WORLD ADDS 346 BILLIONAIRES TO TAKE TOTAL TO RECORD 2,816 BILLIONAIRES

CHINA AND USA LEAD WITH 799 AND 626 BILLIONAIRES, MAKING UP OVER HALF OF ’KNOWN’ BILLIONAIRES IN WORLD. INDIA, GERMANY AND UK FOLLOW WITH 100+ EACH.

479 NEW FACES AND 130 DROP OFFS

CHINA 182 NEW FACES, DESPITE TRADE WAR, THREE TIMES THAT OF USA WITH 59 NEW FACES

JEFF BEZOS, 56, OF AMAZON, RICHEST MAN IN WORLD FOR THIRD YEAR RUNNING, WITH US$140BN, DOWN US$7BN.  EX-WIFE MACKENZIE MAKES LIST FOR FIRST TIME WITH US$44BN AT 22ND PLACE.

PARIS-BASED BERNARD ARNAULT UP US$21BN TO 2ND PLACE WITH US$107BN, ON BACK OF SURGE IN LVMH SHARE PRICE.

RECORD FOUR INDIVIDUALS CROSS US$100BN CUT-OFF. BILL GATES AND WARREN BUFFETT IN THIRD AND FOURTH PLACES WITH US$106BN AND US$102BN. TOP 10 HAS US$1TN.

ELON MUSK HAS A STORMING YEAR, UP 10 PLACES TO 20^TH WITH US$46BN, ON BACK OF TESLA SHARE PRICE DOUBLING, OVERTAKING CHINA NUMBER ONE JACK MA OF ALIBABA ON US$45BN

DESPITE US-CHINA TRADE WAR, REN ZHENGFEI OF HUAWEI UP 7% TO US$3BN, SAME AS DONALD TRUMP AT 900TH IN THE WORLD.

COSMETICS QUEEN KYLIE JENNER, 22, YOUNGEST SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRE WITH US$1.1BN

ADAM NEUMANN, 40, OF WEWORK BIGGEST LOSER, WITH WEALTH DOWN 80% TO US$1.3BN

BEIJING IS WORLD‘S BILLIONAIRE CAPITAL FOR 5TH YEAR RUNNING WITH 110 BILLIONAIRES LIVING THERE, 12 AHEAD OF NEW YORK. SHANGHAI OVERTAKE HONG KONG.

CORONOVIRUS DRIVES UP STOCKS OF CHINESE ONLINE EDUCATION, ONLINE GAMES AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES DOING VACCINES. ONLINE EDUCATION PROVIDER CHEN XIANGDONG, 49, OF GENSHUIXUE SHOT STRAIGHT IN AT US$4.7BN.

STEVE BALLMER, 63, MAKES  BIGGEST GAIN THIS YEAR, ADDING US$26BN TO US$67BN AND 9TH PLACE, TO ENSURE TWO MICROSOFT SHAREHOLDERS IN TOP TEN, AS MICROSOFT SHARES SURGE PAST US$1TN

MUKESH AMBANI OF RELIANCE ADDS US$13BN TO US$67BN AND 9TH SPOT, ASIA’S NUMBER ONE

PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL MICHAEL BLOOMBERG UP 7 PLACES TO 13TH PLACE AND 38% TO US$58BN, ALMOST 20 TIMES THAT OF TRUMP.

LEADING AUTHORITY ON GLOBAL WEALTH RELEASES NINTH ANNUAL HURUN GLOBAL RICH LIST

Key Findings

1.      2,816 BILLIONAIRES IN WORLD, UP 346 FROM LAST YEAR AND 727 OR 35% FROM FIVE YEARS AGO.

2.      WEALTH HITS NEW RECORDS, AGAIN: TOTAL WEALTH ROSE 16% TO US$11.2TN, REBOUNDING AFTER 9% DECREASE LAST YEAR. 66% UP ON FIVE YEARS AGO. HOOGEWERF SAID, “THE HURUN GLOBAL RICH LIST COULD BE THE THIRD LARGEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, WITH TOTAL WEALTH EQUATING TO MORE THAN THE GDP OF ANY COUNTRY OTHER THAN THE USA AND CHINA. THE TOP 10 HAVE A STAGGERING US$1TN.”

3.      BY INDUSTRY. TECH GENERATED 18% OF TOTAL WEALTH, FOLLOWED BY INVESTMENTS 11%, RETAIL 9% AND REAL ESTATE 8.5%. BY NUMBER OF BILLIONAIRES, TECH WAS THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF WEALTH FOR 12.7% OF BILLIONAIRES, FOLLOWED BY REAL ESTATE 9.6%, MANUFACTURING 8.7% AND INVESTMENTS 8.6%.

4.      GOING UP: 1811 SAW THEIR WEALTH INCREASE, OF WHICH 479 WERE NEW FACES, CHINA LED WITH 182, FOLLOWED BY THE USA AND INDIA WITH 59 AND 44. HALF THE NEW FACES CAME FROM TECH (74), MANUFACTURING (52), REAL ESTATE (41), PHARMA (43), RETAIL (30) AND FOOD & BEVERAGE (30).

5.      FASTEST RISERS IN ONE YEAR. 79 INDIVIDUALS ADDED US$5BN OR MORE TO THEIR WEALTH OVER THE PAST YEAR, LED BY 25 FROM CHINA, 10 FROM USA, 5 FROM FRANCE AND 4 FROM INDIA.

