Fun with billionaires

Was looking at the Forbes list of the world's billionaires, prompted by a discussion with a friend. Some gleanings:

-For the list as a whole, the 371 Americans make up about half of the world's 793 billionaires, a list that's increased by 102 from last year and from 140 when the richest people list first started 20 years ago. Germany has the second-most with 55, followed by Russia's 33, Japan's 27, the UK's 24, India's 23, Canada's 22, Turkey (?!) at 21, and Hong Kong at 17. Other notables include China, Malaysia and Israel all at 8, Taiwan's 5, and all of Africa being represented by South Africa's 3 and Egypt's 2.

-The 25 richest people in the world are astonishingly diverse. And they're generally self-made; if you take the 5 members of the Walton family off (the family's combined wealth of $73.9B, incidentally, would trump Bill Gates' $50B for the top spot), only 4 people on the list inherited their money. Of those 4, all are adding to their fortune, except for the only non-Walton female on the top 25, who inherited the L'Oreal fortune from her husband.

-Everyone knows Bill Gates (who has enough wealth to be both #1 and #62 on the list) and Warren Buffett ($42B) head the list. But with their plans to give their wealth to charity, the 3rd richest person in the world at $30B and likely future list leader is Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu. His father was originally from Lebanon, according to Wikipedia; he left his son with a dry goods store and some prime Mexico City real estate, from which he created giant telecommunications companies.

4th wealthiest is Sweden's Ingvar Kamprad ($28B), who created Ikea and like many of the others on the list apparently lives a moderate lifestyle, flying economy class and buying cheap suits.

5th wealthiest is Indian Lakshmi Mittal ($23.5B), who inherited some of his wealth from his father, who Wikipedia says made 'a fortune' as a partner in a steel company.

-The richest 25 are in all sorts of different businesses, with Internet/technology most common, but with companies like LVMH, Albertsons and Zara represented as well.

-All but 6 of the 78 women on the list inherited their money. Of the former group, very few are adding to the fortune. Those who made their money themselves include Meg Whitman (head of Ebay, $1.5B), Oprah Winfrey ($1.4B) and J.K. Rowling ($1B).

-Of the people under 40, about half inherited. Those who didn't generally made their money via Internet/technology companies, or in semi-regulated economies (Russia, China, Mexico).

-Unexpected items from the list:
-Michael Bloomberg (knew he was a billionnaire, didn't know he's worth $5.1B and is the 112th richest person in the world)
-George Lucas ($3.5B, #194, I knew he cannily agreed to take less money for Star Wars in exchange for all the merchandising fees, which was a category he essentially invented, but one of the top 200 richest people in the world?!)
-Steven Spielberg (he must have an equity stake in his movies to amass $2.8B, #245)
-Donald Trump ($2.6B, #278--apparently his wealth isn't all hot air)
-There are 11 Pritzkers on the list (all with $1.7B, #451, their grandfather and/or father created the industrial conglomerate Marmon and Hyatt--a few other relatives, who sued to distribute the wealth, didn't make the list with their settlements of $500M)
-The grandson of Henry Ford, retired executive William Ford Sr., is relatively low on the list ($1.1B, #698).

-Of the people with U.S. citizenship on the list, there are only 13 who don't live in America. Of that number, it seems every single one either lives abroad for business reasons, because they're retired, or due to legal troubles. The list is:
-Leonard Blavatnik ($5B, #114, Russian immigrant to the U.S. at 21 who made his fortune in Russian oil, lives in the UK)
-Barbara Piasecka Johnson ($2.6B, #278, widow of Johnson & Johnson heir, lives in Monaco)
-Eugene Shvidler ($2.1B, #365, Russian immigrant, made his fortune in Russian oil, lives in Russia)
-Ernest Stempel ($1.8B, #428, ex-president of insurance company AIG, retired to Bermuda)
-Ruth Parasol ($1.8B #428, with husband and others created and owns part of an Internet gambling site, lives in Gibraltar where the company's legal)
-J DeLeon ($1.8B, #428, with wife and others created and owns part of an Internet gambling site, lives in Gibraltar where the company's legal)
-Victor Fung ($1.5B, #512, with his brother inherited and expanded his father's clothing outsourcing company, lives in Hong Kong)
-Marc Rich ($1.5B, #512, the fugitive financier pardoned by President Clinton for tax evasion, still lives in Switzerland)
-William Connor II ($1.2B, #645, his father served in the Pacific in WWII and afterwards recognized the potential of the region and started a sourcing and logistics company in Tokyo, which 'Chip' moved to Hong Kong and into apparel, lives in Hong Kong)
-Pincus Green ($1.2B, #645, Marc Rich's partner, also partnered, also stayed in Switzerland)
-Robert Friedland ($1.2B, #645, found his fortune when he stumbled across a giant nickel deposit while looking for diamonds, his mining company recently made a big find in Mongolia, lives in Hong Kong)
-Marion MacMillan Pictet ($1.2B, #645, descendant of founder of Cargill agribusiness, the largest private company in the U.S., lives in Bermuda)
-Louis Bacon ($1B, #746, runs his hedge funds from London and the U.S., lives in the U.K.)

