During the last week, 400 of the world's richest people lost USD $182 billion from their collective fortunes as a slide in commodities and weak manufacturing data from China sent global markets plunging.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a group that includes Warren Buffett and Glencore's Ivan Glasenberg, saw the biggest drop since tracking of the expanded list began in September 2014. The combined net worth of the index members fell by $76 billion on Friday alone, when the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of US stocks ended its worst week since 2011, reports Bloomberg Business.
"For them, that's a fractional percentage, even though $182 billion is a big number. A week like this feels really bad, but when you take a step back, in a big picture view it's not a disaster by any means," said John Collins, director of investment advisory at Aspiriant, which oversees more than $8 billion for high net worth clients, according to NewsMax Finance.
With Berkshire Hathaway slipping more than 5 percent, the week's largest setback in dollar terms was experienced by Buffett, who saw his fortune drop by $3.6 billion. The investor is the world's third-wealthiest person, with a fortune of $63.4 billion, reports The Sunday Morning Herald.
Wang Jianlin of Dalian was among China's 26 wealthiest people who lost $18.8 billion during the week. Jianlin's Wanda Commercial Properties was hit the hardest, losing $3.5 billion.
While some lost billions, a few made appreciable gains in their personal worth. Despite the markets being in turmoil, eleven billionaires added to their fortunes. The week's biggest dollar gainer was Sun Pharmaceuticals' Dilip Shanghvi. The world's 39th-richest person became $467 million wealthier, elevating his net worth to $18.9 billion.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index takes measure of the world's wealthiest people based on market and economic changes and Bloomberg News reporting. Each net-worth figure is updated every business day at 5.30 p.m. in New York and listed in U.S. dollars.
