Independent UK: Bonfire of the billionaires

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Bonfire of the billionaires
The global rich list just got shorter. Billionaires are an endangered species after the crunch cost them $2trillion, Stephen Foley reports

Thursday, 12 March 2009


If you are a sub-prime mortgage borrower, struggling to hold on your house, or an employee facing the threat of redundancy, you may not have a thought to spare for the world's wealthiest, but here's another line on the credit crisis: billionaires are suffering, too.

An eye-popping $2trn of the combined worth of the planet's billionaires has been evaporated over the past year. More than 300 people who could claim that prestigious label last year can no longer do so – that's 30 per cent of them. Warren Buffett, the US investor who used to be the world's richest man, has taken a $25bn (£18bn) hit, putting his bridge partner Bill Gates back at the top of the pack. The 10 biggest dollar-losers between them have this year lost more than the annual GDP of Ireland.

All these statistics and more are contained in the latest survey of the global billionaire set by Forbes magazine, which is the official arbiter of these matters. With stock markets plunging, businesses failing and bankers calling in the giant loans that they ill-advisedly extended during the boom times, the super-rich are facing difficulties they never prepared for.

"We are chronicling something unprecedented: the billionaire bust," says Steve Forbes, the multi-millionaire founder of the magazine. "The global economy has been battered by a financial hurricane. Without the easy flow of credit, the economy shrivels, and that is what is happening today. It is no surprise that billionaires are being battered, too. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bonfire-of-the-billionaires-1643099.html