Billionaire Watch
Africa’s richest woman is in troubled waters
Angola’s Isabel dos Santos, who doubles as Africa’s richest woman, has lamented that her businesses are in trouble.
Angola’s Isabel dos Santos, who doubles as Africa’s richest woman, has lamented that her businesses are in trouble. This follows a series of crackdown on her family members, which resulted in her assets being frozen by a court order.
The billionaire is the daughter of Angola’s former leader, President Jose Eduardo, who governed the South-Central African country for decades amidst allegations of corruption.
President Joao Lourenco
Angola’s current President, President Joao Lourenco, said he was trying to rid the country of corruption. In doing that, he must undo some of the things done by his predecessor, including removing dos Santos as the Chairwoman of Angolan state-owned energy company, Sonangol.
Bloomberg also reported that two of the dos Santos’ siblings have been affected by the ongoing crackdown. One of them is Welwitschia dos Santos, a politician who was stripped of her parliamentary seat in October 2019. José Filomeno was also dragged to court in December last year over an alleged illegal transfer of $500 million out of the country.
In the meantime, the focus is on dos Santos and how recent developments are going to affect her wealth. She currently has a net worth of $2.2 billion, much of which she generated from her “investments” in oil and gas. She also owns major stakes in the Angolan bank Fomento de Angola, as well as stakes in Angola’s biggest telecom company, Unitel.
She also owns a number of other smaller businesses, including a supermarket, a mall, and a cinema. Activities in all these enterprises have now been halted by the asset freeze.
[READ MORE: How billionaires performed on the NSE in 2019; who gained or lost?)
Isabel dos Santos
Please note that the asset freeze is in relation to allegations that over $1 billion was embezzled from Angola’s diamond marketing firm, Sodiam, as well as from Sonangol. Isabel dos Santos was Chairwoman of Sonangol for some years.
The billionaire has since fled Angola, citing safety concerns in light of recent developments. She has also denied the corruption allegations leveled against her, calling them “lies” and saying they are “politically motivated”.
Billionaire Watch
Top 5 women who became billionaires after divorcing their husbands
The divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates is set to mint another woman billionaire.
The divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates is set to mint another woman billionaire. Yesterday, Nairametrics reported on the first set of transactions made by Bill Gates to his ex-wife, Melinda.
She was transferred securities worth over $1 billion, already making her a billionaire. With more transfers set to come, we want to look at 5 other women who became billionaires after divorcing their husbands.
5 . Sue Ann Arnall ($1 billion
Sue Ann Arnall was the wife of oil baron and CEO of Continental Resources, Mr Harold Hamm. The 26-year-old marriage ended in 2015 with a handwritten check of a whopping $974 million to Sue Ann, which she initially rejected on the basis that it was too small. After a series of back and forth in court, however, she finally accepted the cheque.
Before the cheque, Harold Hamm had initially paid her over $20 million, driving the total settlement figure over a billion dollars.
Harold Hamm is currently the 247th richest man in the world with a net worth of $8.6 billion.
READ: There are only 15 black billionaires in the world, here are the top 10
4. Sue Gross ( $1.3 billion )
The ex-wife of Bill Gross, the billionaire founder of the investment management firm, PIMCO, walked away from her 32-year-old marriage to the business mogul with a handsome $1.3 billion dollars. She started her own charity afterwards.
Bill Gross is currently worth $1.5 billion according to Forbes. He founded PIMCO in 1971 and it became one of the most successful investment management firms in America.
READ: Squarespace founder is the latest billionaire, set to make $3bn from listing his company
3. Elaine Wynn ( $2 billion )
Elaine Wynn is the ex-wife of Steve Wynn and she is a Co-Founder of the successful casino company, Wynn Resorts. After the couple divorced in 2012, she was transferred 11 million shares from the company which was valued at $795 million at the time.
Her ex-husband sold a substantial amount of shares later that year, which she also got a stake in. Today, her total shares from the Wyatt Resorts are worth over $2.3 billion according to Forbes.
READ: Is Donald Trump still a billionaire?
2. Melinda Gates ($1.8 billion and counting)
Melinda Gates is the latest billionaire divorcee on the block and she is already worth $1.8 billion after the first transfer of wealth. Her ex-husband, Bill Gates is the 4th richest man in the world. She will be worth over $60 billion if Bill Gates’ fortune is split evenly with her, although that is very unlikely.
1. Mackenzie Scott ($57.7 billion)
The ex-wife of the richest man in the world tops the list with a staggering $57.7 billion net worth. She met her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos when they both worked at a hedge fund in New York and she helped set up Amazon.
After her divorce from Bezos in 2019, she received 4% of Amazon shares which was valued at $35 billion then. Amazon stocks have witnessed a near 75% increase since then. She is currently worth $57.7 billion according to Forbes.
What you should know
Melinda Gates may top the list after the complete transfer of wealth by her ex-husband, Bill Gates.
Billionaire Watch
The Gates Divorce: Bill Gates’ Holding Company transfers $1.8bn of equities to Melinda Gates
More details have now emerged on the Gates asset split following the divorce.
Details of how Bill and Melinda Gates will share the Gates’ fortune are beginning to emerge. The multi-billionaire couple announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage on Monday via a joint statement.
Since the divorce announcements, questions on how Bill’s $146bn fortune would be split, have arisen in the media. Nairametrics also did an earlier article on a few possible financial outcomes, particularly regarding the BMG Foundation that the couple jointly Chair.
More details have now emerged on the Gates asset split following the divorce.
READ: Bill Gates holds far more cash than Nigeria’s foreign reserve
Cascade transfers $1.8bn equities to Melinda Gates
Cascade Investment, a holding company Bill Gates founded with proceeds from his Microsoft Corporation yesterday transferred securities worth more than $1.8 billion to Melinda Gates following their divorce.
The securities involved include:
14.1 million shares of Canadian National Railway Co. worth about $1.5 billion
2.94 million shares in AutoNation Inc., worth $309 million.
What you should know
Melinda Gates is on her way to join the league of women who became sudden billionaires after divorcing their husbands.