6.      BIGGEST WEALTH CREATORS OVER 5 YEARS. 145 INDIVIDUALS CREATED MORE THAN US$BN OF WEALTH FOR THEMSELVES IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS, LED BY JEFF BEZOS WITH US$106BN. TECH WAS THE BIGGEST WEALTH CREATING SECTOR.

7.      DOWN. 607 SAW THEIR WEALTH DECREASE AND THERE WERE 130 DROP OFFS, OF WHICH 16 DIED. FOR DROP OFFS, REAL ESTATE LED THE WAY.

8.      SOCIAL MEDIA. COSMETICS QUEEN KYLIE JENNER, 22, HAS 150MN FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM, MAKING HER THE MOST FOLLOWED BILLIONAIRE AHEAD OF DONALD TRUMP, WHO HAS A TWITTER FOLLOWING OF 72.7MN, UP 14.5MN, AND INSTAGRAM FOLLOWING OF 17.6MN. BILL GATES (48.9MN ON TWITTER), OPRAH WINFREY (42.8MN) AND ELON MUSK (31.4MN, UP 6.6MN). IN CHINA, JACK MA OF ALIBABA LED THE WAY WITH 25MN WEIBO FOLLOWERS, FOLLOWED BY SMARTPHONE MAKER LEI JUN OF XIAOMI (23MN). ALL GOOD NEWS FOR TWITTER FOUNDER JACK DORSEY, 43, (US$5.6BN, UP 2%), AND KEVIN SYSTROM, 36, OF INSTAGRAM (US$2.2BN, UP 47%).

9.      90 ARE FORTY OR UNDER, OF WHICH 54 ARE SELF-MADE. YOUNGEST SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRE IS USA’S KYLIE JENNER, 22, AND INDIA’S RITESH AGARWAL, 26, OF HOTEL CHAIN OYOROOMS, BOTH WORTH US$1.1BN.

10.   WOMEN MADE UP 15.7% OF THE LIST, UP SLIGHTLY ON LAST YEAR’S 15.5%. 68 SELF-MADE, UP FROM 56 LAST YEAR. WITH 51% IN THE WOMEN’S LIST, CHINA DOMINATED WHEN IT CAME TO THE SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRES, LED BY CHINA PROPERTY DEVELOPER WU YAJUN (56) OF LONGFOR PROPERTIES WITH US$14.1BN US$13.8BN. THE RICHEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD IS ALICE WALTON, 70, OF WALMART, WITH US$59BN.

11.   IMMIGRANT BILLIONAIRES ON THE GROWTH. 10.6%, UP FROM 10.1%, FIRST GENERATION IMMIGRANT BILLIONAIRES, LED BY 74 IN THE USA, 43 IN THE UK AND 25 IN SWITZERLAND. SERGEY BRIN OF GOOGLE (RUSSIA) AND ELON MUSK OF TESLA (SOUTH AFRICA) ARE THE RICHEST IMMIGRANTS.

12.   BLOCKCHAIN HAD 6 BILLIONAIRES, MAINLY FROM CRYPTO EXCHANGES, LED BY ZHAO CHANGPENG, 42, OF BINANCE WITH US$2.6BN.

13.   68% ARE SELF-MADE AND 32% ARE INHERITED. OF THOSE WHO INHERITED A FORTUNE, 75% HAVE GROWN IT AGGRESSIVELY, EG MUKESH AMBANI OF RELIANCE INHERITED THE BEST PART OF US$10BN IN 2002 AND HAS GROWN THAT TO US$67BN TODAY.

(26 February 2020, Shenzhen, London and Mumbai) Hurun Report today released the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, a ranking of the US-Dollar billionaires in the world. Wealth calculations are a snapshot of 31 January 2020. This is the ninth year of the ranking. Shimao Shenkong International Center, a real estate development in Shenzhen is the title sponsor of the list.

The List at a glance

The Hurun Global Rich List 2020 ranked 2,816 billionaires from 71 countries and from 2,182 companies.

1,811 saw their wealth increase, of which 479 were new faces. 604 saw their wealth decrease, and there were 130 drop-offs, of which 16 died. 369 saw their wealth stay the same. The average age is 64.

Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said, “A boom in tech valuations and strong stockmarkets across the US, India and China propelled the billionaires to record heights. The US had a record number of 626 billionaires. China, despite the Trade War, added 182 new faces to hit 799 billionaires, three times the number of new faces in the US, widening the gap with the US.”

“China today has more billionaires than the US and India combined,” says Hoogewerf. “Despite a sell-off on the first day after stock markets reopened after Chinese New Year on the back of coronavirus, China’s stock market has rallied by 14% since last year’s list.”

“It has been a good year for the stock markets generally. Nasdaq led the way with a 26% increase, whilst India and China’s stock markets rose 15% and 14%. The US dollar continued its strength, albeit with only small appreciations of 3% against the Chinese Yuan and Euro, and 1% against the Indian Rupee. The Russian Ruble rose 7% against the dollar, reversing a trend of depreciation over the past two years,” said Hoogewerf.

