America's Richest People America's Biggest Billionaire Losers Of 2008 Duncan Greenberg, 12.16.08, 04:47 PM EST
Last year casino mogul Sheldon Adelson was on top of the world. When the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans was published in September 2007, the gruff son of a Boston cab driver--who spent his life amassing a mega-fortune in conventions and casinos--was worth $28 billion. A month later, shares of his *Las Vegas Sands * (nyse: LVS<http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=LVS>- news <http://search.forbes.com/search/CompanyNewsSearch?ticker=LVS> - people <http://people.forbes.com/search?ticker=LVS>) casino company had swelled to an all-time high of $144 a share, adding another $10 billion to Adelson's fortune. Between September 2006 and September 2007, he made $20.5 million per day. *In Pictures: America's 25 Biggest Billionaire Losers<http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/16/billionaires-adelson-casino-biz-billies-cz_dg_1216biggestlosers_slide_2.html?thisspeed=25000> * Proud of his accomplishments, the plutocrat reportedly adopted a new nickname. According to a 2008 article in *The New Yorker* magazine, he began referring to himself as "Sheldon Adelson the 3rd," a nod to his place on our list as America's third-richest citizen. (Adelson's spokesman declined to comment for this story.) That was before the economy fell apart. Since the beginning of 2008, LVS shares have plummeted 95%, erasing $24 billion from Adelson's fortune as cost-conscious consumers stay away from casinos in Las Vegas<http://topics.forbes.com/Las%20Vegas>and Macau. When the next Forbes 400 is published in September 2009, Adelson will likely be vying just to stay on the list unless the economy rapidly recovers. (He's doing everything he can to stay rich: This fall Adelson injected $1 billion of his own cash into LVS to help keep the company afloat). Adelson tops the Forbes list of America's 25 biggest losers of 2008, an estimate of the largest drops (in dollars) of American citizens holding publicly traded stocks from Jan. 2, 2008 to Dec. 5, 2008. It excludes shares bought or sold during that period. Fortunes tied to privately held companies were not evaluated; they will be re-tallied for our list of the World's Billionaires in March. Combined, the tycoons on our ranking lost $167 billion in 11 months, while shares of the companies in which they own stakes fell an average 59%.
