See Search Box
lower down this column for searches of Finfacts news pages. Where there may be
the odd special character missing from an older page, it's a problem that
developed when Interactive Tools upgraded to a new content management system.
Welcome
Finfacts is Ireland's leading business information site and
you are in its business news section.
We
provide access to live business television and business
related videos from: Bloomberg TV; The Wall Street Journal;
CNBC and the Financial Times. Click image:
Mexican tops world's rich list as billionaires from emerging markets grow; O'Brien is Ireland's richest man - - O'Reilly no longer a billionaire
By Finfacts Team
Mar 11, 2010 - 2:33:34 AM
Mexican telco billionaire Carlos Slim has topped Forbes magazine's world's rich list as billionaires from emerging markets grow and an American has not occupied the top ranking for the first time since 1994. Denis O'Brien is Ireland's top billionaire and Sir Anthony O'Reilly has been dropped from the list.
Slim's wealth rose by $18.5bn in 2009, beating runner-ups Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ($53bn), last year's No. 1 into second place, with US investor Warren Buffet, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway ($43bn) third.
The annual ranking of the World's Billionaires, have an average net worth of $3.5bn, up $500m in 12 months. The world has 1,011 10-figure titans, up from 793 a year ago but still shy of the record 1,125 in 2008. Of those billionaires on last year's list, only 12% saw their fortunes decline. US billionaires still dominate the ranks -- but their grip is slipping. Americans account for 40% of the world's billionaires, down from 45% a year ago and the US commands 38% of the collective $3.6 trillion net worth of the world's richest, down from 44% a year ago.
Forbes says of the 97 new members of the list, only 16% are from the US. By contrast, Asia made big gains, adding 104 and now has just 14 fewer than Europe, thanks to several large public offerings and swelling stock markets.
The magazine says the new billionaires include American Isaac Perlmutter, who sold
Marvel Entertainmentto
Disneyfor $4bn last December. The Spider-Man mogul netted nearly $900m in cash and 20 million shares of Disney in the transaction. Also new to the ranking: 27 billionaires from China, including Li Shufu, whose carmaker, Geely, announced plans to buy Swedish brand Volvo from Ford in December. The deal is expected to close in March 2010.
Finland and Pakistan both welcomed their first billionaires.
For the first time China (including Hong Kong) has the most billionaires outside the US with 89.
Russia has 62 billionaires, 28 of them returnees who had fallen off last year's list amid a meltdown in commodities. Total returnees to the list this year: 164.
Denis O'Brien's net worth is put at $3.5bn and Sean Quinn's wealth is estimated at $2.3bn despite losses of over $1.5bn from transactions in Anglo Irish Bank shares.
The number of billionaires has soared this year, and CNBC's Larry Kudlow and Forbes National Editor Quentin Hardy take a look at which billionaires top the list:
