The Snot Report (how the billionaires are doing these days)



Well, I know how you're going to feel after this: depressed. You didn't make 'billionaire' this year, either. Don't feel bad...I didn't either.

Forbes does a special issue on "the rich" every year. This year it is the March 26th issue (it says some data is at: www.forbes.com/billionaires).

So, anyway, here are some tidbits:

Forbes found 946 billionaires around the world for this issue.
178 are newcomers (so they are expanding at about 20% per year, milking money out of the rest of us faster than the population can grow. 17 lost their status but gained it back. 2/3 of last year's billionaires are richer this year. 32 lost their status (pretty low failure rate, eh?). The net gain by the billionaires is almost $1 trillion more over last year.

The average age is now 62, two years younger than last time (2005)
The new billionaires are seven years younger (they've learned the art of being a crook sooner).

60% made their money from scratch (meaning 40%, or almost half, had help from inheritances).

Bill Gates is still at the top. Nice to have a monopoly in software, eh? And, since Warren Buffett gave a bunch to BG's foundation, BG is a real king.

Here is where the billionaires are:

USA 415
Germany 55
Russia 53
India 36
UK 29
Turkey 25
Japan 24
Canada 23 (up where BMJ is)
Hong Kong 21
Brazil 20
china 20 (see what communism can do?)
Spain 20
France 15
Italy 13
Saudi Arab 13
Oz 12
Mexic 10
S Korea 10
Israel 9

everyone else, less (iceland has 2, Greece 1, Norway 4)

Carlos Slim (Mexico) is a new billionaire, not well liked in his own country, mostly made on the telcom business.

Japan actually lost a few billionaires; they are down 3 from 27 (I dont recall seeing any explanation, but then I didn't read that far, either).

Most of them got their money from businesses, very few from si/eng. Many were into money management/finance, LBOs, hedge funds.

One in a hundred were women. Oprah is one. Rowlings (Harry Potter) is another. One is a Russian.

Graphic on page 171 shows that of the top 200, their wealth went up by a factor of about ten in the last twenty years.

Y'all might want to practice up on your four-leaf clover finding.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Whats Wrong With Billionaires?
    ... What could explain these billionaires' will to accumulate such ... because virtually every study of the subject has shown that money by ... Happiness and perceived success are intimately linked: ... designed to make us rich and bankrupt the government so that it cannot ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: David Faber Report : Putting 2 and 2 together
    ... The billionaires are, in general, the ... They become billionaires not by "extracting money", but by virtue of the fact that they owned thousands of shares on the day they went public, and the value of those shares increased as their company succeeded over time. ... I continue to run the company, working hard, succeeding against my competition. ... Monopolies are bad because they destroy the pricing power of competition. ...
    (misc.invest.stocks)
  • Re: David Faber Report : Putting 2 and 2 together
    ... The billionaires are, in general, the ... make that much money by going to work for somebody. ... firms extract wealth from corporations by a process called "strip & ... but it is (for the "near monopolies"). ...
    (misc.invest.stocks)
  • Billionaires of the world must unite !
    ... We billionaires are a very small minority in this country. ... Say NO to any health care reforms. ... What do Old People need money for anyway? ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: "talk radio is running America" (ndc)
    ... Right Wing Talk Radio has the backing many, many, many conservative ... It isn't a vast right wing conspiracy, it is all about making money. ... And how many Billionaires do you think there are, ...
    (rec.music.gdead)