Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and
CEO Warren Buffett, right, gestures towards Microsoft co-founder and
Berkshire board member Bill Gates, during an interview with Liz Claman
on the Fox Business Network in Omaha, Neb., Monday, May 5, 2014. The
annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting concluded the previous
weekend. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
At age 30 Zuckerberg is also the leader in a youth revolution that has minted a growing number of billionaires under the age of 40. The youngest billionaire in the world is Evan Spiegel, 24, co-founder of photo-messaging app Snapchat. Silicon Valley tech companies have spawned other young new billionaires including cofounders of car-hailing service Uber, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, and their first employee Ryan Graves. Elizabeth Holmes, who runs blood- testing firm Theranos, debuts on the global list as the youngest self-made woman at age 31.
Gainers outnumbered losers: 819 billionaires are richer than a year ago while 519 are poorer. The year’s biggest loser in dollar terms is Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, whose fortune dropped to $14.7 billion from $25 billion last year, propelled downward by a weaker Nigerian currency and shrinking demand for cement, his largest asset. He still retains the title of Africa’s richest man. America’s biggest loser was casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who fell out of the Top Ten to No. 18 amid a drop in the price of Las Vegas Sands shares.
One
hundred thirty eight people from the 2014 list dropped out of the
ranks, including fashion designer Michael Kors, Zulily’s Mark Vadon and
many Russians. The number of ten-figure fortunes in Russia plunged to 88
from 111 last year due to the weak ruble and lower oil prices.
Guatemala has a billionaire for the first time, and Iceland returns to
the club after a seven-year absence, the result of a comeback by Thor
Bjorgolfsson, who’s still the only billionaire in the country’s history.
There’s
no doubt that entrepreneurship is thriving globally. Fully 1,187
members of the list are self-made billionaires, while just 230 inherited
their wealth. Another 403 inherited at least a portion but are still
working to increase their fortunes.
Our
estimates show a snapshot of wealth on Feb. 13, when we locked in stock
prices and exchange rates from around the world. If a stock market
wasn’t open on that day, we used the stock price from the previous
trading day.
Bill GatesRank: #1
Net Worth: $79.2 billion (+ $3.2 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: Untied States
Net Worth: $79.2 billion (+ $3.2 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: Untied States
Bill
Gates is once again the richest person on the planet, a title he's held
for 16 out of the last 21 years. He recaptured the top spot in March
2014 after a four-year run by Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu as No. 1. Early
on, the stellar performance of Microsoft, which he cofounded in 1975,
boosted his net worth, but he's been steadily selling his shares in the
software company for at least 15 years. He unloaded one third of his
remaining stake over the 12 months through February 2015. That included a
gift of shares worth $1.5 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation in November 2014, which brought his lifetime giving up to
$30.7 billion. Gates, who spends most of his time focused on
philanthropy, laid out some decisive goals for the foundation in his
annual January letter. While continuing to work on improving U.S.
education and global health, the foundation is also committed to getting
Africa to feed itself and wants to help spread mobile banking, which it
believes can help transform the lives of the poor.
