Last year, the 400 richest people in the world increased their wealth by $92 billion, to $4,1 billion, according to a Bloomberg survey.
The biggest increase in wealth was achieved by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, a former English teacher and co-founder of Alibaba, whose wealth grew by $25,1 billion last year, reports Capital.ba.
His wealth soared after Alibaba's public offering in September. That's how his colleague from Alibaba, Joseph Tsai, increased his wealth by a little less than six billion dollars.
American Warren Buffet added $13,7 billion to his wealth after his company Berkshire Hathaway grew 28 percent after several successful investments. Thanks to such an increase in wealth, Buffett surpassed Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and became the second richest person on the planet.
Chinese entrepreneur, Wang Jianlin, recorded the third largest increase in wealth in the past year. He increased his wealth by $13 billion, thanks to the public offering of shares in his company, Dalian Wanda, earning him the title of Asia's richest man.
It is followed by the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, who increased his wealth by a little more than ten billion dollars. A problem for his company could be the tightening of relations between the United States of America (USA) and Russia, especially after Russian authorities blocked a Facebook page that supported opposition protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Bloomberg research, Russian businessman Vladimir Yevtushenko, once the 14th richest man in Russia, ended up under house arrest in September following a money laundering investigation at Bashneft, which he controlled through his AFK Sistem group.
The court ordered the nationalization of Bashneft, which cost Yevtushenko $8,1 billion and his place on Bloomberg's list of the 400 richest billionaires.
Sheldon Adelson, the owner of the world's largest gambling company, Las Vegas Sands, did not fare better either, although he did not end up in prison. His company's shares fell by 25 percent for the year, which meant a loss of 8,7 billion dollars for Adelson.
The company's shares fell after Chinese President Shiping declared a war on corruption, putting particular pressure on Macau, a gambling enclave in China that accounts for more than half of the Las Vegas-based company's $13,8 billion in revenue.
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