Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote woke up yesterday to the news that he’s now lost the title of ‘Africa’s richest person’, largely as a result of a devaluing naira. Hopefully his $13B fortune helped soften the blow.
His crown now belongs to South African billionaire Johann Rupert. Naturally, we had to investigate, and ended up getting a little carried away.
So dear Intriguers, with thanks to Bloomberg for crunching the numbers, we present to you… some of the world’s richest people.
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- Africa – Johann Rupert ($14.2B)
He’s the chair of both the Swiss-based luxury-goods company Richemont (think Cartier and Montblanc) and South Africa-based investment company Remgro (think banking, food, infrastructure and beyond).
Johann’s cautious nature somehow earned him the nickname “Rupert the Bear”, and he has a soft-spot for sport, with a stake in the Saracens English rugby team. Interestingly, he’s spoken in favour of universal basic income and against fracking.
Fun fact: Johann actually dropped out of university but eventually received two honorary doctorates. We have enough friends with hard-fought PhDs to know this is definitely the way to get that certificate – more cash, less dissertation.
- Europe – Bernard Arnault ($198B)
Bernard is the French billionaire founder of LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury goods firm rocking brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and Sephora.
His nickname? Thanks to his aggressive business strategies, folks have dubbed Bernard “the Terminator”.
He’s an avid art collector and once rescinded his request for Belgian nationality after being criticised for seeking to evade French taxes (which he denies).
- South Asia – Mukesh Ambani ($113B)
Mukesh is the Indian billionaire with vast business interests that span the energy, media, telecom, and financial services sectors. His company, Reliance Industries, is India’s largest by market cap and has faced accusations (all denied) of stock manipulation, predatory pricing, and crony capitalism.
Born in Yemen when it was known as the British colony of Aden, his family returned to India when his father founded a spices and textiles firm. Which reminds us – one of Mukesh’s nicknames is ‘the polyester prince’ which is also, incidentally, the name of his unofficial biography that’s banned in India.
Oh and if you’re wondering why the Ambani surname rings a bell, you might’ve heard of his youngest son’s epic recent wedding, which included guests like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and two former British PMs (Johnson and Blair).
- East Asia – Zhong Shanshan ($49.5B)
The title of China’s richest person has been ping-ponging between Temu founder Colin Huang and water bottle mogul Zhong Shanshan in recent weeks. But a disappointing Temu earnings call just wiped billions off Huang’s net worth, so Zhong and his Nongfu Spring beverage giant are back at the top of the pile.
Like many of his fellow tycoons in China, Zhong Shanshan has a cracking backstory: he failed his college entrance exams twice, did a stint as a reporter, sold turtle-meat supplements for a bit, then founded his bottled water company.
Oh, and his nickname? Local media outlets call him the ‘lone wolf’ for his low profile and concerted efforts to avoid China’s elites.
But yes, his Nongfu Spring has faced accusations it’s damaging some of China’s most sensitive water basins, and it’s even copped criticism from local nationalists complaining it uses design elements from rival Japan.
- Latin America – Carlos Slim ($87.6B)
Carlos Slim’s portfolio includes Mexico’s América Móvil (one of the world’s biggest mobile network operators) plus ventures across mining, healthcare, real estate, and consumer goods.
The son of Lebanese immigrants, he got started in haberdashery before making his fortune buying distressed assets during Mexico’s 1980s financial crisis, then buying state assets during Mexico’s 1990s political transition.
His nicknames include ‘Mr Monopoly’, because that seems to be his preferred market share. Oh, and he once held a 17% stake in the New York Times, ‘cause why not.
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
Billionaires don’t just send in a screenshot of their bank balance. To the contrary, many go to extraordinary lengths to avoid appearing on these lists given the associated legal, security, and tax risks. Others simply live in opaque, resource-rich, and authoritarian places where getting data on them is tricky.
But still, these billionaire lists can offer some worthy geopolitical insights:
- What are they doing? Tech dominates the upper ranks, but it’s still pretty broad: Abercrombie & Fitch has outperformed Nvidia this year!
- Where are they based? More than half of the top 50, and nine of the top 10, are still located in one country: the US.
- Where are they going? The biggest exodus right now is out of China, with a net ~15,000 high net worth folks leaving this year amid uncertainty over China’s trajectory. Their top destination? The US.
- What’s their outlook? Billionaires everywhere have added $2T (‘a Russia’) to their wealth in a year. If you added them all up, they’d now be the world’s third-richest country after the US and China. They’ll be fine.
But this growing list of names has enormous influence. There are major G20 economies where you can’t go a week without having to spend cash on a good or service controlled by one of them.
And some of these names have bigger hired-gun legal teams than the entire national regulators tasked with scrutinising them.
Also worth noting:
- The world’s richest person is still Elon Musk, sitting on $230B.
