Annual Forbes list shows combined U$9.1 trillion net worth
The last year was a good one for many of the world’s wealthiest individuals with gains in their net worth, and more people joining the billionaires club including 7 Canadians.
Forbes magazine has published its annual List of the World’s Richest People with a record 2,208 appearing.
Topping the list for the first time is Amazon and Washington Post supremo Jeff Bezos, worth U$112 billion after adding a staggering $39.2 billion to his net worth over the past 12 months.
Bill Gates has topped the Forbes rankings for 18 of the past 24 years, but with ‘only’ $4 billion added to his fortune in the past year, his $90 billion sees him slip to second.
Next is Warren Buffet with $84 billion, up from $75.6bn; Bernard Arnault jumps 7 spots to number 4 with his $72 billion achieved by a massive $30.5 billion increase since last year. The top 5 is completed by Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, who is worth $71 billion.
One of the notable losers was President Trump who lost $400 million in 2017 and plunges from 544 on the Forbes list last year to 766 this year. Falling values of some of his New York real estate, and declining golf club revenues have pushed the president’s net worth down to $3.1 billion.
There are 46 Canadians among the Forbes list, including 7 new billionaires added over the past year. Canada’s wealthiest have a combined net worth of U$148.5 billion, up $14.7 billion since 2017.
Thomson Reuters chairman David Thomson is Canada’s richest with a U$25 billion net worth. That puts him 32nd in the world.
Others listed include Lululemon founder Chip Wilson ($2.6 billion) and Shopify’s Tobi Lutke, who is a new entrant to the list with a fortune of $1.2 billion.
"The superrich continue to get richer, widening the gap between them and everyone else," said Luisa Kroll and Kerry A. Dolan, Assistant Managing Editors of Wealth, at Forbes Media.
1,490 of those listed are self-made billionaires, up from 1,371 in 2017.
