Losers
American billionaires saw the biggest loss this year, collectively dropping $76 billion, largely because of December’s market rout. Mark Zuckerberg saw the sharpest drop in 2018 as Facebook Inc. veered from crisis to crisis. His net worth fell nearly $20 billion, leaving the 34-year-old with a $53 billion fortune.
China’s Wang Jianlin, Jack Ma and Ma Huateng made up three of the 10 biggest losers this year. Fifty people dropped off the index, including 11 from China or Hong Kong, nine from the U.S. and four from Russia.
Among those who fell off the list were Andrej Babis, the prime minister of the Czech Republic whose fortune is derived from his chemical and agricultural company Agrofert, and Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, whose net worth plunged to a record low as stock of Rusal fell on concern that the aluminum giant could halt some production because of U.S. sanctions.
And 13 billionaires on the ranking died this year, including Microsoft Corp.’s Paul Allen, Hong Kong real estate developer Walter Kwok and Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, owner of Premier League football club Leicester City.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.