Coronavirus. The coronavirus has resulted in mini booms for China pharmaceuticals doing vaccines, online education and online games, whilst causing share prices of hospitality and travel to drop. With schools shut since Chinese New Year, online education provider Chen Xiangdong (US$4.7bn) of Genshuixue saw his share price rise by a third since end January, and market leader Zhang Bangxin (US$10.4bn) of TAL Education also rising. With much of China stuck at home in lockdown, entertainment has been in strong demand, resulting in strong performances from online game companies, including Wu Xushun (US$2.4bn) of 37 Interactive Entertainment, up 29%, Chu Yufeng (US$5.1bn) of Perfect World up 17%, Lin Qi (US$1.2bn) of Yoozoo, up 8%, as well as Robin Li of Baidu, whose online video platform iQiyi rose 8%. Healthcare entrepreneurs specialising in vaccinations that performed solidly include An Kang (US$4.2bn) of Hualan Biological Engineering, which was up 23%, Du Weimin (US$4.7bn) of Biokangtai, up 15% and Jiang Rensheng (US$8.8bn) of Zhifei Biological Products, which was up 8%. Industries that have suffered include hospitality and travel companies, including Zhang Yong of restaurant brand Haidilao, down 12%, Wang Xing of delivery platform Meituan-Dianping, down 15% and all the airline entrepreneurs.

How many billionaires are there in the world? Hoogewerf says, “The world today has 6,500 dollar billionaires, up 500 on last year, assuming that for everyone we found, we have probably missed at least one if not more, particularly from the Gulf states.  We have found 626 billionaires in the USA, for example, suggesting the true number should be at least double that, perhaps as many as 1,500. In China, we have found 800, but the actual number should be closer to 2,000.”

Located in the world's largest bay area, the Shimao Shenkong International Center is a Bay Area complex in line with the development mission of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Shimao Shenkong International Center·Hurun Global Rich List 2020, jointly released by the Shimao Shenkong International Center and Hurun Report, provides insights into the global economy and an understanding into super wealth creators. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area created 12% of China's GDP with 1% of the country's land, and its GDP growth rate reached 7.9%, ranking first in the global bay area. If all goes well, it will become the world's largest and most economically powerful Bay Area economic center city cluster. The Shimao Shenkong International Center is the cover story of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which aims to serve the goals of the 'Global Technology Innovation Center, Global Advanced Manufacturing Center, International Financial Integration and International Trade Center' of the Greater Bay Area. This story contains all our grand imaginations of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In the future, a new landmark of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will be built here. It will become a large-scale urban development engine integrating super towers, high-end office clusters, high-end apartments, international schools and five content centers, leading the convergence of global wealth here.

Top Ten – Hurun Global Rich List 2020

7 of the Top 10 are from the USA. Steve Ballmer, Armancio Ortega and Bernard Arnault added over US$20bn each.  The Top 10 added US$140bn over the year and are now worth US$961bn or 9% of the total list.

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2020

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 10

Jeff Bezos, 56, of Amazon retains the top spot in the Hurun Global Rich List 2020 with US$140bn, down US$7bn, mainly due to the world’s largest divorce settlement with former wife MacKenzie Bezos, who makes the list in her own right with US$44bn. Amazon is one of four companies, whose valuations have hit US$1 trillion, the others being Microsoft, Apple and Google. Bezos bought a US$165 million home, setting a new record for Los Angeles. In February, Bezos pledged US$10bn to help fight climate change.

Bernard Arnault, 70, continued his meteoric rise up the rankings, up two spots to second place with US$107bn, up US$21bn on last year. Arnault in November announced a deal to acquire Tiffany for US$16bn to get more access to US luxury consumers. The only non-American in the Top 5, Arnault was briefly the richest person in the world this past year, before Amazon’s share price spike took Bezos to the top again.

Bill Gates, dropped down to third place on the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, with US$106bn, despite growing his wealth US$10bn or 10%. Last month, Gates announced a US$100mn commitment to fight Coronavirus which has triggered a global health emergency. Over the past two decades, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given out more than US$50bn to global health and education.

Warren Buffett, dropped down one place to fourth spot, despite a US$14bn or 16% increase to US$102bn. A recent SEC filing shows that Berkshire Hathaway is investing money into defence stocks that are relatively immune from negative economic growth. Buffett currently holds 15.7% of Berkshire, despite having given away US$3.6bn worth of his shares to organisations including the Gates Foundation and the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation.  Buffett has given away US$34.5bn since 2006.

Mark Zuckerberg‘s, wealth was up by US$4bn, keeping him in fifth place with US$84bn. Zuckerberg sold over US$500mn worth of shares in the past year. At 35, he is by far the youngest of the Top 10.

Amancio Ortega, up one place to sixth, on the back of a massive US$25bn increase to US$81bn. The Spaniard owns Zara, through his holding company Inditex, which launched online sales in 106 new markets through its global platform. Ortega acquired commercial property worth US$11bn of prime shopping real estate in London and New York using dividends from Inditex. Tadashi Yanai, 70, of Fast Retailing, the owner of clothes retailer Uniqlo, also saw his wealth increase by over 40% to propel him into the Top 100 for the first time.

Carlos Slim Helu, down one place to seventh with US$72bn. Helu’s fortune largely stems from telecommunications company America Movil and Grupo Carso, a holding company that engages in the retail, industrial, and construction business. Helu is a significant shareholder of the New York Times and financial conglomerate Citigroup.

Sergey Brin, 46, and Larry Page, 46, of Alphabet, both made the Top 10 for the second year running, up 26% and 26% to US$68bn and US$67bn. Brin and Page stepped down 21 years after founding Google and relinquished control of the search engine’s parent company, Alphabet, to Google CEO, Sundar Pichai.

