Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group,
Aliko Dangote, has lost 32 percent of his wealth,
according to the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Dangote lost
$4.9bn or one-third of his wealth as the combined effect
of falling oil prices and the June devaluation of the naira
pushed him to No. 112 on the billionaires’ list with
$10.4bn. Dangote was the world’s 46th-richest person in
June.
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud fell by
$4.9bn, a 20 percent drop, the report added.
Alwaleed had said in November that all of his stakes in
public companies, including Citigroup Incorporated, were
potentially for sale, reversing a longstanding policy that
some of his most-prized shareholdings were “forever.”
Wealth creation in China turned negative for the first time
since the inception of the Bloomberg index five years
ago, with the country’s richest losing $11bn in 2016 amid
a slump in the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index and a
seven per cent decline for the yuan against the dollar.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited’s founder, Jack Ma,
closed the year with $33.3bn, adding $3.6bn in 2016. He
dropped in and out of his place as Asia’s richest person
for the first four months of the year before claiming it for
good in May, after Alibaba’s finance affiliate, which is
laying the groundwork for an initial public offering
expected as soon as next year, completed a record
$4.5bn equity fundraising round.
China has 31 billionaires on the index with $262bn,
trailing the US, which has 179 billionaires who control
$1.9tn, and Germany, whose 39 individuals have $281bn.
Russian billionaires also began to put the negative effects
of the US and European sanctions behind them, reversing
the combined $63bn declines for 2014 and 2015, and
adding $49bn in 2016.
Wealth managers for the world’s richest are girding
themselves for similarly frenetic start to 2017 as the
seismic changes that voters demanded this year start to
take shape.
“Expect the unexpected,” said Sabine Kaiser, founder of
SKadvisory, which advises family offices on venture
capital and private equity. “I don’t think family offices are
overly concerned or getting too nervous but after Brexit
and Trump, they’ve resigned themselves to market
volatility.”
In a year when populist voters reshaped power and
politics across Europe and the U.S., the world’s
wealthiest people are ending 2016 with $237 billion more
than they had at the start.
However, the Bloomberg Billionaire index revealed that
the world’s richest made $237bn this year.
The gains were led by Warren Buffett, who added
$11.8bn during the year as his investment firm, Berkshire
Hathaway Incorporated, saw its airline and banking
holdings soar after Donald Trump’s surprise victory on
November 8. Buffett, who’s pledged to give away most of
his fortune to charity, donated Berkshire Hathaway stock
valued at $2.6bn in July.
The US investor reclaimed his spot as the world’s
second-richest person two days after Trump’s victory
ignited a year-end rally that pushed his wealth up by 19
per cent for the year to $74.1bn.
“The year 2016 has been event-driven with global news
driving prices rather than fundamentals,” said Michael
Cole, president of Ascent Private Capital Management,
which has about $10bn of assets under administration.”
