US$1 TRILLION OF WEALTH WIPED OFF HURUN GLOBAL RICH LIST.

RECORD 430 BILLIONAIRES DROP OFF HURUN GLOBAL RICH LIST. CHINA DOWN 213 FOLLOWED BY INDIA WITH 52.

201 NEW FACES, LED BY CHINA AND USA WITH 52 AND 39, FOLLOWED BY INDIA WITH 23

2,470 KNOWN BILLIONAIRES IN WORLD, DOWN 224 FROM LAST YEAR.

JEFF BEZOS, 55, OF AMAZON ADDS US$24BN TO RETAIN TOP SPOT FOR SECOND YEAR

CHINA LEADS WORLD FOR 4TH YEAR FOR BILLIONAIRES WITH 658, 74 AHEAD OF USA WITH 584. GERMANY, UK AND INDIA FOLLOW.

DESPITE DIFFICULT YEAR FOR FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE, FOUNDERS MARK ZUCKERBERG, SERGEY BRIN AND LARRY PAGE ALL MAKE TOP 10

JACK MA, 55, OF ALIBABA CHINA NUMBER ONE WITH US$39BN, UP 4 PLACES TO 22

LUXURY SECTOR DEFIED SLOWDOWN WITH STRONG GROWTH, LED BY BERNARD ARNAULT OF LVMH, UP 10% TO 4^TH PLACE WITH US$86BN

ELON MUSK JUMPED 10 PLACES TO 30^TH WITH US$28BN, ON BACK OF INCREASE IN SPACEX VALUATION

BEIJING WORLD BILLIONAIRE CAPITAL, 11 AHEAD OF NEW YORK.  4 OF TOP 5 CITIES WITH HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF BILLIONAIRES IN CHINA. LONDON, WITH A LOOMING BREXIT, AT 6TH

HUGE IPOS DURING THE YEAR. WANG XING, 40, OF MEITUAN-DIANPING AND LEI JUN, 50, OF XIAOMI BOTH LISTED WITH VALUATIONS AT US$50BN. OTHERS INCLUDED HUANG ZHENG, 39, OF PINDUODUO, MARTIN LORENTZON, 49, OF SPOTIFY, ANDREW HOUSTON, 35, OF DROPBOX AND NAJEEB AL-HUMAIDHI, 66, OF ASTON MARTIN.

MUKESH AMBANI OF RELIANCE BECOMES FIRST INDIAN TO BREAK INTO GLOBAL TOP 10, AFTER 20% INCREASE TO US$54BN

TMT MAIN SOURCE OF WEALTH, FOLLOWED BY REAL ESTATE, INVESTMENTS, MANUFACTURING AND RETAIL. ‘BIG 5’ SECTORS ACCOUNTED FOR HALF THE LIST. HOSPITALITY AND HEALTHCARE HAD A GOOD YEAR.

BLOCKCHAIN FASTEST-GROWING NEW INDUSTRY, WITH 5 BILLIONAIRES, LED BY CHINA BITCOIN MINER ZHAN KETUAN, 40, OF BITMAIN (US$2.7BN) AND CHRIS LARSEN, 57 (US$1.5BN) OF RIPPLE.

LEADING AUTHORITY ON GLOBAL WEALTH RELEASES EIGHTH ANNUAL HURUN GLOBAL RICH LIST

Key Findings

1.      2,470 BILLIONAIRES IN WORLD, DOWN 224 FROM LAST YEAR.

2.      GOING DOWN: 430 BILLIONAIRES DROPPED OFF THE LIST THIS YEAR, OF WHICH 40 DEATHS, AND 1,246 SAW WEALTH DECREASE. CHINA LED THE WAY FOR DROP-OFFS, LOSING 213 BILLIONAIRES, FOLLOWED BY INDIA WITH 52. RUPERT HOOGEWERF, HURUN REPORT CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF RESEARCHER SAID, “A 23% DROP IN THE CHINESE STOCK MARKETS COUPLED WITH A 6% DROP IN THE CHINESE YUAN WERE THE MAIN CAUSES OF THE DROPOFFS IN CHINA, WHILST FOR INDIA IT WAS A 10% DECREASE IN THE VALUE OF THE RUPEE.”

3.      MANUFACTURING WIPED OUT US$175BN OF WEALTH, FOLLOWED BY RETAIL US$122BN AND REAL ESTATE US$115BN. TOP 5 BIGGEST INDUSTRIES LOST MORE THAN HALF A TRILLION OF WEALTH THIS YEAR.

4.      GOING UP: 769 LISTERS SAW THEIR WEALTH INCREASE AND THERE WERE 201 NEW FACES, LED BY CHINA AND THE USA WITH 52 AND 39, FOLLOWED BY INDIA WITH 23. COLIN HUANG ZHENG, 39, OF CHINA E-COMMERCE PLATFORM PINDUODUO, LED THE NEW FACES, SHOOTING STRAIGHT INTO THE TOP 100 WITH US$15BN. HOOGEWERF SAID, “COLIN HUANG SET UP PDD JUST OVER THREE YEARS AGO, BECOMING THE FASTEST PERSON IN THE WORLD TO CREATE US$10BN OR MORE FROM A STANDING START, FASTER THAN ZUCKERBERG AND FASTER THAN BILL GATES.” OF THE NEW FACES, 27 FAMILY MEMBERS BECAME BILLIONAIRES AFTER THE DEATH OF A RELATIVE.

5.      COUNTRIES. CHINA STAYED AHEAD OF USA. INDIA DROPPED BEHIND GERMANY AND THE UK TO FIFTH.

6.      BY INDUSTRY. TMT KEY SOURCE OF WEALTH FOR MOST BILLIONAIRES, FOLLOWED BY REAL ESTATE, INVESTMENTS, MANUFACTURING AND RETAIL.

7.      WOMEN MADE UP 15.5% OF THE LIST, SIMILAR TO LAST YEAR’S 15.3%. 56 SELF-MADE, SLIGHTLY DOWN FROM 59 LAST YEAR. CHINA DOMINATED WHEN IT CAME TO THE SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRES, WITH 77%, LED BY CHINESE PROPERTY DEVELOPER WU YAJUN (55) OF LONGFOR PROPERTIES WITH US$10BN. THE RICHEST WOMAN IS FRANCOISE BETTENCOURT-MEYERS, 65, OF L’OREAL WITH US$49BN.

8.      65% SELF-MADE, 35% INHERITED.  HOOGEWERF SAYS, “75% GREW THEIR INHERITANCES AGRESSIVELY, EG DONALD TRUMP AND MUKESH AMBANI.” CHINA LED THE WORLD FOR SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRES.

9.      IMMIGRATION. 10.1%, UP FROM 9.1%, FIRST GENERATION IMMIGRANT BILLIONAIRES, LED BY SERGEY BRIN OF GOOGLE AND ELON MUSK OF TESLA, WHO IMMIGRATED TO USA FROM RUSSIA AND SOUTH AFRICA.

10.    SOCIAL MEDIA. DONALD TRUMP HAS BEEN GOOD FOR JACK DORSEY, 42, OF TWITTER (US$5.5BN, UP 49%). TRUMP HAS THE LARGEST BILLIONAIRE TWITTER FOLLOWING, WITH 58.2MN, FOLLOWED BY BILL GATES (46.4MN), OPRAH WINFREY (41.9MN) AND ELON MUSK (24.8MN). TRUMP AND MUSK ADDED 10.2MN AND 4.9MN FOLLOWERS THIS YEAR. IN CHINA, JACK MA OF ALIBABA LED THE WAY WITH 24.7MN WEIBO FOLLOWERS, FOLLOWED BY SMARTPHONE MAKER LEI JUN OF XIAOMI (21.0MN), PROPERTY DEVELOPER PAN SHIYI (19.7MN) AND ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDUCATION TYCOON YU MINHONG (15.1MN).

11.    85 ARE FORTY OR UNDER, OF WHICH 43 ARE SELF-MADE. YOUNGEST IS NORWEGIAN ALEXANDRA ANDRESEN, 22, WORTH US$1.7BN, INHERITED FROM HER FATHER. THE YOUNGEST SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRE IS IRISH HARVARD-GRADUATE JOHN COLLISON, 28, OF STRIPE WITH US$2.6BN.

12.    40 BILLIONAIRES FROM LAST YEAR’S LIST PASSED AWAY, HANDING OVER US$180BN OF WEALTH. YOUNGEST WERE KENNETH KT YEN FROM CHINESE TAIPEI, WHO DIED OF CANCER AGED 53, WANG JIAN OF TROUBLED CHINESE INVESTMENT CONGLOMERATE HNA (57) IN AN ACCIDENT IN FRANCE AND VICHAI SCRIVADDHANAPRACHA OF KING POWER (61) WHEN HIS HELICOPTER CRASHED IN THE UK AFTER WATCHING HIS TEAM LEICESTER CITY PLAY A FOOTBALL MATCH. RICHEST WERE SERGE DASSAULT (92) AND PAUL ALLEN (65) WITH US$24BN EACH. 27 FAMILY MEMBERS MADE THE LIST IN THEIR PLACES.

13.    ASIA PIPPED NORTH AMERICA FOR THE FOURTH YEAR RUNNING IN TERMS OF TOTAL WEALTH CREATED, US$3.58TN COMPARED WITH US$3.36TN

14.    CHINESE STOCK EXCHANGES ATTRACTED MORE THAN DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF BILLIONAIRES THAN USA STOCK EXCHANGES, 601 COMPARED WITH 252.

15.    SPORTS. MANY OF THE BILLIONAIRES OWN PROMINENT SPORTS TEAMS. FLORENTINO PEREZ’S REAL MADRID WON A THIRD EUROPEAN CUP IN A ROW; ROMAN ABRAMOVICH’S CHELSEA WON THE UK FA CUP. JOHN HENRY’S BOSTON RED SOX WON THE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. ARTHUR BLANK’S ATLANTA UNITED FC WON THE MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER.

(26 February 2019, Beijing and Mumbai) Hurun Report today released the Loong Palace ·Hurun Global Rich List 2019, a ranking of the US-Dollar billionaires in the world. Wealth calculations are a snapshot of 31 January 2019. This is the eight year of the ranking. Loong Palace is a Beijing luxury property developed by HK-listed Shimao.

The List at a glance

The Loong Palace· Hurun Global Rich List 2019 ranked 2,470 billionaires from 67 countries and from 1,931 companies.

Total wealth decreased by US$950 billion or 9% to US$9.6 trillion. Rupert Hoogewerf said, “Poor stock market performances and an appreciating dollar were the main reasons for this year’s record drop in billionaires. Despite the strong dollar and its tax cuts, the USA added only 13 billionaires, but made it harder for the rest of the world to make the cut.”

It has been a difficult year for billionaires in the Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019. 430 dropped off the list, a record number.

But there were still 201 new faces. China had the largest number of new faces with 52 led by Colin Huang Zheng of PDD. Others that stood out include Chinese Hotpot King Zhang Yong and wife Shu Ping, who became the richest restaurant owners in the world with US$8.4bn, rising eight-fold year on year; Beijing-based Zhang Yiming, 36, of ByteDance, which has been valued at a staggering US$75bn, making it the world’s most valuable unicorn after Jack Ma’s Ant Financial, and owns the popular short video platform Tik Tok; Zeng Yuqun, 51, of CATL, which sells Lithium batteries to the electric car industry; Beijing-based Lu Zhongfang, 77, and her son Li Yongxin, 43, at US$4.7bn, of training platform Offcn, which managed a backdoor listing with a valuation of US$8bn last month; Zhan Ketuan, 40, of bitcoin miner Bitmain, who has become the richest blockchain tycoon; Dubai-based Christopher Chandler of investment platform Legatum Group, who sold a chain of New Zealand department stores to invest into Russia, Japan, Brazil and the Czech Republic; Cliff Asness, considered the godfather of quant investing, co-founder of US$200bn global investment management firm AQR; Andrew Houston of Dropbox, which went IPO this year; Stripe co-founders John Collison and Patrick Collison’s wealth more than doubled based on reported US$20bn IPO valuation; Sydney-based Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, both 39, saw their wealth surge 68% on a strong performance of their Nasdaq-listed software platform Atlassian.

USA billionaires narrowed the gap with China, the gap that had been growing for the past four years, reducing it to 74, down from 248 last year. Today, there are 658 billionaires in Greater China compared with 584 in the USA.  Hoogewerf said, “Despite the slowdown in the Chinese economy, there is significant innovation going on, shown by China having more new faces than any other country in the world. China entrepreneurs have the advantage of scalability and a strong venture capital scene. China has 20% of the world population, yet makes up 27% of the world’s known billionaires.”

India may have gained 32 billionaires last year, but this year lost 28. Automobile, financial services and jewelry sector lost 8, 7 and 5 billionaires respectively followed by pharmaceuticals and FMCG 4 each. BSE’s Auto Index was down by 26% during the last year. Hoogewerf said, “India has 20% of the world population, yet makes up only 4% of the world’s known billionaires.”

The average lister is aged 64, one year older than last year.

How many billionaires are there in the world? Hoogewerf says, “The world today has just over 6,000 dollar billionaires, assuming that for every one we found, we have probably missed at least one if not more, particularly from the Gulf states. While some go to extraordinary lengths to conceal their wealth, for the most part, billionaires just prefer to be discreet, to prevent competitors muscling in on a good business or to protect their families.”

Rags to riches and back again in three generations? Hoogewerf says, “We found 80 billionaires from 50 families, who are fourth generation or more, suggesting that one in every forty families make it to the fourth generation still a billionaire.”

Liu Hui, President of Shimao Group North China Region Corporation, said: “We are delighted to launch the 2019 Global Rich List together with Hurun Report, the world’s largest rich list provider. For Shimao, we resonate the way of creating wealth and wealth group’s lifestyle. Over the past 20 years, Hurun Report has grown to become the world benchmark for tracking wealth creation. Correspondingly, Shimao Group is committed to build a more stimulating living environment for high net worth individuals. From the Riviera series, which started with Shanghai Shimao Riviera Garden, and the contemporary villa’s models of Shimao Sheshan Villa, to the top-level villa product line - Shimao Xishan Loong Palace in Beijing, Shimao Group has gone through the evolution towards building a legacy for high net worth families and especially providing them with their own lifestyle in both China and the rest of the world.”

Top Ten – Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

6 of the Top 10 are from the USA.  Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani led the charge, adding US$24bn and US$9bn. Ambani, 61, of Reliance Industries broke into the world’s Top 10 for the first time. The Top 10 grew 4% on average.

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2019 

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 10

Jeff Bezos of Amazon retains the top spot in the Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019, up a staggering US$24bn to US$147bn. Hoogewerf says, “The speed of wealth creation is picking up with globalisation. Bezos has created US$100bn of wealth in three years, earning the equivalent of ‘a Bill Gates’ in just three years!” Bezos’ bonanza came on the back of Amazon’s sales last year increasing by 31% to US$232.9bn. The company also widened its business interests with the acquisition of the pharmaceutical company PillPack in a US$1bn deal. Bezos announced his divorce from Mackenzie Bezos, which has led to speculation that half his wealth could be shared with Mackenzie, jumping her straight into the world’s Top 10.

Bill Gates, up by one place to second place on Loong  Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019, with US$96bn, up US$6bn or 7%. Hoogewerf says, “Despite his big donations, Gates is poised to break through the US$100bn mark.” In 2018, Gates pledged to donate US$1bn within five years to fight malaria. Gates’ wealth is now based on significant stakes in Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management Inc, Canadian National Railway, Walmart, Caterpillar as well as Microsoft.

Warren Buffett, down by a spot to third with a US$14bn or 14% decrease in his wealth. Last year Buffett raised his stakes in Apple, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon, and bought shares in JPMorgan Chase, Oracle, PNC Financial Services and Stoneco. Buffett gave away US$3.4bn worth of Berkshire Hathaway stocks to five charities in 2018, the chief one being the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bernard Arnault, up by one place, and US$8bn to US$86bn, takes the fourth position, his highest place ever. LVMH bucked the trend with a 10% increase in sales to US$54bn last year. In December, LVMH entered into a US$3.5bn contract to buy Belmond, the owner of luxury hotels including Venice's landmark Cipriani.

Mark Zuckerberg, down one place to fifth, with US$80bn. Despite the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the ensuing controversy over privacy, Zuckerberg’s wealth was still up by US$1bn. At 34, he is by far the youngest of the Top 10. The social networking giant celebrated its 15^th anniversary in January.

Carlos Slim Helu, up one place to sixth with US$66bn. The head of the telecommunication giant American Movil is also known for investments in commodities in South America. Helu is a significant shareholder of the New York Times and financial conglomerate Citigroup.

