Observations about the newly released 2013 Forbes rich list

Forbes has released its annual world’s billionaires list for 2013 and there are certain things that caught the eye in this year’s list. As expected, some have gained and some have lost over the course of the past year.

To cut the long story short, here are the most obvious observations about this year’s list;

1.      This year’s list contains 1,426 billionaires, an all-time high. The net worth of the billionaires is $5.4 trillion, up from $4.6 trillion last year, an all-time high also.

2.      The richest man on the planet is Carlos Slim Helu. The Mexican has been the richest man for four years in a row with a net worth of $73 billion this year. The telecom mogul is up $4 billion from last year.

3.      Microsoft founder Bill Gates remains the richest man in the U. S. with a net worth of $67 billion. The acclaimed philanthropist is up $6 billion from the past year.

4.      The gong of the richest has passed from Wal-Mart’s Christy Walton in 2012 to 90 year old L’Oreal owner Liliane Bettencourt in 2013 who is worth $30 billion. The number of women in the top 100 is 11 and 138 in total.

5.      The youngest billionaire in this year’s list is 29 year old Facebook’s co-founder Dustin Moskovitz who is worth $3.8 billion. He no longer works at Facebook though. He’s only eight days younger than his former roommate at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg.

6.      There are 29 billionaires who are under the age of 40.

7.      The biggest gainer over the past year is Zara owner Amancio Ortega who gained $19.5 billion to move to third at a net worth of $57 billion. Despite the economic recession that engulfed Spain over the past year, he is now the richest man in Europe after displacing LMVH owner Bernard Arnault.

8.      The oldest billionaire in the top 100 billionaires is 93 year old Anne Cox Chambers. Aldi’s Karl Albrecht is also 93 years old but is three months younger than Anne Cox Chambers.

9.      Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Nigerian businessman rose from $11.2 billion last year to $16.1 billion this year. This moved him from 76th position last year to 43rd this year. He still continues to retain his position as the richest man in Africa and he’s the only African in the top 100.

S/No	Billionaires	2011 ($bn)	2012 ($bn)	% change	2012 ($bn)	2013 ($bn)	% change
1.	Carlos Slim Helu	74	69	5.4	69	73	5.8
2.	Bill Gates	56	61	8.9	61	67	9.8
3.	Amancio Ortega	31	37.5	21	37.5	57	52
4.	Liliane Bettencourt	23.5	24	2.1	24	30	25
5.	Bernard Arnault	41	41	0	41	29	29.3
6.	Aliko Dangote	13.8	11.2	18.8	11.2	16.1	43.8
7.	Eike Batista	30	30	0	30	10.6	64.7

Table: The Billionaires

10.  Brazilian businessman, Eike Batista, dropped from 7th position last year to 100th this year as he lost $19.4 billion over the past year. His 61% stake in OGX Petroleo e Gas which was worth $19.9 billion in February last year is now worth $3.7 billion a year later.

That makes him the billionaire with the biggest drop over the year. The entrepreneur who boasted last year he will be richer than Carlos Slim Helu in the ‘next three or four years’. It seems that is a dream that may not be realized any time soon.

11.  Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy owner Bernard Arnault dropped from $41 billion to $29 billion. That saw him move from No. 4 last year to No. 10 this year.

Mr. Arnault is to move LMVH to Belgium. He applied for a Belgian passport last year. It is believed he is moving because of the taxes to be introduced by France’s President Francois Hollande including a 75% top rate on income. He claims it’s for ‘family inheritance reason’ though.

What did you notice in the Forbes rich list?

[Credit: Forbes]

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