 | | Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates may have shed billion, but he remains the world's richest person |
Even the world's richest people feel the sting of a depressed economy and shrinking stock portfolios.
The world's distinct club of billionaires dropped 83 members this year to 497 as recession and fallout from the terrorist attacks reduced their wealth. The group's combined worth fell to .54 trillion from .73 trillion last year, according to Forbes magazine's 16th annual ranking of billionaires released on February 28.Among the missing: AOL Time Warner Chairman Steve Case, whose company stock has declined by about half since last year, and Gary Winnick, chairman of Global Crossing, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January. They led a second year of decline in the number of billionaires since the tech downturn began pressuring the world economy in 2000. Gates, Billion Poorer, Is Still No. 1 Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates lost billion last year, but that didn't stop him from being the richest man in the world for the 8th year in a row. With a net worth of .8 billion, Gates remained comfortably ahead of Warren Buffet, who held the No. 2 spot with billion. German retailers Theo and Karl Albrecht climbed two notches to No. 3, with a net value of .8 billion. They pushed Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, ranked third last year with a value of .4 billion, to No. 4 after he lost .2 billion, partly in the stock market bust. Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison had the fifth spot, while five heirs of the Wal-Mart fortune created by founder Sam Walton rounded out the top 10. Only 25 on the list are under 40, led by 37-year-old computer founder Michael Dell at No. 18. The highest-ranking rich woman was No. 8, Alice Walton, with assets of .5 billion. Among Biggest Losers: Ted Turner Among the countries, the United States led the list with 243 billionaires, down from 272 last year, with a combined net worth of 1 billion. One of the bigger losers was CNN founder Ted Turner, now a vice chairman at AOL Time Warner, who lost 50 percent of his net worth to .8 billion. He dropped 62 places on the list to No. 97. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of the financial information company Bloomberg, spent million of his own money to win his first political campaign last fall. Still, he saw his ranking move up 10 places to No. 72, despite losing a total of 0 million to have assets of .4 billion. Europe had 121 billionaires, headed by the Albrechts and Germany's Johanna Quandt and family, whose 46 percent ownership of automaker BMW helped put them at No. 12. Asia, led by Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud at No. 11, notched 70 billionaires. A loser was Japan's Yasuo Takei and family, whose .1 billion in losses dropped him 14 places to No. 51 as the country battles deflation and a decade-long economic slowdown. Japan accounted for five of Asia's 15 former billionaires who dropped from the list this year. Of the 497 total billionaires from 43 countries, 260 inherited some or all of their wealth, and the rest made their money themselves. Twenty-seven are college dropouts. | 目前，全球經濟正面臨不同程度的衰退，股市一蹶不振，在這樣的經濟環境里，即使是世界排名前幾位的億萬富翁們也吃到了苦頭。 2月28日的《福布斯》雜志公布了第16次全球富翁年度排名結果。由于受9·11恐怖事件影響，全球經濟衰退導致富翁們的身價大為縮水，因此身價超過10億美元的富翁只有497名，比去年少了83名。而這些巨富們的財產總數也從去年的17300億美元跌至15400億美元。 今年跌出排行榜的富翁包括：全球最大的媒體公司美國在線-時代華納（AOL Time Warner）主席史蒂夫·凱斯，該公司股票自去年以來已經下跌了將近一半；美國電信公司（Global Crossing）主席加里·溫尼克，該公司今年1月份申請了破產保護。 這是自2000年科技經濟低迷給全球經濟造成壓力以來，持續第二年入圍人數的大幅減少。 損失60億，蓋茨仍位居榜首 盡管去年微軟創始人之一比爾·蓋茨損失了60億美元，但他仍然是世界上最富有的人。今年已經是他連續八年登上富翁排行榜的榜首了。蓋茨在全球的凈資產共528億美元，遠遠超過了排在第二位的現代投資大師華倫·巴菲特，后者的凈資產為350億美元。 德國零售業家族Theo and Karl Albrecht的排名上升一位排到了第三名，凈資產達268億美元。去年Theo and Karl Albrecht是排在微軟另一位創始人保爾·艾倫的后面，位居第四。當時艾倫的凈資產達304億美元，但是后來他的資產減少了52億，其中一部分是在由于在股市的投資中失敗，因此今年他的排名下降了一位。 美國最大的數據庫軟件制造商甲骨文公司（Oracle Corp.）的創始人拉里·埃里森排在第五位。由山姆·沃爾頓創辦的全球最大的零售公司--沃爾瑪公司（Wal-Mart）的五位家族繼承人排名都在前十名。 在這497名巨富中，有25位年齡在40歲以下，排名最前的是名列第18位的戴爾公司創始人，現年37歲的邁克·戴爾。最富有的女性是名列第八位的愛麗絲·沃爾頓，凈資產達205億美元。 誰是最大的輸家？ 在所有這些個人資產在10億美元以上巨富中，美國人最多，共有243名，不過還是比去年的272名減少了一些。他們的凈資產加起來高達1110億美元。即便如此，他們中也不乏2001年的大輸家，例如美國有線新聞網的創始人泰德·特納，在過去的一年中凈資產損失一半，降至38億美元，排行榜上的排名隨之下跌了62位，跌至第97位，特納先生目前擔任美國在線-時代華納的副主席。 布隆伯格商業新聞社的創始人，現任紐約市市長的邁克·布隆伯格去年秋天為他的首次政治競選投入了7000萬美元的個人資金。加之其它方面的損失，布隆伯格去年個人資產總共減少了1個億，降至44億，但他仍排到了72位，比去年上升了10位。 歐洲共有121位巨頭資產入圍，其中德國零售商Albrechts家族和Johanna Quandt家族位居前兩位。Johanna Quandt家族因擁有汽車制造商寶馬公司46%的股權而在《福布斯》排行榜上名列第12位。 亞洲則共有70位這樣的富翁。其中亞洲首富沙特阿拉伯王子阿瓦里德排名第11位。日本Yasuo Takei家族31億美元的資產因日本國內的通貨緊縮和連續10多年的經濟衰退而不斷縮水，導致其排名下降了14位，屈居第51名。 此次排名共有15名資產在10億美元之上的前亞洲富翁跌出了排名，其中僅日本就有5名。 這497名來自43個國家身價在10億美元之上的富翁中有260位是繼承或部分繼承了家族財產，其余的均是通過自己的努力才有了今天的成就，其中還有27位是在大學期間中途輟學開創了今天的事業。 (中國日報網站譯) |
Updated: 2002-03-04 01:00
