Billionaire Watch
Despite $2 billion drop of wealth, Dangote remains African richest man
Dangote, Adenuga tops Forbes’ Africa Billionaires
American rating magazine, Forbes has released this year’s list of African richest men. The list was published on Wednesday, January 9, 2019.
In the Forbes’ latest rating, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, and the Chairman of Globacom, Dr Mike Adenuga, tops the Forbes’ Africa Billionaires.
Despite seeing his wealth drop by $2 billion from $12.2 billion in January 2018 to $10 billion in 2019, Dangote retained his position as the continent’s richest man for the 8th consecutive time.
According to Forbes, Dangote’s drop of wealth is primarily due to a roughly 20% drop in the stock price of Dangote Cement, which is arguably his most valuable asset.
The continent’s second richest is Mike Adenuga, who worth an estimated $9.2 billion. Adenuga owns Globacom, which is Nigeria’s third-largest mobile phone network, plus oil exploration firm Conoil Producing, extensive real estate holdings in Nigeria and a network of 12,000 cellphone towers.
Adenuga’s net worth climbed dramatically from $5.3 billion in January 2018 as a result of more detailed information provided by him about his assets.
Moreso, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, featured on the list for the first time since 2015. Rabiu’s Kalambaina Cement Company Limited merged with Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled, in December 2018. He now owns 97 per cent of the entity.
The Founder and Executive Chairman, Famfa Oil Limited, Folorunsho Alakija, whose net worth dropped to $1.1 billion from $1.3 billion also ranked on the list.
Forbes’ statement on the reduced net worth of some personalities
Buffeted by plunging stock prices and weaker currencies, the number of African billionaires has shrunk to just 20, down from 23 a year ago. Four people fell off Forbes’ annual list of the continent’s richest since last year while one returned to the ranks after a four-year absence. All but four members of the list have smaller fortunes than a year ago.
What may interest you about Forbes
Forbes is an American business magazine. Published bi-weekly, it features original articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science, politics, and law. Its headquarters is located in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Billionaire Watch
Reinvestment: The powerful strategy used by the 2 richest men in the world
Bezos and Musk increased the stock value of their companies by investing back into the company, the proceeds they made from it.
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are collectively worth $372bn. They are the two wealthiest individuals on earth. Their wealth has grown significantly over the years and it looks likely to remain so.
To give you a clear picture of the significant increase in the wealth of both men, read the points below.
- According to Business Insider and Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos’ net worth increased by 59.1% in 2020. The tech billionaire added a humongous $67.9bn to his fortunes in 2020 and is currently worth $197bn.
- According to CNBC Elon Musk started 2020 with a net worth of $28bn, he is currently worth $175bn.
Both men have employed some interesting strategies in growing their wealth to the point that it currently is, and this article will harp on one of these strategies.
Reinvestment
Reinvestment as an investment strategy is defined by Investopedia as the practice of using dividends, interest, or any other form of income distribution earned in investment to purchase additional shares or units, rather than receiving the distributions in cash.
In very simple terms, it means ploughing the income you make from an investment back into it, rather than receiving the income as cash. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk both employed this strategy to grow their wealth in one year.
How the multi-billionaires did it
The Reinvestment strategy has been proven over time to increase the value of a stock or mutual fund. Buying a huge stake in your own company shares encourages more investors to also buy your company shares. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk increased the stock value of their companies by reinvesting some of their profits and in so doing, they significantly got richer.
Jeff Bezos’ reinvestment strategy
Jeff Bezos retains part of his wealth in his company’s stocks. This means that instead of collecting all of his profits in cash, he retains some in his company by buying its shares. He currently owns about 11% of Amazon’s shares according to a November 2020 SEC filing.
The result
- Jeff Bezos added an extra $67.9bn to his net worth in 1 year.
- Amazon’s stock price rose by a staggering 70% in a calendar year.
- Jeff Bezos is currently the richest man in the world.
Elon Musk’s reinvestment strategy
Like Bezos, Elon Musk also retains part of his wealth in his company’s stocks. He owns over 20% of Tesla stocks. His reinvestment strategy played a major role in driving Tesla shares to a whopping 740% increase in 2020.
The result
- Elon Musk’s Tesla Stock price increased by 740% in just 1 year.
- His net worth increased by over 500% from 2020 to 2021.
- His company got into the S&P 500 index and he became the second richest man in the world.
What you should know
Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest person for the fourth year running, according to Forbes while Elon Musk moved from his 31st position to his current 2nd place on the Forbes billionaire ranking for 2021.
Billionaire Watch
Meet the billionaire twins who bought $10m worth of Bitcoin when it still sold for $8
The Winklevoss twins’ early investment in Bitcoin has propelled them into the billionaire league.
The digital asset economy has made many people rich. The current worth of Bitcoin, a digital asset that was trading a little above $100 in October 2013, is now near $60,000!
While many people were smart enough to invest in Bitcoin early, not many had the guts to go all out for it. Today, we are going to look at the identical twins who were crazy enough to invest heavily in cryptocurrency. The twins started investing in Bitcoin as early as 2012.
They are currently listed on the Forbes Billionaire List amongst the newcomers who reached a billion-dollar status due to their Bitcoin investing.
READ: Why intelligent investors are secretly buying Bitcoin
Meet the Winklevoss twins (worth $3 billion each)
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are currently worth $3bn each. They started investing in Bitcoin as early as 2012 when the cryptocurrency still sold for $8 and splurged a whopping $10m to purchase the crypto asset, making them one of the biggest and earliest investors in cryptocurrency.
Their gamble paid off and today, they are worth a collective $6bn.
READ: Brutal losses hit crypto market amid fear of regulation
More investments in crypto
The Winklevoss twins are not slowing down, they are instead, making further investments in cryptocurrency. Recently, they invested in a Bitcoin lending start-up named Block-Fi which is now valued at $3bn.
Battle with Mark Zuckerberg
The Winklevoss twins are no strangers in Silicon Valley. They were Mark Zuckerberg’s classmates at Harvard and they once accused the tech billionaire of stealing their idea for Facebook.
A bitter legal battle between the two ended in the twins receiving significant cash and Facebook stock compensation from Zuckerberg. Some of their cash compensation was invested in cryptocurrency and it has indeed, paid off.
READ: U.S SEC Chair nominee says Bitcoin is transforming global finance
What you should know
In their early days, cryptocurrencies witnessed an unstable growth path, rising and falling occasionally. This discouraged many people from investing heavily in it. The Winklevoss twins took the risk on Bitcoin and are now billionaires on Forbes list. Currently, they run their company, Gemini, a regulated cryptocurrency exchange, wallet and custodian that makes it simple and secure to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies.