Carlos Slim Helu & family
Rank: 2
Net worth: $77.1 billion (+$5.1 b vs. 2014)
Citizenship: Mexico
Carlos
Slim Helu remains the world's number two richest person despite changes
in the Mexican telecom landscape, where he has prospered greatly over
the past two decades. A new anti-monopoly law is driving some of the
shifts In June 2014, he spent $5.6 billion to buy out AT&T's 8.3%
stake in pan-Latin American wireless carrier America Movil -- by far
Slim's most valuable asset. He and his children own a majority of the
company. AT&T then became an America Movil competitor in Mexico,
when it purchased wireless carrier Grupo Iusacell from Mexican
billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego in January 2015. Outside of telecom,
Slim took private his listed real estate company, Innmeubles Carso,
paying minority shareholders $450 million in December 2014. A month
later, he became the largest shareholder of The New York Times, with a
nearly 17% stake, by exercising warrants to buy more shares. Slim also
holds a controlling interest in industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso,
financial venture Grupo Financiero Inbursa and infrastructure
development and operating company Ideal.Rank: 2
Net worth: $77.1 billion (+$5.1 b vs. 2014)
Citizenship: Mexico
Warren Buffett
Rank: 3
Net worth: $72.7 billion ( +$14.5 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 3
Net worth: $72.7 billion ( +$14.5 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Warren
Buffett is wealthier than ever thanks to the stellar performance of his
diversified holding company, Berkshire Hathaway. Its coveted Class A
stock, which is the most expensive of any public U.S. company's,
eclipsed $200,000 per share for the first time in August 2014. Buffett
moved to No. 3 on FORBES' 2015 list of the world's richest, up from the
fourth position in 2014. With dozens of subsidiaries, including in
railroads, insurance and energy, Berkshire Hathaway posted $182 billion
in 2013 revenue and $19.5 billion in net income. Still inking big
deals, Berkshire Hathaway bought battery maker Duracell from Procter
& Gamble in November 2014 for $4.7 billion. A generous
philanthropist, Buffett bested his own giving record in July 2014,
giving away Berkshire shares worth $2.8 billion, primarily to the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation but also to his children's foundations,
bringing his lifetime giving to nearly $23 billion. Buffett says his
best investment ever was buying Benjamin Graham's book The Intelligent
Investor in 1949. He later studied under Graham before moving home to
Nebraska and acquiring a struggling textiles company in 1962, Berkshire
Hathaway. In early February 2015, it was the fourth most valuable public
company in the U.S., with a market capitalization of $355 billion.
Amancio Ortega
Rank: 4
Net worth: $64.5 billion (+$500 million vs. 2014)
Citizenship: Spain
Rank: 4
Net worth: $64.5 billion (+$500 million vs. 2014)
Citizenship: Spain
Spaniard
Amancio Ortega grew up the son of a railway worker and is now the
world's richest retailer. He cofounded Zara in 1975 with lingerie and
bathrobes he and his former wife Rosalia Mera made in their living room.
By the mid-1980s, he had taken Zara all over Spain and was ready to
expand overseas. As his empire grew, Ortega caught the retail
establishment by surprise, limiting advertising, expanding aggressively
and controlling much of his own supply chain. Louis Vuitton fashion
director Daniel Piette once called Inditex "possibly the most innovative
and devastating retailer in the world." Ortega powered through the
Spanish financial crisis, personally gaining $45 billion from 2009 to
2014 as his shares of Inditex defied the rest of the Spanish stock
market. In the last decade he has taken billions in Inditex dividends
and reinvested the money into real estate in marquee cities, including
Madrid, Barcelona, London, Chicago, Miami and New York.
Larry EllisonRank: 5
Net worth: $54.3 billion (+$6.3 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Larry
Ellison is arguably the first Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur to live
large and fast. He never met his biological father and was raised in a
middle-class Chicago home by his great aunt. After building databases
for the CIA, Ellison founded database software firm Oracle in 1977 and
has overseen its tremendous growth--revenues in fiscal 2014 grew to
$38.3 billion. In September 2014, Ellison shocked the business world by
announcing plans to step down as CEO; he is staying on as Oracle's
chairman and chief technology officer. A sailing fanatic, he's the main
backer of America's Cup winner Oracle Team USA. Ellison has continued to
gobble up properties on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which he bought
for a reported $300 million in 2012, and is said to own every hotel room
on the island. His daughter Megan Ellison has found success as a film
producer; her Annapurna Pictures produced hits like Zero Dark Thirty and
American Hustle.
Charles KochRank: 6
Net worth: $42.9 billion (+$2.9 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: Unites States
Charles
and David Koch's spheres of influence span business, philanthropy and
politics. The lightning-rod capitalist brothers continue to add to their
empire, plunking down more than $5 billion on acquisitions in 2014.
Charles has been chair of Koch Industries since 1967, overseeing massive
growth of what is now the second-biggest private company in America,
behind commodities giant Cargill. Their reach extends from oil
pipelines, refineries and manufacturers of building materials to paper
towels and even Dixie Cups. They were relative pikers in the 2014
midterm elections, spending about $2.5 million each on Republican races,
but the Washington Post reported that they have exhorted their
conservative compatriots to raise almost $1 billion for the 2016
presidential election. The Kochs are also active philanthropists. In
mid-2014, a $25 million gift from Koch Industries and the Charles Koch
Foundation to the United Negro College Fund sparked discussion across
the political spectrum.
