Billionaire Watch
Wealth of world’s billionaires hits $10.2 trillion
The total billionaire wealth globally has climbed by 27.5%, reaching $10.2 trillion, up from $8.0 trillion at the beginning of April.
As market turbulence continues to propel the wealthiest amongst us; the world’s billionaires have seen their wealth surge to a peak of $10.2 trillion in July, a 14.61% increase from the $8.9 trillion at the end of 2017.
This was uncovered in the 2020 Billionaires report tagged the “Riding Storm” which was published today, by the Swiss bank UBS and the accounting firm PwC.
The report found out that the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged the global economy’s transition to digital, and this has benefited today’s billionaires, as the pipeline of fresh technologies grows by the day.
READ: Elon Musk now the third-richest person in the world
The COVID-19 crisis indeed has been the real border between the old and the new economy, as it has spurred increased opportunities for the innovators and the disruptors who dominate the Technology, Health, Industrials, and Entertainment & Media.
However, the net wealth of traditional billionaires in the intermediate industries and sectors, such as entertainment, financial services, materials, and real estate sectors lagged the rest of the universe. While the wealth of those in older industries suffers.
READ: World billionaires’ wealth drop by $388 billion in 2018
With the number of billionaires declining by 43 to 2,058, the total billionaire wealth globally has climbed by 27.5%, reaching $10.2 trillion, up from $8.0 trillion at the beginning of April, and higher than the previous peak of $8.9 trillion at the end of 2017. The number of billionaires has increased from 2,158 in 2017 to 2,189.
During 2018, 2019, and the first seven months of 2020, the Billionaire class as a whole saw their wealth increase by 19.1%. This clearly signals the polarization taking place, and the rising wealth divergence between billionaires across industries.
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Technology billionaires’ total wealth rose by 42.5% to $1.8 trillion, supported by the surge in tech shares. The net worth among those in entertainment, materials, real estate, and finance, lagged the rest of the universe with increases of 10% or less.
However, healthcare billionaires’ total wealth increased by 50.3% to $658.6 billion, boosted by a new age of drug discovery and innovations in diagnostics and medical technology, as well as COVID-19 treatments and equipment.
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Geographically, Mainland China benefited most, as billionaire wealth grew fastest in Asia. As of early April 2020, there were 389 Chinese billionaires, worth a total of $1.2 trillion. Their wealth had grown by almost nine times, compared with twice in the US.
The report also revealed that US billionaires collectively controlled $3.6 trillion of the $10.2 trillion global wealth. Billionaires in Mainland China accounted for $1.7 trillion, while Germany and Russia accounted for $594.9 billion and $467.6 billion of the total billionaire wealth respectively.
The report also spiked concerns on the issues of the growing wealth gap and rising inequality in the world, as the majority at the end of the scale has seen their wealth decline owing to the disruption by the global pandemic. The research arm of the United Nations has warned that global poverty could increase this year for the first time since 1990, reversing a decade of progress.
However, it was suggested in the report that higher productivity is needed to address the huge public financial deficits while taking care to reduce social inequality and to tackle the environmental resource scarcity by doing more with less.
Billionaire Watch
Many Billionaires became richer by 27% during the COVID-19 pandemic – Swiss Bank UBS
The world’s richest saw their wealth climb 27.5% to $10.2trn (£7.9trn) from April to July this year.
Many billionaires have seen their fortunes hit record highs during the pandemic, with top executives from technology and industry earning the most.
According to reports from Swiss bank UBS, the world’s richest saw their wealth climb 27.5% to $10.2trn (£7.9trn) from April to July this year.
This is up from the previous peak of $8.9trn at the end of 2017, and largely due to rising global share prices.
It also said the number of billionaires had hit a new high of 2,189, up from 2,158 in 2017. It comes as the recent World Bank report showed that acute poverty is set to rise this year for the first time in more than two decades due to the pandemic.
Among the billionaires, the biggest winners this year have been industrialists, whose wealth rose by a staggering 44% in the three months leading to July.
According to Swiss Bank UBS, “Industrials benefited disproportionately as market price increased in a significant economic recovery [after lockdowns around the world].”
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Other lucky beneficiaries of the pandemic are the Tech billionaires, as their wealth soared by 41%, largely due to the corona-induced demand for their goods and services and social distancing, which accelerated and created the impetus for digital businesses; thereby, compressing several years’ of evolution into a few months.
Healthcare billionaires also benefited as the crisis put drug makers and medical device companies in the spotlight.
READ: Wealth of world’s billionaires hits $10.2 trillion
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk – both multi-billionaires – saw their wealth hit new highs this summer, thanks to growth in the price of their companies’ stock.
According to UBS, in the last 11 years, China’s billionaires have increased their wealth by the biggest percentage, climbing 1,146% between 2009 and 2020.
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By comparison, over the same period, the wealth of British billionaires has risen by just 168%. But the biggest accumulation of wealth remains in the US, where American billionaires have $3.5trn, compared to China’s $1.7trn.
The UK’s wealthy billionaires have just $205bn, compared to Germany’s $595bn and France’s $443bn.
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Donations
According to UBS, many billionaires benevolently donated some of their wealth to help with the fight against COVID-19,
“Our research has identified 209 billionaires who have publicly committed a total equivalent to $7.2bn from March to June 2020.
