World’s Richest
Bill Gates, the founder and chairman of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp., was last year’s biggest gainer. The 58-year-old tycoon’s fortune increased by $15.8 billion to $78.5 billion, and recaptured the title of world’s richest person last May from Mexican investor Carlos Slim.
Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Gates, said he declined to participate in the Bloomberg survey.
“People should feel great about the arrow of time but feel bad that we’re not doing more,” Gates said yesterday in a Bloomberg Television interview with Betty Liu. “Headlines in a way are what mislead you because bad news is a headline and gradual improvement is not.”
Denis O’Brien, the chairman of Hamilton, Bermuda-based Digicel Group Ltd., the largest telecommunications company in the Caribbean, said he was bullish on equities.
“I’m going to stick with global telecom stocks,” the 55- year-old billionaire said in an e-mail. “I’m comfortable that the equity markets will continue to be better over time with increasing value and dividends.”
Gulfstream Jet
O’Brien has attended Davos for more than a decade and flew in last year on his Gulfstream 550 jet plane for the event’s penultimate day. He said if he had $100 million to invest, he would bet $40 million on Vodafone Group Plc, $20 million in Bharti Airtel Ltd., $20 million in SoftBank Corp, and $20 million in Bangkok-based Advanced Info Service Pcl.
“I am positive about 2014, but it will not be like 2013 in terms of S&P 500 index gains,” he said. “The stock market will be up due to better global earnings and consumers doing better. Consumers are recovering their appetite for goods, as they are only now emerging from their version of the debt crisis.”
O’Brien said the biggest hurdle facing the global economy are politicians.