David Koch
Rank: 6
Net worth: $42.9 billion (+$2.9 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 6
Net worth: $42.9 billion (+$2.9 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: United States
New
York City's richest resident David Koch shares control of $115 billion
(sales) Koch Industries with his older brother Charles. America's second
largest private company, Koch Industries has interests in oil
pipelines, refineries, building materials, paper towels and Dixie cups,
and made more than $5 billion in acquisitions in 2014 including
inkmaker Flint Group for a reported $3 billion and PetroLogistics for
$2.1 billion. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York dedicated the
David H. Koch Plaza in September 2014, part of a $65 million renovation
he funded. Koch Industries poured more than $3 million into the 2014
midterm elections. Audio recordings leaked from not-so-secret
Koch-organized meetings in June 2014 revealed Republicans including Sen.
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) laying out their strategy for thwarting Obama's
legislative agenda if the Republicans gained control of the Senate in
2014, which did indeed happen. The Kochs are also active
philanthropists. In mid-2014, a $25 million gift from Koch Industries
and the Charles Koch Foundation to the United Negro College Fund sparked
discussion on the left and right.
Christy Walton & family
Rank: 8
Net worth: $41.7 billion (+$5 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 8
Net worth: $41.7 billion (+$5 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Christy
Walton is the wealthiest woman the world, a title she has held for five
out of the past six years. She married into what became the richest
family in the world--the Waltons--and inherited her wealth when her
husband John Walton, a former Green Beret and Vietnam war medic, died in
an airplane crash in 2005. She is the wealthiest of the Waltons thanks
to an investment John made in solar-panel maker First Solar. The bulk of
her holdings are in Wal-Mart, the huge retailer founded by her
father-in-law Sam Walton and his brother James in 1962. Christy received
$470 million in Wal-Mart dividends after taxes in 2014. She leads a
very private life in Jackson, Wyoming, but in 2013 had a rare bit of
publicity when she was given an award by the Imagen Foundation for
producing the film Bless Me, Ultima, based on the book by Rudolfo Anaya,
who is considered the father of Chicano literature. Her son
successfully battled cancer when he was just 3 years old and she herself
fought a case of pneumonia that nearly killed her, according to the
Imagen Foundation.
Jim Walton
Rank: 9
Net worth: $40.6 billion (+$5.9 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Rank: 9
Net worth: $40.6 billion (+$5.9 billion vs. 2014)
Citizenship: United States
Jim
Walton, a board member of Wal-Mart, is the youngest child of the
superstore's legendary founder Sam Walton. The company generated $473
billion in 2014 revenues from with more than 11,000 stores in 27
countries. In February 2015, Wal-Mart announced it would raise its wages
in the U.S. to at least $9 an hour in 2015 and at least $10 an hour in
2016. Labor advocates had called for a jump to $15 an hour. Outside of
Wal-Mart, Jim Walton is chairman and CEO of the family-founded Arvest
Bank, which has branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. The
bank has assets of nearly $15 billion and had net profits of nearly
$130 million in 2013.
Liliane Bettencourt & family
Rank: 10
Net worth: $40.1 billion (+$5.6 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: France
Rank: 10
Net worth: $40.1 billion (+$5.6 billion vs 2014)
Citizenship: France
L'Oreal
grand dame Liliane Bettencourt grew even richer in 2014 thanks to a
deal in which she purchased an additional 8% stake in the cosmetics
empire from Nestlé, raising her and her family's chunk of L'Oreal stock
to 33%. Her father, Eugene Schueller, founded L'Oreal in 1907.
Bettencourt has not been involved in running the company for several
years; a legal battle with her daughter Françoise Bettencourt Meyers
ended in 2011 with Liliane declared unfit to manage her affairs. The
elderly widow, who suffers from dementia, was replaced on the company's
board by her 25-year-old grandson Jean-Victor Meyers in 2012. A trial of
ten people who allegedly stole hundreds of millions of euros from
Bettencourt began in January 2015. She remains the richest woman in
Europe.
Culled from Forbes in Yahoo Finance
No comments:
Post a Comment