Amancio Ortega, down one place to seventh. The Spaniard owns Zara, through his holding company Inditex, which launched online sales in 106 new markets through its global platform. Last year, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index recognized the company as its most sustainable retailer. Ortega expanded his real estate investments through his holding Pontegadea by purchasing a US$385mn office building in Washington district.

Sergey Brin, 45, and Larry Page, 45, of Alphabet, both made the Top 10 for the first time, up 17% and 6% to US$54bn and US$53bn. Last year, Brin and Page celebrated the 20^th anniversary of Google, the key asset of Alphabet, which now processes 40,000 search queries a second. Brin recently revealed that he is also an avid data miner of Ethereum, the second largest crypto. The European Union fined Alphabet a record US$5.1bn for abusing the Android operating system’s dominance in the smartphone market.

Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries broke into the Top 10 in the world for the first time after a US$9bn or 20% surge in his wealth to US$54bn. The only Asian in the Top 10, Ambani’s wealth is based on telecom, retail and energy, and bucked the poor stock market trend in India in the last year. Ambani’s flagship Reliance Jio Infocomm announced the launch of international roaming between India and Japan, a first for India’s 4G mobile operators to provide VoLTE-based international roaming services in India. The company expanded its investment in the Entertainment sector with acquisitions worth US$700mn in Hathway and Den. In December, Ambani made world headlines with the high-profile wedding of his daughter Isha, 27, and topped the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018. Interestingly, Mukesh Ambani and his brother Anil Ambani may have started with similar amounts after inheriting from their father, but while Mukesh has added US$30bn in the past 7 years, his brother Anil has lost over US$5bn, from US$7bn seven years ago to US$1.9bn this year.

Stock Markets

The major indices of the G7, made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA, all witnessed drops in their stock markets, led by the Tokyo Stock Exchange which shrunk 43%. The Shanghai Stock Exchange dropped 23% and HK’s Hang Seng Index 15.7%. DAX dropped 15.3%, CAC 40 was down 8.9% and FTSE 100 was also down 7.5%. Indices that performed well last year included the Brazil Bovespa (15%) and the Saudi Arabia Tadawul All Share (14%). Nasdaq and India’s BSE Sensex remained relatively unchanged over the last year.

Currency

Tighter monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve boosted the dollar. The Chinese Yuan was down 5.6%, the Euro down 7.3% and the Pound Sterling down 7.4%. Hoogewerf says, “Despite the strong dollar and corporate tax cuts, the USA only added 13 billionaires.”

Where they live

The ‘Big Two’ are Greater China and the USA with 658 and 584 billionaires, making up half of the known billionaires on the planet. Germany and the UK took third and fourth place. It has been a bad year for India, which lost 28 billionaires, significantly all the gains it made last year. France dropped out of the Top 10 Countries, making way for Thailand. Norway and Monaco broke into the Top 30 for the first time. Beijing continues as the billionaire capital of the world, 11 ahead of New York, despite losing 28 in the last year. Stockholm and Mexico City broke into the Top 30 Cities this year.

Table: Where they live

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2019

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 30

Beijing is the ‘Billionaire Capital of the World’ for the fourth year running, ahead of New York. A staggering 7 of the Top 20 cities of residence are from Greater China, led by Beijing, followed by HK, Shenzhen and Shanghai and including Taipei, Hangzhou and Guangzhou. The USA had four cities in the Top 30, led by New York, and followed by San Francisco, Los Angeles and Dallas. Hoogewerf said, “The concentration of super wealth creators in Beijing is sparking a new generation of young entrepreneurs.”

Greater China: Still the world’s absolute No 1 with 658 billionaires. In China there is now a ‘Big Three Plus Two’. The ‘Big Three’ are Jack Ma of Alibaba with US$39bn, Pony Ma Huateng of Tencent (US$38bn) and Xu Jiayin of Evergrande (US$37bn). The ‘Plus Two’ are Li Ka-shing (US$29bn) and Lee Shau Kee (US$28bn), both 91 and from HK. The combined wealth of the Chinese billionaires is US$2 trillion, equivalent to 2.5% of global GDP. Real estate has generated most number of billionaires (142), followed by manufacturing (117) and TMT (84). Led by Beijing, 6 Chinese cities make the top 10 cities and 10 the Top 30. Hoogewerf says, “Shenzhen and Shanghai, as well as Beijing and HK, today have more known billionaires than London.” Average age is 59, five years younger than the average of the global list. China is the number 1 in the world in terms of generating self-made billionaires and is home to 77% of the world’s self-made female billionaires. There were 8 non-Chinese billionaires living in China, mainly in HK.

The USA is second behind China with 584 billionaires, up 13 since last year. Investments are ahead of TMT to remain the main source of wealth for American billionaires, with 116 and 110 billionaires respectively for each, followed by retail with 55. The combined wealth of the US billionaires was US$3 trillion, or 3.9% of global GDP, or just a little more than the GDP of France. New York has the highest concentration of billionaires (92), followed by San Francisco (36) and Los Angeles (24). California is the state with the most number of billionaires, 156, of which over half are from the Bay Area. The USA is the world-capital for immigrant billionaires. The average age of US billionaires increased to 67, three years higher than the average age of the global list.

Germany climbs to 3rd position with 117 billionaires. Food & Beverages led with 17 billionaires, followed by TMT and Retail with 16 each. The combined wealth of the German billionaires is US$464bn. Average age is 64. Hamburg is the preferred hub for most German billionaires followed by Munich.

