This years Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires includes 1,810 billionaires. Chinese entrepreneur Zhou Qunfei, whose $5.9 billion comes from smartphone screens, was a new entrant and also the richest self-made female billionaire.
Advertisement
The combined wealth of 12 UAE billionaires, who figure among the world’s richest, surged to $36.2 billion from $34.1 billion in 2015 while across the globe, the top 20 richest on the planet saw their wealth depleting by $70 billion.
Occupying the second spot on the list is Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, founder of closing retail giant Zara and the richest man in Europe.
The widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is the highest-ranking woman on the tech list, worth $16.7 billion. Five women also make it to the Indian billionaires list. Glen Dimplex founder Martin Naughton, at an estimated $1.6 billion, completes the Irish-born billionaires.
David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters, sits at number 25, with a net worth of $23.5 billion.
Along with Meath resident Naughton, the only other Irish resident on the list is US-born, Dublin-resident Campbell’s soup heir, John Dorrance, who is valued at $2.7 billion.
There was also some jockeying for the top spots, with Carlos Slim, head of Mexican telecom firm América Móvil, slipping from second to fourth place after his fortune was hit hard by a falling peso and depressed stock prices.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg had the best year of all billionaires.
Notable newcomers included the world’s youngest billionaires, Alexandra Andresen, 19, and her sister Katharina Andresen, 20, from Norway.
This year’s World’s Billionaires List has witnessed a drop in the number of billionaires as well as their aggregate net worth in comparison to 2015.
The Forbes magazine’s list is the 30th annual guide singling out the world’s wealthiest individuals from at least 67 countries.
Forbes noted that 66 billionaires are under 40 this year.
Advertisement
Forbes put the 31-year-old’s net worth at $44.6 bn (€41bn), ranking him number six, just behind Amazon’s Jeff Bezos at $45.2bn (€41.6).