Mukesh Ambani, 62, of Reliance maintained a Top 10 place for the second time after a US$13bn or 24% surge in his wealth to US$67bn. The only Asian in the Top 10, Ambani’s wealth increased mainly on the back of a good performance in his telecoms business. Ambani is restructuring Reliance Industries to facilitate the planned strategic investments in group businesses - Reliance Jio, Reliance Retail, refining and petrochemicals. The conglomerate aims to be a zero-net-debt company in 18 months and is in discussion to sell 20% oil-to-chemicals business to Aramco, at an enterprise value of US$75 billion. RIL became the first Indian company to hit the milestone of achieving Rs 10 lakh crore (US$140bn) market capitalization.

Steve Ballmer of Microsoft was the biggest winner on the list this year, on the back of Microsoft’s share price surge past US$1 trillion valuation and become the world’s most valuable company again. Ballmer’s 4% share of Microsoft was worth US$56 billion, with other assets including the Los Angeles Clippers, a basketball team.

Where they live

The ‘Big Two’ are Greater China and the USA with 799 and 626 billionaires, making up over half of the billionaires on the planet. India rose to third, followed by Germany and the UK, with more than 100 billionaires living in each country. Russia increased to sixth place.

Beijing continued as the billionaire capital of the world with 110 billionaires living there, 12 ahead of New York. HK was overtaken by Shanghai for the first time. London, despite Brexit, remained at 6^th. Five of the Top 10 cities with the highest density of billionaires were in China. Hoogewerf said, “Beijing has more billionaires now than Silicon Valley. This is significant since these billionaires are at the pinnacle of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, sparking off many young entrepreneurs. HK has not had a bad year, despite continued protests.”

Table: Where they live

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2020

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 30

Greater China: The world’s absolute No. 1 when it comes to billionaires, with more than the next two countries combined. Jack Ma Yun of Alibaba led with US$45bn, just ahead of Pony Ma Huateng of Tencent (US$44bn) and followed by Xu Jiayin of Evergrande (US$33bn), Li Ka-shing, 92, (US$28bn) and Lee Shau Kee, 92, (US$27bn). The combined wealth of the Chinese billionaires was US$2.6 trillion, equivalent to 3% of global GDP. Real estate and Manufacturing generated most of billionaires (152 and 149), followed by TMT (106). Led by Beijing, 5 Chinese cities made the top 10 cities and 9 in the Top 30. Average age is 59, five years younger than the average of the global list. China is the number 1 in the world in terms of generating self-made billionaires and is home to half of the world’s self-made female billionaires. There were 9 non-Chinese billionaires living in China, mainly in HK.

China. 594 saw their wealth increase, of which 182 were new faces. 107 decreased and 51 dropped off. 84 stayed the same. Notable increases include:

·         Husband and wife couple Sun Piaoyang and Zhong Huijuan, whose wealth increased US$17bn to US$28bn, on the back of the HK IPO of generic drug maker Hansoh. “Sun Piaoyang and Zhong Huijuan have created history, by becoming the first husband and wife team to build separate US$10bn+ businesses,” said Hoogewerf.

·         Pig farmers Qin Yinglin and Qian Ying of Muyuan saw their wealth rocket up by US$12.8bn to US$19bn, on the back of a global pork shortage, caused by an outbreak last year of swine flu in China.

·         Zhang Yong, 49, and Shu Ping, 50, of hot pot restaurant Haidilao. Their wealth rose to US$16bn, up US$7.6bn, on the back of a surge in their share price since its IPO in September 2018. Since the coronavirus outbreak, the share price has dropped back 12%.

·         Zeng Yuqun, 52, of lithium battery maker CATL, saw his wealth double to US$13.8bn on the back of the surge of interest in the e-vehicle industry amid Tesla’s share price boom.

·         Shandong-born California-based Eric Yuan Zheng, 50, of video conferring platform Zoom shot straight into the list with US$4.5bn, after a successful IPO.

·         Brothers Ruan Liping, 56, and Ruan Xueping, 48, made the list for the first time with US$7bn each, after the IPO of Bull, a household brand in China best-known for its adapter plugs.

·         Yu Renrong, 54, of Will Semiconductors grew his wealth six-fold since going public early last year, after US$2bn of acquisitions.

·         Leng Youbin, 51, shot into the Hurun Global Rich List with US$5.9bn after going public in November with China Feihe, the country’s biggest baby-formula brand. Demand has surged since China announced the end of the one-child policy. 

·         Zeng Fangqin, 55, of smartphone component maker Guangdong LY, whose wealth quadrupled to US$7.5bn.

·         Shenzhen-based Zhu Zhaojiang, 47, of Africa-leading mobile phone brand Transsion made the list for the first time with US$1.4bn. 

·         Others to watch include tech stars Beijing-based Zhang Yiming, 37, at US$13.8bn, of ByteDance, which has been valued at a staggering US$75bn, making it the world’s most valuable unicorn after Ant Financial, and owns the super popular short video platform Tik Tok; Wang Xing of Meituan-Dianping, the Hurun Person of the Year 2019, whose wealth doubled to US$7.6bn; Colin Huang Zheng of ecommerce giant Pinduoduo, founded less than five years ago, whose wealth rose 20% to US$18bn; Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, 51, whose wealth grew 32% to US$14.5bn; Beijing-based Li Yongxin, 44, of civil service test prep platform Offcn, whose wealth doubled to US$9.6bn; Zhou Qunfei of mobile phone touchscreen manufacturer Lens, whose wealth almost tripled to US$9.7bn, on the back of a surge of interest in 5G mobile phones; Ren Zhengfei, 76, of Huawei, whose wealth rose 7% to US$3bn, despite the massive US campaign against Huawei; Jenny Qian Zhiya, 43, of Starbucks rival coffee chain Luckin, which managed an IPO last year after less than a year of existence, with US$1.7bn.

