According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the world’s wealthiest individuals incurred losses of $194 billion during the first trading week of 2016. Indeed, global headwinds shook public budgets of many countries and slashed fortunes of the financial elite.
Bloomberg experts pinpoint several key factors that badly affected returns of tycoons. First, dismal performance of China’s economy made the most devastating impact on them. Besides, the long-lasting oil glut and meltdown of the US stock market made a negative contribution. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s richest person since May 2013, lost $4.5 billion during the year. Inditex founder Amancio Ortega, Europe’s richest person, shed $3.4 billion in 2015. Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim incurred the largest losses of $10 billion as his business plummeted 25% in 2015.
On the whole, total wealth of the world’s 400 richest individuals contracted 4.9%. Thus, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index matches the global trend of deterioration. For example, the bear trend is dominating global stock markets against the adverse economic background. In particular, MSCI ACWI, a barometer of global stocks from 46 different countries, showed that global equity markets sank 6.2% over the first week of 2016.