The UK remains at 4^th with 109 billionaires, 9 less than last year. London is the undisputed city of choice for 65 of them. Real Estate and Retail led the way with 17 and 15 billionaires, followed by manufacturing, with 11. UK billionaires have a combined wealth of US$413bn, a negligible decrease. SP Hinduja (US$21bn) surpasses Leonard Blavatnik (US$19bn) to become the richest person living in the UK. The UK is second for immigrant billionaires, after the USA.

India drops to 5th spot with 104 billionaires, 28 less than last year. With US$54bn, Mukesh Ambani, 61, of Reliance is the richest person in India. Pharmaceuticals, TMT and FMCG led the way, with 18, 15 and 10 billionaires each. Mumbai and New Delhi are the billionaire capitals of the country with 42 and 25 finding residence there. The average age was 62, 2 less than the average of the total list. Total wealth is US$347bn. Indian billionaires lost one-fourth of their wealth amounting to US$107bn; 28 lost their billionaire status owing to 10% depreciation of the rupee and below average performance of the capital market. On a closer look, the broader market index SENSEX remains unchanged; however, the market capitalization of BSE listed companies came down by 9% to US$1,97bn. India lost almost all its billionaire gains of last year.  Last year added 32, this year lost 28.

Switzerland secured the 6^th position with 77 billionaires, down by 6. Geneva is the Swiss billionaire capital, with 17, followed by Zurich with 10. Preferred sectors are Pharmaceuticals (15 billionaires), Financial Services (7 billionaires) and Chemicals (6 billionaires). Combined wealth of the Swiss billionaires cumulates to US$315bn, down 5%.

Russia remains at 7^th with 59 billionaires, down by 12. All are self-made. The most popular sectors are metals & mining and energy with 15 and 12 billionaires. Moscow is home for 52 of them, ranking 7^th, down from first place less than ten years ago. The combined wealth of the Russian billionaires comes to US$270bn, down 10%. With US$21bn Leonid Mikhelson (64), of energy giant Novatek, is the richest Russian.

Brazil, jumps to 8^th with 53 billionaires, four more than last year. The combined wealth of the Brazilian billionaires is US$152bn, 13% less than last year. The preferred sector is financial services and manufacturing with 14 and 8 billionaires respectively. Sao Paulo is the preferred city and is home to 32 billionaires. The richest man in Brazil is Joseph Safra (US$19bn).

Thailand jumps to the 9^th position with 50 billionaires up 6 on top of last year’s rise of 12, mainly on the back of new billionaires found from the CP Group. Their combined wealth is US$153bn, up 2.6%. The preferred sector is Food & Beverages with 27 billionaires followed by Conglomerate with 6. Bangkok is the preferred city for almost all of Thai billionaires.

France, the luxury capital of the world, drops to 10th position with 48 billionaires, three down than last year. The combined wealth of the French billionaires is US$401bn, 2% down on last year. The preferred sector is Food & Beverages and Luxury goods with 8 and 5 billionaires respectively. Paris is the preferred city and is home to 36 billionaires. The richest man in France, Bernard Arnault, is also the Number One European with a wealth of US$86bn.

Source of Wealth by Industry – Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

TMT added the most number of billionaires this year and was the undisputed main source of wealth for the world’s billionaires. Top five industries accounted for half the billionaires on the list. The Top 10 industries accounted for over 70% of the world’s known billionaires.

Blockchain had 5 billionaires led by Bitcoin miner Zhan Ketuan, 40, of Bitmain with US$2.7bn, followed by Chris Larson of Ripple and Bitmain co-founder Wu Jihan, 33, with US$1.5bn each. Crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance founders Brian Armstrong, 36, and Zhao Chaopeng, 42, both made the list with US$1.3bn. Hoogewerf says, “Whilst crypto values may have plummeted in the past year, a handful of businesses have started to spring up. Many billionaires from other sectors have now started to invest into blockchain technology.”

USA and China accounted for 65% of TMT billionaires in the list.

TABLE: Source of Wealth – Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 10

New Entrants to Top 100.  There were 27 new entrants to the Top 100, led by Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer of Chanel. 84 billionaires retained their ranks in Top 100 and 23 billionaires moved out of top 100 this year. At US$3tn, Cumulative wealth of top 100 remains stagnant compared to last year. Some of the others new entrants include Indian vaccine tycoon Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum, which saw its revenue grow by more than 20% and Roman Abramovich, of Millhouse, whose valuation increased based on inclusion of new assets.

TABLE: New entrants to the Top 100

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

Young & Rich. There are 85 billionaires aged 40 or under, same as last year. 43 self-made with 42 inherited. USA and China led the way with 27 and 18, making up over half the Under 40s. With 6 billionaires, German medical device manufacturer B. Braun contributed the most billionaires under 40. 25% are women.

TABLE: Youngest Self-Made Billionaires

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

China versus the USA. 2016 was the year that China overtook the USA in terms of known billionaires. Hoogewerf says, “Despite the Chinese stock markets being at their lowest for the past five Hurun Global Rich Lists, since before China overtook the USA in 2016, there are still more known billionaires in China than the USA. Should the Chinese stock markets rebound, expect the number of Chinese billionaires to shoot up.”

Immigrants: 10.1%, up from 9.1%, of the billionaires are first-generation immigrants, led by 65 in the USA, 37 in the UK and 21 in Switzerland. Sergey Bin, 45, of Google is the wealthiest immigrant. Hoogewerf said, “Whilst the USA is the preferred destination of young immigrants who go on to become billionaires, the UK, Switzerland and Singapore continue to be the world’s capitals for billionaire immigrants.”

TABLE: Top 10 Immigrant Billionaires – Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

Politically Affiliated Billionaires

Donald Trump, the highest-profile billionaire politician, saw his wealth drop US$500 million to US3bn, dropping him down 46 places to 793. Other billionaires in politics include the prime minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babis (Rank: 844, down 281 places and 33% to US$2.9bn, Agrofert), who took office in December last year.

