This year’s Forbe’s 2022 list has undergone a sea change. Of course, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent dipping stock markets may have something to do with it. It had hit the fortunes of some of the richest people. Would you believe it even the number of billionaires in the world nosedived from 2,668 billionaires to 2,755 last year? The collective wealth took a hit too, it dipped from $13.1 trillion to $12.7 trillion. This financial nosedive is the most substantial financial crisis that affected the entire year of 2009.
This list is also interesting because the one-year wonders made out of the list include some prominent names such as Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd and John Foley from Peloton. They made sparking debuts a year back and are already out of reckoning from the billionaires’ list in 2022.
The ‘New’ Billionaire Brigade
Of course, the surprise package that remained was that at least 236 newcomers made their presence felt this year. The most famous inclusion remains that of Rihanna. The others to make the lists are Peter Jackson (director of Lord of The Rings) and Josh Kushner who is a venture capitalist. The surprise package was an entry from the list of countries that may have not found themselves on the list before, namely, Estonia, Barbados, Bulgaria, and Uruguay each gained their first billionaires ever. While the year has been anything but wealth-friendly if you know what we mean, there were at least, 1,050 billionaires who could call themselves billionaires than they were before.
The Richest, Remained Richest
Elon Musk remained at the top of the heap. Yes, he continued to head the World’s Billionaires list. Musk’s net worth remained impressive at $219 billion. He continued to add the millions, adding at least $68 billion from last year, so there was an almost 33% hike in the share prices of Tesla. Musk also upstaged the numero uno king of the billionaire list who has been there right at the top for four consecutive years.
He slipped down to the No. 2 for the first time in four years because of the plummeting stock prices. His philanthropic pursuits also removed a substantial amount, almost $6 billion from his net worth. The third richest person is Bernard Arnault who quietly added $8 billion to his net worth. He was followed by the mainstays of the list, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
The Young Billionaires
The youth brigade is not to be left behind and at least 86 members of the list, fall under the age group of 40. A few good examples remain, Melanie Perkins, is young and bright CEO in his thirties year-old who is the Chief Executive Officer of Canva. (Graphic Design Platform) The other guy who deserves mention is Vlad Yatsenko, the cofounder and CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of Revolut, a digital bank.
While the under 40 list, is impressive, the under 30 list is not have sneezed at all. There are at least, 12 Under the 30s who have made it to this list. One of the youngest of the clout remains, the still-in-his-teens heir to the German drugstore franchise, Kevin David Lehmann. Gary Wang, another 28-year-old bright newbie deserves mention too. He is based in the Bahamas a cofounder of the American cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Cryptocurrency reigned big and one of the reasons that the rich got richer is of course crypto. There are at least 19 billionaires who got rich thanks to the brand new lucrative world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
The Billoinaire Citizens
The US heads the list of the most billionaire citizens, the number stands at an impressive figure of 735. It is followed by China with 607, India has 166, Germany followed it up with 134 and Russia didn’t do badly either at 83.
The Other Honorable Mentions
While the billionaire count took a beating by powerful companies such as Russia and China. There were at least 34 lesser Russian billionaires and for China too, the number of billionaire Chinese citizens slipped down the list.
The Women Billionaires Who Stood Out
Forbes had at least 327 women billionaires featured in this list. The world’s richest woman stood at $74.8 billion net worth and she is none other than the inimitable, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, heir to the enormous empire of her grandfather Eugène Paul Louis Schueller, yes we know him as the founder of the popular beauty giant, L’Oréal. The self-made richest woman remained, Fan Hongwei, whose net worth stands at $18.2 billion.
So, there you go. These are the highlights of the much-awaited billionaire list. Which aspect of this list did you find the most interesting?