******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ********************
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*****************************************************************
US dethroned as world's billionaire capital
Thursday, 15 Oct 2015 | 12:26 PM ETCNBC.com
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/15/us-dethroned-as-worlds-billionaire-capital.html
The U.S. has lost its crown as the country with the most billionaires.
According to a report released Thursday, China minted 242 billionaires
over the past year, leading to a nearly 70 percent jump in its
billionaire population. The country's 596 billionaires surpassed the
number of billionaires in the United States, at 537, according to the
Hurun Rich List.
Wang Jianlin (L), chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group, shakes hands with
Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group last April.
ChinaFotoPress | Getty Images
Wang Jianlin (L), chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group, shakes hands with
Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group last April.
Released Thursday, the report found China produced nearly five
billionaires a week during the year ended Aug. 14.
To be sure, the list was created at the beginning of China's stock
market swoon — so it's unclear how much wealth was destroyed during the
remainder of August and September. At the time of the list's cutoff,
stock markets were already 30 percent off their June peak, but have
dropped another 14 percent since.
"Despite the slowdown in the economy, China's richest have defied
gravity, recording their best year ever, and creating more wealth than
any country has ever done before in a year," said Rupert Hoogewerf, the
Hurun Report's chairman and chief researcher.
The numbers from Hurun, a Chinese-based wealth research and
luxury-advisory company, differ from those of Forbes, which said in
March that China had only 213 billionaires, compared with 536 in the
U.S. (For more on the fuzzy math of calculating billionaires see here.)
Yet they nonetheless suggest that despite widespread fears of a slowdown
in China's economy and the government's crackdown on the wealthy, the
Chinese super-rich continue to prosper. According to the report, the
total combined wealth of China's billionaires was $2.1 trillion.
The richest man in China as of August was Wang Jianlin, chairman of
conglomerate Dalian Wanda, who snatched the top spot back from Jack Ma
of Alibaba.
With a net worth of $34.4 billion, Wang Jianlin and Dalian Wanda have
made a string of high-profile purchases in recent years, including a
$20.4 million Monet he bought at Sotheby's this spring.
Technology was the fastest-growing source of wealth among the top 10,
according to Hurun, yet real estate was still the largest source of
wealth for those Chinese rich. Five of the top 10 richest billionaires
made their money from real estate.
The government crackdown on corruption among the Chinese rich also has
had ripple effects for several names on the billionaire list. Hurun said
that 16 of the people on the 2014 rich list are in "varying degrees of
trouble with the authorities," with one in jail, four awaiting trial,
seven under investigation, one under arrest and three with "whereabouts
unknown."
According to the report, 95 percent of the Chinese rich are self-made.
"The influence of these top entrepreneurs is growing, as we saw in
September when President Xi took nine of the Hurun Rich List in his
official 15-strong entourage to visit the U.S.," Hoogewerf said.
China's top 10 billionaires
Rank
Name
Wealth (US$bn)
Wealth Change
Age
Company
Industry
1 Wang Jianlin & family 34.4 52% 61 Wanda Real
estate, entertainment
2 Jack Ma Yun & family 22.7 -3% 51 Alibaba IT
3 Zong Qinghou & family 21.1 8% 70 Wahaha Drinks
4 Pony Ma Huateng 18.8 11% 44 Tencent IT
5 Lei Jun 14.4 104% 46 Xiaomi Technology Smart
phones, investments
6 Yan Hao & family 14.2 7% 29 China Pacific
Construction Road building
7 Robin Li Yanhong & Melissa Ma Dongmin 13.3 -19% 47, 45
Baidu Search Engine
8 * Lu Zhiqiang 13 137% 63 Fanhai Real estate,
finance, investments
9 * Zhang Jindong 12.7 84% 52 Suning Retail,
real estate
10 * Lu Guanqiu & family 10.2 65% 69 Wanxiang
Car parts, real estate, agriculture
10 Yan Bin 10.2 8% 61 Reignwood Red Bull, real
estate
Hurun Research Institute 2015; *New to top 10
_________________________________________________________
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at:
http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