Chinese diaspora. 30.2% of the world’s billionaires are of Chinese origin, 0.7% more than last year. Outside of Greater China, the Chinese diaspora are based predominantly in South East Asia, led by Singapore. Chinese make up 20% of the world’s population.

Greater China was made up of Mainland China with 669 (+129), Hong Kong 70 (+7) and Taiwan 51 (+4) billionaires respectively. There were 9 individuals in Greater China who are not of Chinese origin.

TABLE: Chinese billionaire diaspora around the world

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020

The USA is second behind China with 626 billionaires, up 42. Tech and Investments remain the main source of wealth for American billionaires, with 128 and 123 billionaires, followed by Retail with 50. The combined wealth of the US billionaires was US$3.6 trillion, or 4.2% of global GDP, or just a little more than the GDP of France, US$1 trillion more than China. New York had the highest concentration of billionaires (98), followed by San Francisco (41) and Los Angeles (24). California is the state with the most number of billionaires, 141, of which over half are from the Bay Area. The USA is the world-capital for immigrant billionaires. The average age of US billionaires increased to 67, three years higher than the average age of the global list. Interesting entrepreneurs include:

·         Netflix shareholders. Reed Hastings, 61, saw his wealth rise 15% to US$4.6bn, whilst Jay Hoag, 59, made the list for the first time with US$2.1bn.

·         Evan Spiegel, 29, saw his wealth rocket up by US$2.8bn to US$4.5bn, as Snap Inc. added 31mn daily users.

·         John Collison (29) and Patrick Collison (31), wealth rose to US$4.2bn, up US$1.6bn, after valuation of Stripe increased to US$35bn.

·         Chad R. Richison (49) of Paycom Software saw his wealth rise to US$2.8bn, up US$1.6bn as his shares surged 76%

India rose to 3^rd with 137 billionaires, 33 more than last year. With US$67bn, Mukesh Ambani, 62, of Reliance is the richest person in India. Pharmaceuticals, TMT and Chemicals led the way, with 22, 22 and 16 billionaires each. Mumbai is the billionaire capital with 50, followed by New Delhi with 30. There were 39 new faces and 10 drop offs. The average age was 62, two less than the average of the list. There are a total of 169 Indian billionaires, of which 32 are based outside of India. 

Rising billionaires from India. 99 saw their wealth increase, of which 39 were new faces. 24 decreased and 10 dropped off. 8 stayed the same.  Notable increases include:

·         Gautham Adani saw his wealth rocket up by US$7.1bn to US$17bn, after the demerger of his renewable generation and city gas distribution businesses.

·         NR Narayana Murthy, 71, worth US$2.3bn, saw his son-in-law Rishi Sunak, 39, in February appointed to become the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, the most powerful person in the British government after the prime minister.

·         Sunil Mittal & family, 61, saw his wealth rise to US$3.5bn, up US$1bn, propelled by speculations of the Indian telecom market becoming a duopoly, led by Jio and Airtel.

·         Radhakishan Damani, 64, of grocery retail chain Avenue Supermarts, whose wealth increased 80% to US$10.6bn after his flagship company logged a 53% year-on-year rise in standalone profit in Q3 of current fiscal.

·         Uday Kotak, 60, of Kotak Mahindra Bank shot straight into the Top 100 list with US$15bn.  Kotak’s share price hit an all-time high after RBI cleared plans for dilution of promoters' shareholding.

Germany slipped one place to 4^th with 122 billionaires. Food & Beverages led with 19 billionaires, followed by Retail with 18 and TMT with 17. The combined wealth of the German billionaires is US$473bn. Average age is 65. Munich is the preferred hub for German billionaires followed by Hamburg. 46 saw their wealth increase, of which 6 were new faces. 41 decreased and 1 dropped off. 34 stayed the same.  Notable increases include:

·         Georg Nemetschek, 85, saw his wealth increase by US$2.8bn to US$4.3bn backed by Nemetschek group’s, a software company that employs over 2500 people, increase in revenue by 20.7%.

·         Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, 68, saw his wealth rise to US$2.9bn from US$2.1bn. In November 2019, CTS Eventim's revenue exceeded €1 billion for the first time in a nine-month period, and the share price had risen 60% to hit a market capitalisation of €5.2 billion.

·         Harald Tschira, 64, and Dietmer Hopp, 79, of German software giant SAP, saw their wealth increase by 28% to US$5.5bn after an increase in share price by 30%, backed by the stellar performance of its cloud division that registered a 37% surge in topline.

·         Wolfgang Marguerre, 69, of Octapharma, saw his wealth increase by one fourth to US$6.5bn. The Octapharma Group grew sales by 23.2% to €2.2 billion.

The UK down one place to 5^th with 119 billionaires, 10 more than last year. London is the undisputed city of choice for 74 of them. Retail and Real Estate led the way with 18 and 17 billionaires, followed by TMT, with 12. UK billionaires have a combined wealth of US$416bn. The UK is second for immigrant billionaires, after the USA. “Since the Brexit vote of 2016, the UK has added 36 billionaires,” said Hoogewerf.

