Forbes report: Billionaires’ wealth grew by 36 percent in last year

Forbes report: Billionaires’ wealth grew by 36 percent in last year
By Jamie Chapman
9 March 2004

As at least a billion people on the planet subsist on the equivalent of a dollar a day or less, the concentration of wealth among a handful of people at the top has set new records. In its current issue, Forbes magazine lists a record 587 individuals and family units worth $1 billion or more, an increase from 476 in 2003. The combined wealth of this year’s billionaires also reached record levels—a staggering $1.9 trillion, an increase of $500 billion in just one year, due largely to resurging stock prices over the last 12 months. The wealth of these few hundred people exceeds the gross domestic product of the world’s 170 poorest countries combined and equals nearly 4 percent of the annual production of the entire world.

Leading the pack, as he has the last 10 years, is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at $46.6 billion. His wealth is up 14.5 percent over last year, but still well off his 1999 peak of $90 billion, before the dot.com bubble burst. Besides his interest in Microsoft, Gates owns substantial pieces of Comcast and Cox cable companies, Canadian National Railway, and the waste disposal giant Republic Services.

Number two on the list is investor Warren Buffett, whose net worth is estimated at $42.9 billion, a whopping $12.4 billion increase in just one year. Through his investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway, whose stock price has gone up 50 percent over the last year, Buffett owns Geico and General Re insurance companies, as well as sizeable stakes in Coca- Cola, American Express, Gillette, and Wells Fargo, among others.

Dropping down to number three at $23 billion is the retired German supermarket magnate Karl Albrecht, followed at $21.5 billion by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (who owns a $10 billion investment in Citigroup). Fifth is Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen at $21 billion. Rounding out the top 10 are the widow and each of the four children of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, worth an estimated $20 billion apiece, based on the 38 percent stake they share in the discount retailer that has grown to be the world’s largest company in terms of sales.

Not surprisingly, New York City boasts the largest concentration of the mega-rich, with 31 billionaires residing in the city and nine more living nearby. The second-largest concentration is now found in Moscow, where eight new members joined the elite club this year, bringing the total there up to 23. Hong Kong follows with 16, and San Francisco boasts 11. Paris, Los Angeles and Tokyo have 10 each. London trails with nine.

Nearly half of the world’s billionaires live in the United States. These 275 people have a combined net worth of $909 billion. Germany is second, with 42 billionaires worth $158 billion.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/forb-m09.shtml

They have cut costs to the bone, so why WOULDN'T they make huge profits..??

If I all of a sudden didn't have to pay my housepayment, I would have a huge "increase" in my wealth :eyes:

the government ignores corporate filth all the time. If we sunk to corporate level en masse, maybe they'd regain some honor and dignity?

I'm stopping here because I'm about to make some pretty strong comments...

The second that Bush signs that bankruptcy bill he's trying to push, MILLIONS of middle class people will bail out.. Lots of people are existing on credit cards, and as long as they have that "possibility" to file at some future date, they are hanging in there, BUT.. if that law passes andgets signed, there will be a "window of opportunity" and they will jump through that window.

There is no use for such monumental amounts of money except to buy governments.

People whose heads are firmly in reality, rather than being firmly up their backside, also know how many more POOR have been created. Which is far, far more... x(

Person X getting filthy rich at the expensive of Person A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,Y, and Z's very life is depraved, to say the very least... I don't steal or exploit others, so why should they (and get away with it)?

Edit: spelling