Tech chiefs among world’s biggest billionaire winners and losers of 2018
- Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos was 2018’s biggest gainer, retaining his title as world’s richest man
- Xiaomi chief executive Lei Jun trailed Bezos among year’s winners, adding US$8.6 billion to his net worth
The markets may be tanking, but that did not stop plenty of mega-fortunes from being unearthed in 2018.
The popularity of Fortnite, the phenomenon that forced some into video-game rehab, gave developer and Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney a US$7.2 billion fortune last year.
Autry Stephens, founder and chief executive of Endeavour Energy Resources, has US$11.4 billion after his closely held company attracted bids that valued the oil firm at as much as US$15 billion.
“It was a good year for wealth creation,” said Michael Zeuner, managing partner of WE Family Offices. “It was a tough year in financial markets, but for people who are creating wealth through companies, the economy itself is very strong.”
Sweeney and Stephens were just two of the 31 individuals who vaulted onto the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in 2018, even as increasing global trade tensions and a downdraft in the markets saw half a trillion dollars of wealth on the ranking wiped out.