69 saw their wealth increase, of which 14 were new faces. 35 saw their wealth decrease and 3 dropped off. 13 stayed the same. Notable increases include:

·         On the back of JD Sports’s share price rising by 147%, Stephen Rubin, 82, saw his wealth rocket up by US$3.8bn to US$7.1bn. It’s been a busy two years. JD opened 83 new stores, of which 78 within international markets, acquired Finish Line in the USA, the largest market for sport lifestyle footwear and apparel, and Sport Zone, one of the largest multi-branded sports retailers in the Iberian peninsula.

·         Andre Esteves, 51, saw his wealth rise to US$3.4bn, up US$1.4bn, after BTG Pactual’s share price increased by 154%.

·         Mark Dixon, 60, of IWG, saw his wealth increase by 64% to US$1.8bn after IWG logged a 98% share price increase in the current fiscal.

·         Mark Coombs, 59, of Ashmore Group, saw his wealth increase by 40% to US$2.1bn from US$1.5bn last year.

Russia rose above Switzerland to 6^th position with 91 billionaires, up by 32. All are self-made. The most popular sectors are Metals & Mining and Energy with 19 and 18 billionaires. Moscow is home for 72 of them, ranking 7^th, down from first place less than ten years ago. The combined wealth of the Russian billionaires comes to US$362bn, up 34%. With US$29bn Vladimir Potanin (59), of mining giant Interros, is the richest Russian.

Switzerland dropped to 7^th position with 88 billionaires, up by 11. Geneva is the Swiss billionaire capital, with 19, followed by Basel with 12. Preferred sectors are Pharmaceuticals (19 billionaires), Financial Services (7) and Chemicals (7). Combined wealth of the Swiss billionaires cumulates to US$359bn, up 14%. 50 of Swiss-based billionaires are immigrants, ie born outside of Switzerland.

Brazil, retained 8^th spot with 69 billionaires, 16 more than last year. The combined wealth of the Brazilian billionaires was US$184bn, 14% more than last year. The preferred sector is Financial Services and Manufacturing with 18 and 10 billionaires respectively. Sao Paulo is the preferred city and is home to 40 billionaires. The richest man in Brazil is Joseph Safra (US$17bn).

Thailand retained the 9^th position with 57 billionaires. Their combined wealth was US$135bn. The preferred sector is Food & Beverages with 29 billionaires. Bangkok is the preferred city for almost all Thai billionaires.

France retained the 10^th position with 51 billionaires, three more than last year. The combined wealth of the French billionaires is US$435bn, up 8.5%. The preferred sector is Food & Beverages and Luxury goods with 8 and 5 billionaires respectively. Paris is the preferred city and is home to 36 billionaires. The richest man in France, Bernard Arnault, is also the Number One European with a wealth of (US$107bn).

Where is all this new wealth coming from?

New Entrants to Top 100.  There were 17 new entrants to the Top 100, led by MacKenzie Bezos of Amazon, who shot straight to 22^nd place with US$44bn, after her divorce settlement with Jeff Bezos. Julia Koch and Giovanni Ferrero came into their wealth after inheriting it.

TABLE: New additions into the Hurun Top 100

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020

Fastest risers in one year. 79 individuals added US$5bn or more to their wealth over the year, led by 25 from China, 10 from the USA, 5 from France and 4 from India.

TABLE: Largest wealth creators over the last five years

145 individuals created more than US$5bn of wealth for themselves in the last five years, led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos with US$106bn. TMT was the biggest wealth creating sector.

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020

Blockchain had 6 billionaires, predominantly generated by crypto exchanges and a bitcoin miner. Crypto exchange were led by Zhao Changpeng, 42, of Binance with US$2.6bn, Xu Mingxing, 35, of OKCoin with US$1.4bn, Chris Larsen, 59, of Ripple, with US$1.3bn, Li Lin, 38, of Huobi with US$1.1bn and Brian Armstrong, 37, of Coinbase with US$1bn. Bitcoin miner Zhan Ketuan of Bitmain had US$1.6bn.

Young & Rich. There are 90 billionaires aged 40 or under, up 5 from last year. 54 self-made with 36 inherited. The youngest self-made billionaire is cosmetics queen Kylie Jenner, 22, worth US$1.1bn, followed by Ritesh Agarwal, 26, of Indian hotel chain OYO Hotels.

With 25 individuals each from China and USA lead the under 40s and made up over half of Under 40s. With 5 billionaires, German medical device manufacturer B. Braun contributed the most billionaires under 40. One in five were women.

TABLE: Youngest Self-Made Billionaires

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020 

Source of Wealth by Industry – Hurun Global Rich List 2020

TMT added the most number of billionaires this year and was the undisputed main source of wealth for the world’s billionaires. Together with real estate, manufacturing, investments and retail, the ‘Big 5’ industries accounted for half the world’s known billionaires. The Top 10 industries accounted for over 70% of the world’s known billionaires.

TABLE: Source of Wealth – Hurun Global Rich List 2020

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy

Comparison of the Number of billionaires from Greater China compared with the USA. 2016 was the year that China overtook the USA in terms of billionaires.

Billionaire philanthropy

Stewart and Lynda Resnick gave US$750mn to California Institute of Technology to build the Resnick Sustainability Resource Center and endow environmental research related to the effects of climate change.

