Foreign Property News | Posted by Si Thu Aung
Stock market crash strips billionaire status from 267 of world’s richest people in the annual list
Donald Trump lost an estimated $1bn of his paper fortune in the past month as the coronavirus lockdown forced the closure of offices, shopping centres, hotels and golf courses he owns.
The US president’s fortune has fallen from an estimated $3.1bn (£2.5bn) on 1 March to $2.1bn on 18 March (at the height of stock market panic caused by the coronavirus pandemic) according to Forbes magazine’s annual billionaires list.
The Covid-19 induced collapse in global stock markets led to 267 of the world’s richest people losing their billionaire status, in the magazine’s 34th annual wealth ranking. There are now 2,095 dollar billionaires in the world – and a record 1,062 of them have lost money compared with last year.
Among those who joined the billionaires’ club is Eric Yuan, the founder of Silicon Valley video conferencing app Zoom. The magazine estimates that Yuan, who owns 20% of Zoom’s shares, has a paper fortune of $5.5bn.
The app has become hugely popular during the coronavirus lockdown as people around the world use it to keep in touch. Zoom has been used for everything from nursery school sing-alongs to FTSE 100 boardroom meertings and even UK Cabinet meetings.
Amazon founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, maintained his standing as the world’s richest person for the third consecutive year with a $113bn fortune. His total wealth estimated by Forbes slipped from $131bn last year.
Most of Trump’s wealth comes from his real estate. His Trump Organization empire – which is managed by his sons Donald Jr and Eric – includes Trump Tower in Manhattan and his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which the president likes to call his “winter White House”). There are also more than a dozen hotels and golf courses, such as the Trump International Hotel on the Las Vegas strip and the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Ref: theguardian
