Slumdog Billionaire

Forbes' Billionaire List is the world's most exclusive measure of wealth but the global economic crisis has wreaked havoc on even the world's richest assets.

It is one of the world's most exclusive and elite clubs. Gaining membership or even entry is reserved for only the super rich. Yet despite the exclusivity of the Forbes Billionaire List, this year's listing has become better known as the ‘Great Billionaire Depression' and the biggest reality check for the super rich.

The list, a compilation of the world's billionaires, is a reminder to all that the global crisis has not only wreaked havoc on the ordinary banker and his family but also the bank accounts of the disgustingly wealthy, as stock markets across the world have plummeted, assets have devalued and many firms have gone bankrupt.

According to the US magazine, there are just 793 billionaires in the world, down from 1,125 the previous year. Out of the 373 that dropped off the list, eighteen have died while 355 have lost the crucial bank balance which has literally bought them a place in previous years.

But even those lucky enough to make the list this year haven't been spared from the slump. According to Forbes estimates, collectively the world's wealthiest have lost $2 trillion compared to twelve months ago. Today their average net worth has fallen 23 percent to $3bn. The last time the average was that low was in 2003.

Steve Forbes, editor in chief of the magazine, said "no tears will be shed" by those not wealthy enough to make the exclusive list this year, but said the global impact of their combined losses was significant.

"Billionaires don't have to worry about their next meal, but if their wealth is declining and you're not creating numerous billionaires, it means the rest of the world is not doing very well."

Luisa Kroll, senior editor at the magazine and the person responsible for putting the list together, added that only a few of the super wealthy "had been spared" from the global crisis which has wrecked havoc across the world.

So who was lucky enough to gain entry this year? Securing the top spot as the world's richest man is last year's number two, Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates, with an estimated fortune of $40bn, down from $18bn the previous year. In second place is last year's number one, Warren Buffett valued at $37bn.

According to the US magazine's calculations, Buffett, one the world's most successful investors, has lost $25bn this year as profits in his own company, Berkshire Hathaway, declined 50 percent. Buffett saw his biggest losses in his investments in the financial and insurance sectors which have been hardest hit during the recession.

Mexican Carlos Slim Helu is crowned third richest with an estimated fortune of $35bn, down $25bn from the previous year, followed by Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of software firm Oracle. Fifth is Ingvar Kamprad, CEO of Swedish giant, IKEA.

Unsurprisingly, 656 billionaires worldwide lost money this year. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg and the UK's Carphone Warehouse chief executive, Charles Dunstone, both failed to make the list at all this year.

And while Indian industrialist, Anil Ambani has been saved the shame of being knocked off the list entirely, he is now being hailed the biggest loser of 2009. The chairman of the Reliance group of companies and last year's biggest gainer, is thought to have lost around $32bn - or 76 percent of his fortune - as shares in Reliance Communications, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital all declined as the global recession hit the Indian stock market.

"I am not surprised [he has lost so much]", Sanjeev Prasad, co-head of institutional equities at Kotak Institutional Equities, who covers Reliance's equities tells Arabian Insight. "All of the stock prices in India in 2007 had gone up four or five times without any real change in fundamentals. Reliance stocks would be down to less than fifteen to twenty percent of their valuations."

Ambani can rest assured he is not alone, following India's tumbling stock market and the rupee's eighteen percent decline against the dollar, 29 Indian billionaires have lost their place on the list. Prasad says he doesn't expect India's stock market players to be gaining entry to the list any time soon. "Until the time [comes when] people get confident about the financials of the company, and what's happening to the cash which is shown on the balance sheet, I think its going to be a long haul for them."

But India's loss has been China's biggest gain, which with 28 billionaires, is now Asia's top spot for billionaires.

According to Forbes the net worth of billionaires from China has tripled in the last year from $26.6bn to $84.4bn, largely by those working in the construction and manufacturing industries.

With an estimated fortune of $8bn, Yang Huiyan is China's third wealthiest and the richest woman in Asia, despite seeing her fortune lose more than two thirds of its value on the local stock exchange.

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