Phillip Ragon and Susan Ragon of InterSystems gave US$200mn to Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston) to endow a vaccine-research center.

Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone made a donation of US$188mn to Oxford University, to fund research into the ethics of artificial intelligence.  This was the largest single donation in the history of Oxford. Despite his donation, Schwarzman added US$7bn to his wealth in the past year.

Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago) has received US$125mn from Kenneth Griffin of Chicago hedge fund Citadel Investment Group for its endowment and to back new and current programming. The museum will be named for the billionaire financier.

Sanford Weil of Citigroup donated US$106mn to Weill Neurohub (San Francisco) to establish this new organization to bring together researchers and clinicians to develop new treatments for neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Eli and Edythe Broad of AIG gave US$100mn to the Yale School of Management. The money will support teaching and research programs that aim to strengthen leadership within American public-school systems.

James Simon has given away US$100mn to New York Genome Center for collaborative research programs in neurodegenerative conditions, neuropsychiatric diseases, and cancer.

Billionaires spending big

Ukraine’s richest person Rinat Akhmetov bought a 14-bedroom mansion for US$220 million in the French Riviera.

Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank purchase a custom superyacht Via SuperYachtFan.com, Blank’s boat is 295 feet long and cost US$180mn.

Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin of Citadel bought a US$122mn residence in London, the most expensive London home purchase in more than a decade.

Polish billionaire Dominika Kulczyk bought a house near Harrods department store in London for US$75 million.

Some interesting points

·         Pardoned. President Trump pardoned Michael Milken (US$3.7bn), who in 1990 pleaded guilty to securities, tax and other and reporting violations.

·         Tim Sweeney of Epic Games, is offering US$100 million in grants to game developers to help promote the industry.

·         IPOS. 57% of billionaires derived their wealth from listed companies. It has been a bad year for big IPOs. HK led the IPO market both in terms of number of listing and IPO proceeds, with 14% of new listings, followed by NASDAQ and Shanghai. Jack Ma’s secondary listing on HK was the biggest, raising US$31bn.  Other important IPOs included Eric Yuan Zheng’s Zoom, George Kurtz’ CrowdStrike and Brazilian companies XP and Hapvida.

·         Two are in jail.  Xiao Jianhua of Tomorrow Holdings with US$3.6bn and Huang Guangyu of Gome with US$3.4bn.

·         M&A – Good in the US, bad everywhere else. US recorded a staggering 50% of global M&A activity last year. China M&A activity was down significantly. Some of the notable M&A deals by the billionaire-owned companies include

o      CBS and Viacom completed their merger on 4th December, reuniting media mogul Sumner Redstone’s U.S. entertainment empire. Redstone broke the companies apart in 2006 with CBS controlling the TV assets.

o      Customer relationship management company Salesforce.com acquired big data firm Tableau Software for US$15.3bn, marking the biggest acquisition in the company's history.

o      French telecommunications tycoon Patrick Drahi purchased Sotheby’s for US$3.7bn. He also scooped up the streaming news platform Cheddar for US$200mn.

·         Richest Family. The Walton family of Walmart is the richest family in the world with a cumulative net worth of US$208bn, more than Jeff Bezos.

·         Companies that created most Billionaires. Thailand-based conglomerate, CP Group created more billionaires than any other company on the Hurun Global Rich List 2020. Red Bull’s shareholders are led by Dietrich Mateschitz, together with the 11 children of co-founder Chaleo Yoovidhya.

16 billionaires died. Between them, they passed down US$70bn to 8 family members. The average age of death was 82.

Koch industries David Koch of USA died of cancer, aged 79. Christopher Cline of Foresight Energy Partners died in a helicopter crash in the Bahamas. H Ross Perot Sr, who died of leukaemia at the age of 89, was the third-party candidate in the 1992 and 1996 US Presidential elections.

TABLE: The billionaire obituary – Hurun Global Rich List 2020

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2020     

TABLE: Billionaires by Continent

By Continent. Asia pipped North America with US$4.4tn compared with US$3.89tn. Africa has 21 known billionaires, led by Aliko Dangote, 62, of Dangote Cements.

Asia, with 60% of the world’s population, accounted for 39% of wealth, up 22%, and 48% of billionaires. For new faces, Asia contributed 63%, followed by Europe with 14.5% and North America with 14.3%.

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020

Stock Markets

It has been a good year for the stock markets generally. Nasdaq led the way with a 26% increase, followed by the Australia ASX 200, up 20%. The CAC was up 16%, DAX 15%, Shanghai 14%, Tokyo 8% and the FTSE 100 was up 4%. HK’s Hang Seng Index dropped 6%, despite being one of the most active stock markets for new IPOs in the year, and boasting the US$31bn secondary listing of Alibaba.

Currencies

The US dollar continued its strength, appreciating 14% against the Brazilian Real, 3% against the Chinese Yuan and Euro, and 1% against the Indian Rupee. Currencies that appreciated against the dollar included the Russian Ruble, up 7%, Israeli Shekel, up 6% and the Swiss franc up 3%. The Argentine Peso was the worst performing currency, depreciating 38% against the dollar.

Stats

The cut-off required to break into the Top 1000 was up 7.7%. The cut-off to the Top 10 was at record levels, US$67bn, 80% higher than five years ago.

TABLE: Stats – Cut-off through the Years

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020

TABLE: Stats – Number of Billionaires through the Years

2020 has produced the record number of billionaires, overtaking the previous record set two years ago, and 90% more than 2013.