In China, 90 billionaires, down 16 from 106, are delegates to the National People’s Congress (34, down 13 from 47) or the CPPCC (56, down 3 from 59).

Former prime minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili (Rank: 302, US$6.1bn, Rossiyskiy Kredit Bank), 4-time Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (Rank: 373, down 111 places and 25% to US$5.4bn, Mediaset) and caretaker prime minister of Lebanon in 2005 Najib Mikati (Rank:1108, US$2.6bn, MTN).

Billionaires who have won elections include Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, down 10 places and 14% to 20^th with US$42bn; Magdalena Blocher, an elected official in the National Council of the Swiss parliament.

Others. George Soros (Rank:189, US$8.5bn, Soros Fund Management) launched ‘The Best for Britain’ campaign, with the stated objective of promoting a second Brexit referendum. Soros topped the Hurun USA-China Philanthropy List 2018 with a massive US$18bn donation to his Open Society Foundation.  Charles and David Koch pledged to spend close to US$400mn to promote conservative policies. Sheldon Adelson spent more than US$200mn in the past few years championing GOP candidates and conservative causes. Howard Schultz of Starbucks has recently announced that he is considering to run for US Presidential race. Thomas Steyer (rank 1580, US$1.6Bn) has announced he is planning to put pressure on Democrats to impeach Trump.

Mikhail Prokhorov (Rank 100, US$13bn, Polyus Gold) joined Russian politics in 2011 and formed the ‘Party of Civic Platform’.

Chinese diaspora. 29.5% of the world’s billionaires are of Chinese origin, cancelling out last year’s 3% rise. Outside of Greater China, the Chinese diaspora are based predominantly in South East Asia, led by Singapore. Chinese make up 20% of the world’s population.

Greater China was made up of Mainland China with 540 (-148), Hong Kong 63 (-17) and Taiwan 47 (+5) billionaires respectively.

TABLE: Chinese billionaire diaspora around the world

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

Big IPOs. The past year has thrown up some huge IPOs, led by Chinese group buying platform Meituan-Dianping and Chinese smartphone ecosystem Xiaomi, which both raised money on valuations of US$50bn. Pinduoduo raised on a valuation of US$30bn. Music platforms Spotify and Tencent Music both raised money on a valuation of over US$20bn. Video streaming platform iQiyi raised money on a valuation of US$11bn and Dropbox on just under US$10bn. Car companies Aston Martin and NextEV raised money on US$6bn, although interestingly, Lithium battery maker CATL, which sells its batteries to the car industry, raised money on a higher valuation of US$12bn.

New entrants in the rich list due to IPOs this year, listed below.

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019; Hurun Research Institute 2019

Billionaire philanthropy. Billionaires continued to give big-time, although Dutchman Rutger Bregman, 30, pressed the issue of tax avoidance at the World Economic Forum this year.

The Hurun USA-China Philanthropy List 2018, found 366 individuals from the USA and China, who had donated US$5m or more in the year to March 31.  The USA led with 290, China had 76. Total donations came to US$40 billion, with an average donation of US$109mn. 6 individuals made billion-dollar donations, led by George Soros, and followed by Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, He Xiangjian of Midea and Michael Dell. With 58%, Education, especially to their alma mater, was the preferred cause followed by Healthcare with 18%. See https://www.hurun.net/EN/Article/Details?num=F610898DA6C4

Warren Buffet gave away close to US$3bn worth of stocks in Berkshire Hathaway to organisations including the Gates Foundation and the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation.

Sports apparel retailer Nike founder Phil Knight has given away close to 1% of the company, worth US$960mn, to Knight Foundation, Nike’s philanthropic arm.

Swiss origin billionaire Hansjorg Wyss pledged to give US$1bn for nature conservation in the next decade.

Technology billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a donation of US$1.8bn to his alma mater, John Hopkins University, for providing financial aid to students.

Winton Capital’s David Harding gave US$130mn to Cambridge University to fund scholarships for 100 Ph.D. students and to attract students from under-represented groups.

Ukraine-born Leonard Blavatnik of LyondellBasell made a donation of US$200mn to Harvard Medical School. Blavatnik is known to regularly donate to support life-sciences research and education.

Jeff Bezos announced the launch of a new charity, the Bezos One Day Fund, and agreed to donate US$2bn to help charities that support the homeless as well as early childhood education centres.

Big Deals. Some deals that have made the headlines recently.

·         Li Shufu of Geely surprised the markets in February last year, when he became the biggest shareholder in Mercedes-Benz after taking a US$9bn stake in Daimler.

·         Walmart, owned by the world’s richest family, bought India’s top online retailer Flipkart for US$16bn, acquiring a 77% stake in the company.

·         Larry Ellison’s multimedia software giant Adobe acquired cloud B2B marketing software company Marketo for US$4.7bn from Robert Smith’s Vista Equity Partners.

·         Ding Shizhong of sports brand Anta announced that it was purchasing Finland sports products giant Amer Sports, in a US$5bn deal. Amer Sports includes ski brands Salomon and Atomic Skis, as well as Wilson.

·         Jiang Weiping of Tianqi Lithium announced a US$4bn deal to purchase a share in Chilean lithium giant Sociedad Quimica y Minera.

·         Wang Xing’s Meituan-Dianping spent US$3.7bn buying up China’s leading bicycle-sharing app Mobike in April.

·         Chen Dongshen of Taikang Insurance announced a US$1.4bn investment into the UK’s Hinkley Point nuclear power plant.

·         Wang Jianlin of Wanda continues to divest his global portfolio, selling 37 department stores to fellow rich lister Zhang Jindong of Suning. Wang has been on a selling spree in the last two years, to improve his cashflow.

