World’s Richest Gain $21.4 Billion As Batista Falters

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-29/world-s-richest-gain-21-4-billion-as-batista-falters.html

The world’s richest people added a combined $21.4 billion to their collective net worth this week as the wealth gap between billionaire Carlos Slim and Eike Batista widened to more than $50 billion.

Batista’s net worth fell $4 billion. Shares of the tycoon’s commodities empire plunged after his oil company, OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA, cut its production targets by as much as 75 percent on June 27. Batista, 55, is now worth $20.5 billion and ranks 23rd on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily measure of the wealthiest people on Earth.

Global markets surged Friday after European leaders reached an agreement that eased concern banks will fail, erasing losses sustained by some billionaires earlier in the week. Stocks and the euro surged the most this year, and oil had its biggest gain since 2009.

“The fact that European leaders convened until four in the morning convinced investors that they are committed to some kind of a workable solution,” said Jack Ablin, who helps oversee $60 billion at BMO Harris Private Bank in Chicago. “They know it’s not going to be easy to keep their leaky boat afloat.”