KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): The number of global billionaires dropped to 2,640 as of March 2023, down from 2,668 a year earlier, while their collective wealth fell US$500 billion (RM2.2 trillion) to US$12.2 trillion from US$12.7 trillion a year ago.
In a report on Tuesday (April 4), Forbes said falling stocks, wounded unicorns and rising interest rates translated into a down year for the world’s wealthiest people.
It said nearly half the list is poorer than a year ago, including Elon Musk, who fell from No 1 to No 2 after his pricey acquisition of Twitter helped sink Tesla shares.
Bernard Arnault, head of luxury goods giant LVMH, took his place as the world’s richest person, marking the first time a citizen of France leads the ranking.
Forbes said the US still boasts the most billionaires, with 735 list members worth a collective US$4.5 trillion.
Meanwhile, China (including Hong Kong and Macau) remains second, with 562 billionaires worth US$2 trillion, followed by India, with 169 billionaires worth US$675 billion.
To calculate net worth, Forbes used stock prices and exchange rates from March 10, 2023.
Tech billionaires lost another US$200 billion in 2023
Forbes said the planet’s technology billionaires had another rough year, declining in both number and collective wealth on Forbes’ 2023 ranking of the world’s wealthiest people.
In all, Forbes found 313 billionaires who made their fortune in technology, compared to 332 last year.
It said their aggregate net worth is US$1.9 trillion, down US$200 billion from last year’s US$2.1 trillion.
The magazine said the lower numbers reflect a cooling tech market that’s correcting itself after a sky-high peak in 2021, when Forbes found 365 technology billionaires worth US$2.5 trillion, the highest ever.
The technology sector has proven not to be immune from broad worries about inflation, rising interest rates and fears of recession — not to mention a government crackdown on tech moguls in China.
Forbes said no one has lost more than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is US$57 billion poorer than a year ago, thanks to a 38% plummet in the e-commerce giant’s stock. Amazon, which hired rapidly during the pandemic, is now reversing some of that growth with 27,000 lay-offs announced in early 2023.
His ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott — who got a quarter of Bezos’ shares in their 2019 divorce and who has been giving money away at a record pace — is down big too, by US$19.2 billion.