·         Ant Financial has just completed the acquisition of Worldfirst, a UK cross-border payments company in February, for a reported US$700 million.

·         John Morgridge’s Cisco, one of the biggest names in computer networking, acquired Michigan-based cyber-security company Duo Security for $2.3bn

·         Marc Benioff’s Salesforce bought integrated software company MuleSoft for US$6.5bn. Benioff also bought Time from Meredith Corp for US$190mn

·         Microsoft bought one of the largest web-hosting servers and development community, GitHub for US$7.5bn

·         UK-based Indian steel magnate Lakshmi N Mittal won a bid to acquire Essar Steel India for close to US$6bn, his first core investment in his home country.

·         In August, Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov of MegaFon agreed to sell his 30% stake in Arsenal FC for close to US$700mn to majority owner Stanley Kroenke of Kroenke Group.

·         Frenchman Xavier Neil, through Iliad and his personal investment vehicle, has bought a 64.5% stake in phone company Eir in a deal worth US$3.9bn.

·         Vincent Ballore of Havas has bought a 24% stake, valued at US$1.8bn, in French media conglomerate Universal Music Group ahead of its anticipated IPO.

·         Patrick Soon-Shiong of Nant Works spent US$500mn to acquire the Los Angeles Times and San-Diego Union Tribune, two California-based news organisations.

·         Guo Guangchang of Fosun invested over US$100m in French fashion brand Lanvin.

Billionaires spending big

·         Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin of Citadel bought a New York penthouse for a record US$238mn in the most expensive US home purchase ever

·         Technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes of Atlassian has bought a US$73mn mansion along with his wife in the Sydney suburbs

·         Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper finalized a deal to acquire the NFL team Carolina Panthers in a deal that valued the group at US$2.2bn.

·         The American billionaire, Dan Snyder will be the first one to own a 350ft yacht called Lady S with an IMAX theatre installed for US$100mn

Some interesting facts about the list

·         The Olympian Billionaires. Agnete Kirk Thinggaard (US$3bn) is a Danish Olympic dressage rider, who represented Denmark at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro

·         The second IPO: The legendary blue denim company, Levis and Strauss, is scheduled to go public this year with an estimated valuation of US$5bn. For the first time, the members of Haas family, Peter E Haas Jr (US$1.1bn) and Mimi L. Haas (US$1bn) – have found their spot in the list

·         Michael Jordan, majority owner of Charlotte Bobcats, ranked 1903, led the USA men’s basketball team to gold medals in two Olympics in 1984 and 1992 respectively

·         Ion Tiriac, a national hero in Romania, ranked 2037. Tiriac represented the Romanian ice hockey team in the 1964 Winter Olympics and won the 1970 French Open in men's doubles grand slam title.

·         “Go long and compound”- One of the interesting new additions to this year’s list is Herbert Wertheim, 79, who brought into Microsoft at the time of IPO, Apple when it was at US$10 and Heico, when it was a penny stock; He registered US$2bn networth this year.

·         57% of billionaires derived their wealth from listed companies

·         Oldest: The oldest on the list is Chee Chen Tung of Johnson Electric aged 102.

·         Richest Families: The Walton family of Walmart is the richest family in the world with a cumulative net worth of US$173bn, ahead of Jeff Bezos.

Largest Market Capitalizations. Amazon overtook Microsoft and Alphabet to become the largest company by market cap, founded or significantly owned by a billionaire on the list. Alibaba, Tencent and Samsung are the only non-USA companies that make the Top 10.

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy

Self-made degrees: Hurun Research’s bespoke measure of the degree to which billionaires are inherited or self-made. The scorecard is out of five, where 1 is inherited and not active in business, and 5 is self-made without help from parents. Hoogewerf said, “Many billionaires like to portray themselves as self-made, but have in fact inherited significant wealth, which at best has done nothing more than match the S&P 500 over the years.”

65% are self-made and 35% are inherited. China is the world’s engine when it comes to self-made billionaires.

TABLE: Hurun Self-Made Scorecard by Country

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2019

Companies that created most Billionaires. Thailand based conglomerate, Charoen Pokphand (CP Group) created more billionaires than any other company on the Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019. Red Bull’s shareholders are led by Dietrich Mateschitz, together with the 11 children of co-founder Chaleo Yoovidhya.

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy

40 billionaires died. Between them, they passed down US$180bn to 27 family members. A handful donated the bulk of their wealth to charity. The average age of death was 82.

Kenneth KT Yen of Taiwan died of cancer, aged only 53. Wang Jian of troubled Chinese investment conglomerate HNA, died in an accident in France, aged 57. Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a helicopter crash in the UK after watching his team Leicester City play a football match.

TABLE: The billionaire obituary – Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2019

TABLE: Billionaires by Continent

By Continent. Asia pipped North America with US$3.5tn compared with US$3.3tn. Africa has 24 known billionaires, led by Aliko Dangote, 61, of Dangote Cements.

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

Stats

The cut-off required to break into the Top 1000 is down 7%. The cut-off to the Top 10 is at record levels, US$53bn.

TABLE: Stats – Cut-off through the Years

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

TABLE: Stats – Number of Billionaires through the Years

Although the list shrunk in size this year, it has over 200 billionaires more than two years ago and 70% more than 2013.

Source: Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019  *In 2012, Hurun Global Rich List only ranked those with US$10bn

About Shimao Xishan Loong Palace

Shimao Xishan Loong Palace is located in Xishan area in Beijing. This project belongs to the top-level product line and represents the beginning of Shimao Group’s highest creation level. The precious nature resources, abundant social resources and cultural resources collaboratively construct Shimao Group’s ingenuity and determination to continue legend.