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020 *In 2012, Hurun Global Rich List only ranked those with US$10bn

Largest Market Capitalizations of companies founded by billionaires from the Hurun Global Rich List 2020. Microsoft overtook Amazon to become the largest company by market cap. Alibaba, Tencent are the only non-USA companies that make the Top 10.

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy

Self-made degrees: Hurun Research’s bespoke measure of the degree to which billionaires are inherited or self-made. The scorecard is out of five, where 1 is inherited and not active in business, and 5 is self-made without help from parents. Hoogewerf said, “Many billionaires like to portray themselves as self-made, but have in fact inherited significant wealth from their parents.”

68% are self-made and 32% are inherited. China is the world’s engine when it comes to self-made billionaires.

TABLE: Hurun Self-Made Scorecard by Country

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2020

About Shimao Shenkong International Center

At the historical node where the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is highly integrated and rapidly developing into a world-class city cluster, Shenzhen Universiade new town, as the only “new urban living room” in the eastern region, has become the new economic growth pole attracting worldwide attention. Over the past 30 years, Shimao Group has also seized the historical development opportunities, concentrating on and professionally distributing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, constantly improving the city image.

Shimao Shenkong International Center, as a classic work of Shimao Group, is striving to become a landmark building of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and it will become the development platform for promoting the exchanges and integrations between Shenzhen and Hong Kong by integrating world-class resources, promoting the urban construction logic and development path in the era of "Bay Area", upgrading human settlements, and carrying out explorations and practices in regional cooperation and industrial convergence.

Shimao Shenkong International Center is located in Universiade District, the core area of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, covering an area of 329,900 square meters with a total area of 1.36 million square meters. Relying on the convenient transportation advantages of the Bay Area, it is easy to set aside "one-hour living circle" for the owners. On the basis, Shimao Shenkong International Center can strengthen the collaboration between Guangdong and Hong Kong in the fields of economy, policy, education and science and technology, etc.

The total investment of this project will reach 50 billion yuan, according to the overall plan. Eventually, this project will be built into a comprehensive development and operation project integrating Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Convention & Exhibition Center, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Cooperation and Entrepreneurship Center, Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Performance Center, international school, super five-star hotel, intelligent office and large business apartment.

The Exhibition Center, as the debut of Shimao Shenkong International Center, faces Longgang Universiade Green Park, with the east facing the future super high-rise main tower, the north side adjacent to the central greenbelt, and the west side facing the mountain landscape, which has unique scenery and urban resources. The Exhibition Center will integrate project exhibition, commercial marketing, art exhibition, cultural activities and other functions to inject new vitality for the city.

About Hurun Report Inc.

Promoting Entrepreneurship through Quality Lists and Research

Hurun Report generated 300 million views globally every month last year, through putting out quality lists and research.

Established in 1999, Hurun Report Inc. has grown into a leading research platform based in Shanghai and Mumbai, best-known for its China and India rich lists, and with 150 employees today.

Hurun Research Institute ‘World’s Largest Rich List Provider’

These past twenty years have seen the fastest wealth creating period in the history of the world.

Other lists Hurun puts out include: the Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World has been highlighting for over ten years the fact that over 70% of the world’s most successful women in business herald from China, ie Chinese are completely dominant in the world of women in business. This has changed the way the world looks at Chinese women in business.

The Hurun China Philanthropy List ranks the most generous individuals in China and is now in its 15th anniversary.  With no inheritance tax, Chinese give much more generously than many have previously understood.

Two recent lists with an impact include the Hurun China Unicorn Index, ranking the most dynamic businesses with a valuation of US$1bn or more in China; and the Hurun Most Successful University Alumni.

In India, Hurun Research has launched the Hurun India Rich List for the seventh time last year, and has an active events business there.

‘World Authority on the Chinese High Net Worth Individual’

Recent research partners include financial institutions (PingAn, Bank of China, Taikang Life, Minsheng, Citic), local government (Shanghai, Changbaishan) and Global 500 multinationals (Marriott, Country Garden, Agile, Audi, Volvo).

Three breakthrough lists this past year: Hurun Good Doctors’ List, a ranking of the 9500 most respected doctors in China, broken down by region and speciality; Hurun Best International Schools List; and Hurun Creative Works Intellectual Property List, in Search of the Harry Potter of China, ranking those online novels with the most valuable IPs.

The Hurun Art List ranks the top artists alive today in China for the 12th year and has become a household name amongst artists.

Media and Events ‘The Hurun brand gets 300 million views a month in China’

The Hurun brand has become one of the few media brands to become a household name across China and India.

Hurun Media monetizes 2 million views a month in China, through its wechat, weibo, website and legacy magazine.

Recent themed events include blockchain, fintech and 30 under 30, with industry-respected awards. We deliver 100+ events a year in China, with 200 entrepreneurs from the Hurun China Rich List attending.

Hurun Report does events across the world.  In the last year, Hurun Report has held events in Toronto, New York, LA, London, Paris, Istanbul, Luxembourg, Sydney and Singapore. Hurun Report’s mission is to create the world's largest platform of China gatekeepers.

Investments

Hurun Investments has a portfolio of 20 companies with a market value of US$50 million, with investments into tech, media, design, education as well as a vintage car race and a tailor.

TABLE: Top 100 - Hurun Global Rich List 2020

For the full list of 2,816 billionaires in the world, see www.hurun.net

Source: Hurun Global Rich List 2020

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