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Despite plunging oil prices and a weakened euro, the ranks of the world’s richest defied global economic turmoil and expanded yet again. Forbes found a record 1,826 billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $7.05 trillion, up from $6.4 trillion a year ago. The total includes 290 new billionaires and a record 197 women, up from 172 last year.
Bill Gates is once again the richest person on the planet, a title he's held for 16 of the past 21 years. His fortune grew $3.2 billion since last year to $79.2 billion, in spite a gift of $1.5 billion in Microsoft shares to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg moves up 5 spots to number 16, his first time ranked among the world’s 20 richest.
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.
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