Welcome to Niyi Daram Blog: Meet the 62 billionaires that have more cash than half of the planet’s population

They are the 62 Billionaires who have more cash combined than half of Earth’s population.
The sheer scale of their wealth has seen charities campaigning against economic inequality warn world leaders this morning to “wake up and smell the coffee”.
But who are these people, and how have they become so wealthy?
Let’s take a look.

Bill Gates

Born in Seattle, Washington, Gates has been included in the world’s top rich lists since 1987.
He co-founded Microsoft back in 1975 with Paul Allen – who makes an appearance on this list a little lower down.
Despite stepping back from the company and focusing more on charitable endeavours these days, he is still the richest man in the world.
Boasting $76.6billion, the 60-year-old dropped out of Harvard University as a young man but went on to make his fortune regardless.
He held positions including chief executive chairman and chief software architect at Microsoft.
Gates was the largest shareholder in the company until May 2014.

Amancio Ortega

Coming in second on the latest rich list is Amancio Ortega.
The 79-year-old Spaniard, who owns clothing giant Zara, is worth $67.1billion.
Living with his second wife in Galicia, Spain, the fashion mogul’s parent company Inditex also owns Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Zara Home, Kiddy’s Class, Tempe, Stradivarius, Pull and Bear and Bershka.

Warren Buffett

At age 85, Warren Buffet is worth $59.5billion.
Known as the most successful investor in the world, he is often referred to as the “Wizard of Omaha”.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1930, he was the son of Congressman Howard Buffett.
He first became a millionaire in 1962, and secured billionaire status by 1990 two years after investing heavily in Coca-Cola Company stock.
He is also known for being a big supporter and initial backer of Barack Obama.
Last month he endorsed Hilary Clinton for president ahead of the 2016 election.

Jeff Bezos

Amazon.co.uk founder Jeff Bezos, 52, is worth $50.4billion.
The American technology entrepreneur founded Amazon back in 1994, beginning as an online book retailer.
Starting the website in his garage, he recognised the potential in online retail and in the years that followed his site became an online shopping giant.
Since making his fortune Bezos has turned his attention to his fascination with space, funding a human spaceflight startup company.

Carlos Slim Helu

Mexican Carlos Slim Helu, 75, is the owner of Telecom.
He is worth $48.7billion, and is known as the “Warren Buffett of Mexico”.
The billionaire has come in for some criticism however, given that he amassed his fortune in Mexico where the average income per capita is $14,500 a year.
But he seems unconcerned with the critics.
He responded: “When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead. I don’t want to live thinking about how I’ll be remembered.”

Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison, 71, is the executive chairman and chief technology officer for Oracle, a computing and hardware manufacturing company.
He is worth $43billion, and is known as the third-wealthiest man in America according to Frobes.
Ellison has been active in US politics, and hit the headlines for slamming NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden.
He said: “Snowden had yet to identify a single person who had been ‘wrongly injured’ by the NSA’s data collection.”

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, 31, made his fortune through the social networking site Facebook.
How he came to fame was documented in the David Fincher film The Social Network.
He is worth $41.6billion, however he pledged to give away 99% of his shares in the website last year.

Charles Koch

Charles Koch, 80, is worth $39.7billion as the co-owner and chief executive of Koch Industries which he runs with his brother David.
Along with his brother they began their careers in oil refining.
Now, Koch industries is the second-largest privately held company in the US.

David Koch

David Koch, 75, is also worth $39.7billion.
He serves as executive vice president of Koch Industries.

Liliane Bettencourt

Liliane Bettencourt, 93, is the founder of L’Oreal.
She is worth $36.5billion and features regularly in lists documenting the world’s most powerful women.

Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg, 73, is worth $36billion.
He served as the Mayor of New York between 2002 and 2013.
Bloomberg is the founder and chief executive of Bloomberg, the finanical news company.
Having dealt with the fallout of the 9/11 terror attacks, Bloomberg has said that he feels civil liberties should be curbed to protect citizens.
After the Boston Marathon bombing he said: “The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry, but we live in a complex world where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will […] our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”

Larry Page

Larry Page, 42, is worth $35.8billion.
He made his money as the co-founder of Google.
The computer scientist has also been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Sergey Brin

Sergey Brin, 42, is worth $35.2billion and co-founded Google with Larry Page.
The Russian-born computing expert is said to be behind Google’s motto: “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Bernard Arnault

Bernard Arnault is worth $32.7billion.
The 66-year-old owns LVMH, a fashion and luxury goods giant.
Funnily enough, he was also behind a $1.5billion investment in Guinness back in 1988.

