Billionaires' wealth shrinks to $5 trillion after rocky 2015
If you reckoned a Marmite shortage was a disaster, spare a thought for the world’s billionaires.
After a rough ride in 2015 their vast wealth has shrunk, according to a new report.
Passing on cash to relatives, a commodity prices slump and a stronger dollar saw billionaires, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, lose $300 billion (£246 billion) last year, a UBS and PwC report revealed.
That took the collective wealth of the 1400-strong group to $5.1 trillion and meant the average billionaire was worth a paltry $3.7 billion. The US produced just five new billionaires, while Asia produced one every three days.
“After more than 70 years of unprecedented wealth creation, the Second Gilded Age has stalled,” the report concluded.
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However, things are looking up for billionaires’ heirs.
UBS and PwC estimated fewer than 500 people will hand over $2.1 trillion, a sum equivalent to the size of India’s economy, to their successors in what would be the greatest transfer of wealth in history.
Gates is the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $75 billion, while Zara founder Amancio Ortega is second at $67 billion, according to Forbes.