Thanks to these annual tallies of the superwealthy, we know that 2,781 people worldwide - 141 more than last year - have personal wealth of $1bn or more. And that Taylor Swift is now one of them. And that their collective wealth - $14.2tn - is more than the GDP of any country except the US and China. But centibillionaires are this group's porous top tier, described by Forbes as those who have "done much better than the average billionaire", and their wealth is unimaginable to most of us.
The list points to where in the world the largest piles of money are made. Ten of the 14 centibillionaires are American. One is French - Bernard Arnault, the world's richest man. Mukesh Ambani, No 9, is Indian; Amancio Ortega, No 13, who owns the clothing chain Zara, is Spanish; and Carlos Slim Helú, No 14, is a Mexican telecom entrepreneur. None are from the UK, which has 55 mere billionaires, fewer than in previous years.
So, how do centibillionaires make so much money? They operate in prime money-expanding sectors, including fintech - Michael Bloomberg is No 12 - and finance, especially hedge funds and private equity holdings. Warren Buffett (No 6) of Berkshire Hathaway is a good example. But tech is the main engine of centibillionaire wealth generation, including for Jeff Bezos (No 3, Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (No 4, Meta/ Facebook), Bill Gates (and Steve Ballmer (Nos 7 and 8, both Microsoft), and Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Nos 10 and 11, both from Google). Forbes's list also points to high street fashion, luxury consumption and property speculation, often a lucrative side hustle.
This story is from the April 12, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the April 12, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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