Yahoo Finance Donald Trump falls 222 places in Forbes billionaires rich list
Donald Trump has plummeted 222 places in the annual Forbes billionaires rich list as property prices in New York fell.
The US president was estimated to have lost $400m (£287m) from his personal fortune, to $3.1 billion (£2.33bn).
It means Trump is ranked 766th in this year’s rich list, down from 544th last year, when Forbes wiped $1bn off his wealth – again down to falling property prices.
MORE: Donald Trump’s fortune fell by $600 million during 2017
Trump owns about 10 prime office buildings in New York that have seen values drop significantly over the last two years or so.
Forbes also pointed to falling revenues at his golf courses and his run for the White House.
It said “a tough New York real estate market, particularly for retail locations; a costly lawsuit and an expensive presidential campaign” all helped to drain his wealth.
The magazine named Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and chief executive, as the world’s richest man with a $112bn fortune, usurping Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who dropped to second with $90bn.
MORE: Is Donald Trump right that trade wars are ‘good’?
Bezos’ fortune has leapt to $112bn from an estimated $39.2bn last year, thanks in the main to the soaring Amazon share price.
Most of his fortune is tied to Amazon shares which have risen from $846 a share last March to $1,523 per share last night.
A record 2,208 billionaires feature on the magazine’s 32nd annual ranking of the world’s billionaires.
US investment guru Warren Buffett, who is worth $84bn, is third. His fortune is up from $75.6bn a year earlier.
The richest person in Europe and fourth on the list is Bernard Arnault, head of luxury goods firm LVMH, who has a fortune of $72bn.
MORE: Here are the world’s top 10 cryptocurrency billionaires, as ranked by Forbes
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg comes in fifth, with an estimated fortune of $71bn.
There are 53 billionaires in the UK, according to Forbes, down from 54 in 2017, with the Hinduja family – who have a raft of business interests – highest placed at 55th with $19.5bn.
Forbes says: “(We have) pinned down a record 2,208 billionaires from 72 countries and territories including the first ever from Hungary and Zimbabwe.
“This elite group is worth $9.1 trillion, up 18% since last year. Their average net worth is a record $4.1 billion.”
Just 63 members of the super-rich list are under the age of 40. The youngest self-made billionaire is John Collison of Stripe, age 27. He cofounded the payments start-up with older brother Patrick Collison, 29.
