Shanghai (Reuters)
A classification of the world’s richest people showed that more than 400 lost their billionaire status last year, most of them from China, as the tightening of monetary policy in the world’s major central banks, the obstacles caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and restrictions from Beijing on major technology companies negatively affected the super-rich. .
The Hurun Report reported yesterday that China lost 229 billionaires from the Hurun list of the world’s richest people for the year 2023, more than half of the 445 rich people who disappeared from the list. The list includes a classification for those with a net worth of at least $1 billion.
China, the world’s second largest economy, also added 69 new billionaires to the list in that period.
“The number of billionaires in the world decreased by eight percent, while their total wealth decreased by ten percent,” said Robert Hogwerf, founder and chairman of Hurun Report, adding that the list included 3,112 people this year, compared to 3,381 last year.
China remained the most wealthy country in the world, with 969 as of January 16, 2023, which is more than the number of the richest people in the United States, which amounted to 691.
Among the prominent names that left the list was Sam Bankman-Fried, who lost his $21 billion fortune following the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.
In China, Jack Ma, founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, fell to 52nd from 34th a year ago, mainly due to the tightening of regulatory measures affecting the technology sector in China.
“Rising interest rates, the appreciation of the US dollar, the disappearance of the tech bubble at the time of the Covid pandemic and the ongoing impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war have all hurt stock markets,” Hoogwerf said.
