Nigeria’s super entrepreneur and philanthropist, Aliko Dangote has retained his slot as Africa’s richest man despite his losses to the devaluation of the Naira and drops in the demand for cement his largest asset.
According to Forbes margazine, Dangote was this “year’s biggest loser in dollar terms as his fortune dropped to $14.7 billion from $25 billion last year, propelled downward by a weaker Naira and shrinking demand for cement, his largest asset.
Notwithstanding, Dangote still retains the title of Africa’s richest man.
The country that has lost the most ground by far was Russia, which now has 88 billionaires down from 111, less than not just the US and China but now also Germany and India.
According to Forbes’ Inside The 2015 Forbes Billionaires List: Facts And Figures, 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, despite a gift of $1.5 billion in Microsoft MSFT +0.66 per cent shares to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in November 2014.
Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico comes in again at number two while revered American investor, Warren Buffett, took back the number three spot from Spain’s Amancio Ortega (now number four); not even the largest IPO in history was enough to beat the Oracle of Omaha this year.
Buffett was the list’s biggest gainer, up $14.5 billion to $72.7 billion, thanks to Berkshire Hathaway’s rising share price. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg moves up five spots to number 16, his first time ranked among the world’s 20 richest.
Ma and three other Chinese are among the the biggest gainers and appear among the 50 richest on the list.
Zuckerberg is also the leader in a youth revolution that has minted 46 billionaires under the age of 40.
“The youngest billionaire on the planet is Evan Spiegel, 24, co-founder of photo- messaging app Snapchat.
California, driven by Silicon Valley tech companies, has spawned 23 new billionaires, including cofounders of car-hailing service Uber cofounders 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. The state now has 131 individuals with 10-figure net worths, more than any other country besides China and the US.
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