1. The global recession is sharpening the divisions between rich and poor, but in this time of loss comes news to console the suffering masses.
2. At the top is Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, but even he is poorer by $18 billion. In these straitened times, he must get by with only $40 billion.
3. Last year’s number one, the human calculator and canny investor Warren Buffett, has slipped back to second. The “Sage of Omaha” lost $25 billion, roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product of Nigeria, in 2008. Together with Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican telecoms tycoon, these three have lost $68 billion in the past year.The biggest loser is Anil Ambani, an Indian businessman who invested in telecoms. In 2008, according to Forbes. com, he lost $31.9 billion.
4. Roman Abramovich, Chelsea Football Club’s owner, saw his worth decline from $23.5 billion to $8.5 billion.
5. Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One mogul, who got divorced yesterday, has maintained his wealth at $3.7 billion, but as the aviation industry flies into some dark clouds, Sir Richard Branson’s net worth is down to $2.5 billion from $4.4 billion.
6. At the head of a retail empire, Sir Philip Green is down to $4.8 billion from $8.4 billion, and David Ross and Charles Dunstone, of Carphone Warehouse, have dropped off the list altogether. J. K. Rowling, a dollar billionaire, remains near the bottom.
