New York - They make flip-flops and pet food. They sell miniskirts and cars. They mine iron ore and distribute soft drinks. Their net worth totals $2.7 trillion (R23.4 trillion), about the size of the gross domestic product of France, the fifth-biggest economy on the planet.
Bloomberg Markets’ inaugural list of the world’s richest people, in the magazine’s December 2012 issue, showcases the billionaires who pull the levers on the global economy.
We took a snapshot of Bloomberg’s exclusive daily wealth ranking, the Bloomberg billionaires index, to identify the megarich and quantify their fortunes this year through October 5.
The ranking shows who is on top (America Movil SAB chairman emeritus Carlos Slim, with a net worth of $77.5 billion), who is faltering (Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who is down $6.8bn since January 1) and who is just wealthy enough to make our top 200 (SAS Institute co-founder John Sall, who is worth $5.8bn).
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both in the top five, are household names.
Yet nobody racked up billions faster than the relatively unknown billionaire in third, Amancio Ortega of Spain.
The 76-year-old founded Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer, which is known for its more than 1 600 trendy Zara stores. He made more than $18bn from the start of the year through October 5 – or about $66 million a day.
That windfall was more than enough for the Spanish tycoon to eclipse Buffett – who is now in fourth place, with $48.4bn as of October 5.
Ortega’s ascent coincides with an overall rise in retail stocks.
Low cotton costs, cheap credit and demand for reasonably priced goods have driven the shares of Wal-Mart Stores and Inditex to records.
Nine of the world’s 25 wealthiest people are retail moguls. Among them are Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, four members of the Walton family that controls Wal-Mart and Stefan Persson, the largest shareholder in Swedish clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz.
Bloomberg News unmasked more than 30 hidden billionaires this year.
Brazil’s Dirce Navarro de Camargo inherited her late husband’s industrial conglomerate, Camargo Correa, in 1994.
Elaine Tettemer Marshall controls 15 percent of Koch Industries, the second-largest closely held company in the US.
With fortunes of about $12bn each, both women remain billions shy of Australia’s Gina Rinehart, the richest woman in the Asia-Pacific region, who is squabbling with her children over the family’s $19.1bn minerals empire.
Bloomberg News also revealed Zong Qinghou as mainland China’s richest man, who had a net worth of $20.1bn on October 5.
The once poor soda seller today commands the Hangzhou Wahaha Group beverage empire. With soft drinks producing hard cash, wealth creation is booming in China – and beyond.
In the following rich list, figures and percentages are as of October 5 and ages as of December 1.
Business Report