The richest people on the planet added $1 trillion to their collective wealth in 2017 – more than four times the previous year’s gains – thanks to a surge in stock prices.
Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index showed that the 500 richest individuals increased their wealth by 23 per cent over the course of the past year, helped by a near 20 per cent rise in the benchmark MSCI World Index and the S&P 500.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos enjoyed the greatest jump. His wealth surged by $34.2bn, according to Bloomberg, an achievement that in autumn helped him to leapfrog Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the world’s richest person. Currently, Mr Bezos’ wealth is estimated to be a fraction below $100bn.
Shares in Amazon, of which Mr Bezos still owns a large chunk, have surged by around 50 per cent in value over the last 12 months, to well over $1,000 apiece.
Bloomberg said that by the time stock markets closed in the US on 26 December, the world’s 500 richest people controlled a total of $5.3 trillion, which was up from around $4.4 trillion at the same point in 2016.
Veteran financier Warren Buffett is currently listed by Bloomberg as the world’s third richest person, with an estimated wealth of around $85bn, ahead of Spanish business tycoon Amancio Ortega, at $75.5bn, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at $72.6bn.
By country, Bloomberg said that Chinese billionaires made the greatest gains in 2017. Among the greatest losers was French telecommunications billionaire Patrick Drahi, whose wealth fell by $4.1 billion to $6.3 billion – a 39 per cent drop, according to Bloomberg.