“They have reacted quickly, in a way that’s akin to disaster relief, providing unrestricted grants to allow grantees to decide how best to use funds.”
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The UBS report also revealed that the UK billionaires donated less than those from other countries.
In the US, 98 billionaires donated $4.5bn; in China, 12 billionaires gave $679m; and in Australia, just 2 billionaires donated $324m. But in the UK, 9 billionaires donated just $298m.
Billionaire Watch
Elon Musk now the third-richest person in the world
Musk has seen a meteoric rise in his wealth, with his net worth growing by $87.8 billion this year.
The recent surge in many leading U.S technology stocks have unsurprisingly created wealth for their founders, investors and stock traders.
What we know: Elon Musk just surpassed the co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg to become the third richest person in the world. Shares of Tesla Inc. continued its unrelenting surge after the recent stock split of Tesla stocks. Musk is now estimated to be worth about $115.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Musk is the present chief executive officer of Tesla, a maker of electric vehicles.
The Palo Alto, California-based company sells sedans, sport utility vehicles, and is the state’s largest automotive employer. He’s also CEO of Space Exploration Technologies, a rocket manufacturer tapped by NASA to resupply the space station.
Musk, 49, has seen a meteoric rise in his wealth, with his net worth growing by $87.8 billion this year as Tesla shares surged almost 500%.
Also helpful: an audacious pay package – the largest corporate pay deal ever struck between a chief executive officer and a board of directors – that could yield him more than $50 billion if all goals are met.
On Monday, Nairametrics reported how Tesla’s share price rose to almost $500 following a 5-for-1 split. Nearly 70 million shares had changed hands as at then, two-thirds of the daily average over the past year.
Tesla’s $464 billion market value now exceeds that of retail behemoth Walmart Inc., the largest company in the U.S. by revenue.
Recall Nairametrics, about two weeks ago highlighted major reasons why Nairametrics believed the stock was a strong buy and could surpass the present most valuable listed technology company.
Tesla was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers who wanted to prove that people didn’t need to compromise to drive electric – that electric vehicles can be better, quicker, and more fun to drive than gasoline cars.
Today, Tesla builds not only all-electric vehicles but also infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products. Tesla believes the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.
Around the World
Jeff Bezos becomes first person to cross $200 billion net worth, as Zuckerberg crosses $100 billion
The 56-year-old world’s richest man was worth $205 billion as at the close of trading on Wednesday.
Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, has become the first person to ever cross $200 billion in net worth. This happened after Amazon’s stock edged up 2% on Wednesday.
According to Forbes, the edging increased Bezos’ net worth by $4.9 billion, making him the first person to ever amass a $200 billion fortune in the nearly four decades that Forbes has been tracking the net worths of the world’s richest individuals.
This happened in spite of the fact that Bezos recently donated 7,548 of his Amazon shares –worth about $26 million– to an undisclosed nonprofit organization, as contained in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
READ: Apple market capitalization nears $2 trillion, as Apple’s CEO becomes a billionaire
The 56-year-old world’s richest man was worth $205 billion as at the close of trading on Wednesday.
Why this matters
This development now puts Bezos almost $90 billion ahead of the world’s second-richest person, Bill Gates, who is currently worth $116.1 billion.
Gates was the first person in the world to ever cross the $100 billion in 1999 when Microsoft reached its then-peak.
Even after adjusting the figures for inflation, Forbes still estimates Bezos net worth to be over $200 billion, almost 80% up from the $115 billion he was worth on January 1, 2020.
READ: Tips that will help you win in business – Amazon Founder
This increase in net worth is said to be connected to the change in consumer habits resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown in major cities across the world. Since then, Amazon stock has gone up almost 80%.
Note that Bezos owns roughly 11% stake in Amazon which makes up more than 90% of his net worth, while his stakes in the Washington Post, aerospace company Blue Origin, and other private investments make up the rest.
Zuckerberg becomes a centibillionaire
In a similar development, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, at the end of trading on Tuesday, became a centibillionaire with $103.1 billion in net worth.
Sequel to Facebook’s stock gains, His fortune went up by $6 billion again on Wednesday putting his worth at $109.1 billion.
Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy, Bernard Arnault, has also claimed the position of the third-richest person, with net worth of $115 billion, recovering from the slip earlier in the year at the peak of the pandemic.
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Backstory
In July 2019, Jeff Bezos parted away with 25% of his Amazon stake (now worth $63 billion), in what was tagged the “most expensive divorce settlement in history”. His ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, who was the beneficiary of this settlement, is currently the world’s 14th-richest person and second-richest woman, behind L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers; even after giving away $1.7 billion in charitable gifts earlier this year.
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Henry Ehioghiren
October 7, 2020 at 11:48 pm
U see something just bother me when hear people talking about millions of billion dollars or Naira is this thought why me can’t even buy a car not to talk of building a house, when we i have a million naira in my account so that i can start to be a blessing someone out there that i crying out to me everyday.o God of money pls send me a helper to help of the spirit of poverty in Jesus name this is my account number 3075916393 first bank Henry Ehioghiren i believe in all those billion are there.