Jim Walton

Jim Walton is the chief executive of Arvest Bank Group Inc, which owns Walmart.
The 68-year-old is worth $32.5billion.

Alice Walton

The 66-year-old is the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton.
She is worth $30.9billion.

Sam Robson Walton

Sam Robson Walton – named after his dather who founded Walmart – served as chairman of Walmart between 1992 and 2015.
The 72-year-old is worth $30.5billion.

Christy Walton

Christy Walton is the widow of John Walton. He was one of the sons of Sam Walton, Walmart’s founder.
The 61-year-old is worth $29.6billion.

Li Ka-shing

Li Ka-shing is said to be the richest person in Asia.
From Hong Kong, the 87-year-old is worth $28.6billion.
In a profile of Ka-shing from Harvard University, an article said: “From his humble beginnings in China as a teacher’s son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability.

Wang Jianlin

Wang Jianlin, 61, is the chairman of Dalian Wanda Group.
As China’s largest real estate developer, Jianlin has amassed $26.4billion.

Phil Knight

The 77-year-old is the founder of Nike.
He has previously served as chief executive of the sporting goods company.
Knight is worth $24.9billion.

George Soros

George Soros is worth $24.5billion.
Making his money through hedge funds, the 85-year-old was born in Hungary.
Soros has been a big backer of left-leaning political parties, and has donated more than $11billion to charitable causes over the years.

Jorge Paulo Lemann

Beer giant: Jorge Lemann, Swiss-Brazilian banker, attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 9, 2015 in Sun Valley, Idaho

The Swiss-Brazilian investor Jorge Paulo Lemann is the richest man in Brazil.
He made his money through his company Garantia – dubbed the “Brazilian Goldman Sachs.”
In 1990 he sat on the board for Brahma beer, but left in 1990.
He is worth $23.8billion.

Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer, 59, served as the chief executive of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014.
He is now the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, a basketball team.
Ballmer is worth $23.9billion.

Georg Schaeffler

Georg Schaeffler, worth $23.2billion, made his money through ball bearings.
The German is aged 51,

Forrest Mars, Jr

Confectionery giant Forrest Mars is worth $23billion.
Aged 84, he is the grandson of Mars Inc founder Frank C Mars.

Jacqueline Mars

Jacqueline Mars, 76, is worth $23billion and the granddaughter of Frank C Mars.

John Mars

Mars: The confectionery giant was founded by Frank C Mars

John Mars, 76, is worth $23billion.
He is also the grandson of Frank C Mars, and last year the Queen awarded him honorary knighthood at Windsor Castle.

David Thomson

Media giant David Thomson is worth $22.8billion.
The 58-year-old is from Canada and is best known for owning news agency Reuters, renamed Thomson Reuters after his father’s company purchased the group.

Sheldon Adelson

Sheldon Adelson, 82, made his money through casinos.
He is 82 and worth $22.5billion.

Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani made his cash through oil, gas and petrochemicals.
He is worth $22.3billion, aged 58.

Lee Shau Kee

Lee Shau Kee, 87, is from Hong Kong.
He made his money in real estate and is worth $22.2billion.

Maria Franca Fissolo

Nutella: Fissolo, aged 98, is worth $21.8billion

Maria Franca Fissolo is aged 98.
The Nutella owner is worth $21.8billion.
Her company also owns Kinder Eggs and Ferrero Rocher.

Jack Ma

Jack Ma, worth $21.8billion, is from China.
The 51-year-old made his money through e-commerce.

Leonardo Del Vecchio

The 80-year-old is worth $21.2billion.
From Italy, he made his money in eyeglasses through his company Sunglass Hut.

Stefan Persson

Stefan Persson, 68, is the owner of H&M.
From Sweden, the clothing retailer is worth $20.8billion.

