March 1, 2017
With a combined wealth of $4.6 trillion, the 500 individuals now ranked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index have more personal wealth under their control than the GDPs of all countries on Earth except the U.S. and China. And they’re getting richer still, adding $225 billion to that wealth in just the first two months of 2017.
The wealthiest people on the planet are at the pinnacle of free – and not so free – market capitalism, the faces behind the biggest and most powerful fortunes on the planet.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index has been chronicling their stories since its debut five years ago with a list of the world’s 20 richest people. Today the index expands its online ranking to 500, up from 200, and updates the look and feel of the site with expanded detail on each fortune, shareable pages of net worth comparison charts and a series of editorial features.
Since its debut on March 5, 2012 as the world’s first daily wealth ranking, the index has been setting the standard for wealth coverage, pioneering a transparent methodology to track the biggest fortunes on the planet, providing insight and perspective on how those fortunes are built, lost or maintained, and uncovering more than 350 hidden billionaires from around the globe.
The new site goes live along with stories that examine the winners and losers since the election of Donald Trump as the first billionaire president of the U.S., including a look at Mexico’s Carlos Slim, who has lost $3.3 billion since the November election while finding new life among the Mexican people as a champion of the homeland. Other features include a look at the dramatic wealth movements happening in China and the $2.1 trillion inheritance problem facing the world’s oldest billionaires.
Along with the expanded daily ranking, individual bio pages will feature expanded detail on each fortune–most notably, the “relative value” section, which puts the fortunes into an everyday perspective by calculating how many ounces of gold, or barrels of oil a billionaire could buy with their fortune. The section also shows how each fortune compares to a variety of economic indicators–such as average U.S. home prices and incomes. Biographical pages offer access to current news and other relevant information about each billionaire.
The new design offers shareable net worth comparison charts of individual billionaires, or groups of billionaires (by countries, regions, industries). For instance readers can compare billionaires in the tech industry, or Buffett to Gates, and then share those charts on social media. Bloomberg Terminal users can go to RICH <GO> to access the list and individual profiles including details on political and charitable giving, explanations of asset valuations and a more detailed analysis of each individual’s fortune.
Enjoy the new look. Let us know what you think.
– Rob LaFranco | March 1, 2017