Shimao Xishan Loong Palace is located in core region of new Shang-zhuang Road in Haidian District and closely near Zhongguancun Cuihu Science Park. Currently, more than 2000 companies have been settled in the park, including Baidu, Tencent and other technology giants.

Shimao Xishan Loong Palace is 2km away from The North Yard of the Palace Museum, which will be the first big branch institute of the famous Palace Museum. In the future, this division associated with fairy mountains and gardens will be the next cultural pilgrimage site in Beijing.

Combined with CuiHu Wetland and Shangzhuang Reservoir, Shimao Xishan Loong Palace should be called the perfect connection of natural resources, architectural intelligence and good location with high appreciation potential.

The creation of Shimao Xishan Loong Palace deserves such a rare and precious land at the foot of Xishan. In the design of architecture, we create courtyard which locates the main yard around the house and a smaller one in the house, and the double-ground-floor design with Tsinghua University. With such split-level design and five-fold garden, our courtyard is well equipped with intensity, dignity and glamour. In the creation of landscape, we use the skills of “three mountains and five gardens” to make the scenery of three gardens in one scene. Meanwhile, Shimao Xishan Loong Palace guarantees less than 200 villas in one residential zone to ensure the privacy. More importantly, Shimao Xishan Loong Palace cooperates with several intangible heritage masters, like bronze architect Zhu Binreng, cloisonne artist Li Peiqing, embroidery master Yao Jianping and so on to construct Chinese traditional style life.

What Shimao Xishan Loong Palace reproduces is not only a beautiful courtyard at foot of Xishan Mountain, but also the Chinese lifestyle aesthetics and intelligence cultivated in the past thousands of years. Since launched to the market, Shimao Xishan Loong Palace never changes the mission “inheritance of culture” when receiving clients’ visiting. Nowadays, Shimao Xishan Loong Palace has started a series of crossover project through profound cooperation with the Palace Museum Fund. Joint with Tsinghua University and YNET, we launch the project “understandable Architecture”. Through several cultural events with Chang An Club, Sparkle Roll Group and Zunlife, we reappear Western Garden Collection and traditional cultural rally in the garden.

Precisely added with such high value, unique product and culture cohesion, Shimao Xishan Loong Palace has been the limelight in the market of luxury residence in 2008.

It is reported that, since July 2018, the first-stage property of Shimao Xishan Loong Palace has been sold out. At present, the more anticipated second-stage product has been brought to market. High-end buyers’ enthusiasm is beyond dispute. Shimao Xishan Loong Palace will again lead the trends of high-end property in Beijing.

About Hurun Report Inc.

Nobody Knows China’s Rich Better!

Established in 1999 by British accountant Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Inc. has grown into a leading research platform based in Shanghai and Mumbai, best-known for its China and India rich lists, and with 150 employees today. Hurun Report Inc. has four main divisions.

Hurun Research Institute ‘World’s Largest Rich List Provider’

2019 marks the 20^th anniversary of Hurun Report, highlighting the fastest wealth creating period in the history of the world.

The Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World has been highlighting for over ten years the fact that over 70% of the world’s most successful women in business herald from China, ie Chinese are completely dominant in the world of women in business. This has changed the way the world looks at Chinese women in business.

The Hurun China Philanthropy List ranks the most generous individuals in China and is now in its 15th anniversary.  With no inheritance tax, Chinese give much more generously than many have previously understood. 

Two recent lists with an impact include the Hurun China Unicorn Index, ranking the most dynamic businesses with a valuation of US$1bn or more in China; and the Hurun Most Successful University Alumni.

In India, Hurun Research has launched the Hurun India Rich List for the seventh time last year, and has an active events business there.

‘World Authority on the Chinese High Net Worth Individual’

Recent research partners include financial institutions (PingAn, Bank of China, Taikang Life, Minsheng, Citic), local government (Shanghai, Changbaishan) and Global 500 multinationals (Marriott, Country Garden, Agile, Audi, Volvo).

Three breakthrough lists this past year: Hurun Good Doctors’ List, a ranking of the 9500 most respected doctors in China, broken down by region and speciality; Hurun Best International Schools List; and Hurun Creative Works Intellectual Property List, in Search of the Harry Potter of China, ranking those online novels with the most valuable IPs.

The Hurun Art List ranks the top artists alive today in China for the 12th year and has become a household name amongst artists.

Media and Events ‘The Hurun brand gets 200 million views a month in China’

The Hurun brand has become one of the few non-Chinese media brands to become a household name across China.

Hurun Media monetizes 1 million views a month in China, through its wechat, weibo, website and legacy magazine.

Recent themed events include blockchain, fintech and 30 under 30, with industry-respected awards. We deliver 100+ events a year in China, with 200 entrepreneurs from the Hurun China Rich List attending.

Hurun Report kicked off the world's largest Chinese New Year dinner series in Shanghai on January 16, and is going to 8 cities across 4 continents. Toronto on Jan 20, New York Jan 23, LA Jan 25, London Jan 28, Istanbul Jan 29, Luxembourg Jan 31 and ending up in Sydney on Feb 18. Hurun Report’s mission is to create the world's largest platform of China gatekeepers.

Investments

Hurun Investments has a portfolio of 20 companies with a market value of US$50 million, with investments into tech, media, design, education as well as a vintage car race and a tailor.

The number "20" is integrated into the Chinese character ‘谊’ pronounced 'yi', meaning 'friendship', symbolizing how building friendships is at the core of how Hurun Report does business with its partners.

For further information, see www.hurun.net 

TABLE: Top 100 - Loong Palace·Hurun Global Rich List 2019

For the full list of 2,470 billionaires in the world, see www.hurun.net