourth straight year.
He was followed by Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett among the top 10 billionaires, a group heavily dominated by Americans, many of whom work in the technology sector. Buffett’s wealth was estimated at US$75.6 billion.
The global billionaire population jumped 13 per cent from last year to 2,043, the biggest annual increase in the 31 years since the magazine began compiling the list, Forbes said.
The US led countries with the most billionaires with 565, a product of the swelling value of the American stock market since Trump’s November 2016 election.
China was second with 319 billionaires, and Germany was third with 114.
Trump himself slipped 220 spots on the list to number 544 with an estimated US$3.5 billion, down by about US$1 billion. Forbes attributed Trump’s drop to sluggishness in the Manhattan real estate market which is responsible for a disproportionate amount of his wealth.
“Forty per cent of Donald Trump’s fortune is tied up in Trump Tower and eight buildings within one mile of it,” Forbes said. “Lately, the neighbourhood has been struggling (relatively speaking).”
Among others in the Forbes top 10, Amancio Ortega of Spanish apparel chain Zara was fourth, Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim was sixth, the Koch brothers, Charles and David, were eighth and ninth and former New York City mayor and Bloomberg News founder Michael Bloomberg was 10th.
The highest ranking woman on the list was L’Oreal cosmetics shareholder Liliane Bettencourt, who was 14th with US$39.5 billion. The only other woman in the top 20 was Alice Walton, only daughter of Wal-Mart Stores founder Sam Walton.
Overall, there were 227 women billionaires, the majority of whom inherited their wealth. But the list also contained 15 new “self-made” women, mostly from Asian countries, including Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao of budget airline VietJet air.
Wang Jianlin was the richest Asian, in 18th place with a fortune of US$31.3 billion, followed by Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing in 19th spot with US$31.2billion. Fellow Hong Kong property tycoon Lee Shau-kee was in 32nd place with US$24.4 billion.
Among other luminaries on the list: Alibaba founder Jack Ma, whose group owns the South China Morning Post, was 23rd with US$28.3 billion; activist investor and Trump deregulation adviser Carl Icahn was 55th with US$16.6 billion; and fashion designer Giorgio Armani was tied for 215th with US$6.6 billion.