Carl Icahn

Carl Icahn, 79, from the United States, is worth $18.5billion.
He founded Icahn Enterprises, and is now the majority shareholder of the company.

Michael Dell

Michael Dell, 50, made his money in Dell computing.
He is worth $18.4billion.

Paul Allen

Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, is aged 62.
He is worth $17.9billion.

Beate Heister and Karl Albrecht Jr

Aldi giant: Karl Albrecht, one of the co-founders of the German discount supermarket chain Aldi and one of the country’s richest men

German supermarket owners Beate Heister and Karl Albrecht Jr are worth $17.7billion.

Susanne Klatten

Susanne Klatten, 53, made her money through pharmaceuticals and BMW.
She is worth $17.5billion.

Anne Cox Chambers

Anne Cox Chambers, 96, is a media mogul worth $17.3billion.
She was a director of the Coca-Cola Company board during the 1980s, and owns a stake in Autotrader and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Palm Beach Post.

Dhanin Chearavanont

Food businessman Dhanin Chearavanont is age 76.
He is worth $17.2billion.

Tadashi Yanai

Tadashi Yanai is worth $17.2billion.
The 66-year-old is from Japan, and is regularly cited as one of the richest people in the country.
He is behind clothing and food companies which fall under the banner of his company Fast Retailing.

Laurene Powell Jobs

Laurene Powell Jobs, 52, from the United States, is worth $17.1billion.
Jobs is the widow of Apple genius Steve Jobs.
She is also the founder of the Emerson Collective, which campaigns on policies concerning education, immigration and social reform.

Ma Huateng

Ma Huateng, an online media businessman, is worth $16.8billion.
He is 44 years old and chief executive of Tencent Inc, one of China’s biggest online companies.

Len Blavatnik

Len Blavatnik, 58, from the United States, is worth $16.6billion.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud

Royalty: Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Saudi billionaire and founder of Kingdom Holding Company

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, 60, is worth $16.6billion.

Theo Albrecht, Jr

History being made: An image from 1930 shows employees of Karl Albrecht Spiritousen and Lebensmittel shop in Germany, which went on to become Aldi

Theo Albrecht, Jr, from Germany, is the son of Aldi’s founder.
The 65-year-old is worth $16.1billion.
Pictured above is an image of the family’s first grocery shop, which grew into an international supermarket.

Stefan Quandt

Worth $16billion, Stefan Quandt has BMW and Rolls Royce to thank for 90% of his fortune.
He serves as a supervisory board member at BMW.
The German is 49 years old.

Azim Premji

Azim Premji, 70, made his money in software.
The Indian is worth $16billion.

Michael Otto

Michael Otto, who made his fortune in retail and real estate, is worth $15.9billion.
The 72-year-old is Germany.

Dilip Shanghvi

Dilip Shanghvi is worth $15.9billion.
The 60-year-old, from India, made his money in pharmaceuticals

Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio, 66, made his money in hedge funds.
He is the founder of Bridgewater Associates.
From the United States, he is worth $15.7billion.

Donald Bren

Donald Bren, 83 is a real estate giant.
Bern is the chief executive of Dassault Group
He is worth $15.2billion.

Serge Dassault

The French aviation businessman is aged 90.
He is worth $14.8billion, and is the former mayor of the city of Corbeil-Essonnes – a suburb near Paris.

Hinduja Brothers

Conglomerate: Gopichand Hinduja runs the business with his family

Now based in the UK, the Hinduja Brothers are worth $14.5billion.
They own various companies including banks, media groups, and energy firms.

Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote, 58, made his money through cement, sugar and flour.
The Nigerian is worth $14.3billion.

Dieter Schwarz

Dieter Schwarz, 76, made his fortune in Germany through retail through Lidl.
He is worth $14.2billion.

James Simons

James Simons, 77, made his money through hedge funds.
The United States businessman is worth $14billion.

Cheng Yu-tung

Cheng Yu-tung, from Hong Kong, is aged 90.
He is worth $13.9billion.

Charles Ergen

Charles Ergen made his money through the Dish Network. From the United States, he is aged 62 and worth $13.9billion.

Wednesday, 20 January 2016

Meet the 62 billionaires that have more cash than half of the planet’s population