The world’s 400 richest people lost $182 billion last week from their collective fortunes as weak manufacturing data from China and a rout in commodities sent global markets plunging.
The weekly drop for the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a group that includes Warren Buffett and Glencore Plc’s Ivan Glasenberg, was the biggest since tracking of the expanded list began in September 2014. The combined net worth of the index members fell by $76 billion on Friday alone, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of U.S. stocks ended its worst week since 2011.
“For them that’s a fractional percentage, even though $182 billion is a big number,” said John Collins, director of investment advisory at Aspiriant, which oversees more than $8 billion for high net worth clients. “A week like this feels really bad, but when you take a step back, in a big picture view it’s not a disaster by any means.”
The week’s largest setback in dollar terms was experienced by Buffett, who saw his fortune drop by $3.6 billion as Berkshire Hathaway Inc. slipped more than 5 percent. The investor is the world’s third-wealthiest person, with a fortune of $63.4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The slump in oil, which had its longest weekly losing streak since 1986 amid signs of an extended supply glut, contributed to $15.2 billion in losses for the world’s wealthiest energy billionaires. Continental Resources Inc. Chairman Harold Hamm saw $895 million, or 9 percent of his net worth, vanish last week week.
While many of the world’s richest people experienced depletion in fortune last week, 11 of them including Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote have cause to smile with an increase in their net worth. Dangote posted a $79.2m (N15.6bn) gain from Thursday to Friday, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. He was one of six billionaires who saw their fortunes increase in 24 hours on Friday. The week’s biggest dollar gainer was Sun Pharmaceuticals’ Dilip Shanghvi. The world’s 39th-richest person became $467 million wealthier, elevating his net worth to $18.9 billion.
The other 3 Africans on the list are not as lucky as Dangote as they all suffered losses, South Africans: Nicky Oppenheimer formerly of the De Beers diamond company (net worth $6.7bn) suffered a $27.9m loss between Thursday and Friday; luxury goods magnate Johann Rupert (net worth $7bn) saw his money shrink by $87m, and retailing baron Christo Wiese (net worth $7bn), lost $220m over the same period.
