The billionaire club has shrunk from 1,125 to 793 members this year, according to the Forbes annual super rich list.
“The world’s richest are also a lot poorer. Their collective net worth is $2.4 trillion, down $2 trillion from a year ago,” said Forbes associate editor Luis Kroll, who oversaw preparation of the report.
The financial Armageddon has battered India’s billionaires, too, with almost all sinking dramatically in the rankings.
“Anil Ambani is one of 24 Indian billionaires, all but one of whom are poorer than a year ago,” said Forbes. “Another 29 Indians lost their billionaire status as India’s stock market tumbled 44% and the rupee depreciated 18% against the dollar.”
Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries saw his fortune shrink from $43 billion last year to $19.5 billion. Despite slipping two places to seventh, he overtook Lakshmi Mittal, whose steel fortune shrank from $45 billion to $19.3 billion. Mittal dropped from fourth to eighth on the list.
India is no longer the country with the most billionaires in Asia, conceding to China the title it wore for two years. China has 28 billionaires.
Forbes tried to figure out how 44 billionaires actually added to their fortunes despite the market mayhem. “Those who made money did so by catering to budget-conscious consumers (discount retailer Uniqlo’s Tadashi Yanai), predicting the crash (investor John Paulson), or cashing out in the nick of time (Cirque du Soleil’s Guy Laliberte),” said the report.
Ranbaxy’s Malvinder and Shivinder Singh also added $100 million to their combined net worth.
Twelve months ago, Moscow overtook New York as the billionaire capital of the world, with 74 tycoons to New York’s 71. Today, there are 27 in Moscow and
55 in New York.