-The total worth of the world's billionnaire's is $2.6 trillion.

-To put this all in perspective, though, take a look at the website of the auction house Scott J. Winslow:

Several years ago, two business professors published a most interesting book entitled The Wealthy 100, in which they compared and ranked the fortunes of various American businessmen across time. For example, John D. Rockefeller was worth approximately $1.4 billion when he died in 1937, apparently mere pocket change for the $60 billion wealth of Bill Gates today. Yet according to the authors, Rockefeller is #1 on the list and Gates is #31.

The writers used an interesting measuring stick that allows them to compare different eras. It is a simple formula, dividing a person’s wealth by the estimated Gross National Product. When Rockefeller died, his fortune was estimated as 1/65th of the GNP, whereas Gates’ wealth accounts for only 1/425th of the GNP in 1995 [it has grown considerably in the last 3 years, and is now estimated in 1999 at only 1/135th of the GNP, still far behind Rockefeller’s share].

In today’s dollars, Rockefeller’s personal fortune would be worth an astounding $190 billion, making Gates’ $60 billion slightly more than pocket change for Rockefeller! To put this into more understandable terms, at times, Rockefeller’s wealth exceeded the annual Federal budget. I won’t comment on whether this is a commentary on the growth of Federal expenditures or the reduction in the accumulation of wealth. But I believe it would be impossible for Gates’ net worth to exceed today’s trillion dollar budgets. Still, it has been recently estimated that Gates is as wealthy as the bottom 100 million Americans combined.

Looking over the list, I think the most interesting aspect of the list is how many of these successful entrepreneurs were immigrants, their sole baggage on the long ocean voyage little more than a large dream. Andrew Carnegie, John Jacob Astor, Stephen Girard, Alexander Stewart, Frederick Weyerhauser, William Weightman, Claus Spreckels, Anthony Brady, Adolphus Busch, John Kluge, Joseph Pulitzer, Samuel Slater, and August Belmont were not native-born Americans. In fact, five of the top ten were born in Europe and came here seeking a better life, which they ultimately found.

Also remarkable is the number of people who left their fortunes to charity, and many of them are well known, such as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the numerous Carnegie Libraries, Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, Girard College, Stanford University, the Frick Educational Commission, the Peabody Educational Fund, Duke University, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, and many other unnamed charities and foundations. ...

Looking over the list, I think the most interesting aspect of the list is how many of these successful entrepreneurs were immigrants, their sole baggage on the long ocean voyage little more than a large dream. Andrew Carnegie, John Jacob Astor, Stephen Girard, Alexander Stewart, Frederick Weyerhauser, William Weightman, Claus Spreckels, Anthony Brady, Adolphus Busch, John Kluge, Joseph Pulitzer, Samuel Slater, and August Belmont were not native-born Americans. In fact, five of the top ten were born in Europe and came here seeking a better life, which they ultimately found.

Also remarkable is the number of people who left their fortunes to charity, and many of them are well known, such as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the numerous Carnegie Libraries, Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, Girard College, Stanford University, the Frick Educational Commission, the Peabody Educational Fund, Duke University, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, and many other unnamed charities and foundations.

(chart in thousands)
1. John D. Rockefeller 1839-1937, $1,400,000 65
2. Cornelius Vanderbilt 1794-1877, $105,000 87
3. John Jacob Astor 1763-1848, $20,000 107
4. Stephen Girard 1750-1831, $7,500 150
5. Andrew Carnegie 1835-1919, $475,000 166
6. A.T. Stewart 1803-1876, $50,000 178
7. Frederick Weyerhaeuser 1834-1914, $200,000 182
8. Jay Gould, 1836-1892, $77,000 185
9. Stephen Van Rensselaer 1764-1839, $10,000 194
10. Marshall Field 1834-1906, $140,000 205
11. Henry Ford 1863-1947, $1,000,000 231
12. Andrew W. Mellon 1855-1937, $350,000, 258
13. Richard B. Mellon 1858-1933, $350,000, 258
14. Sam M. Walton 1918-1992, $22,000,000 275

To update the chart, Bill Gates would rank roughly #11 all-time with a ratio of 227, based on the U.S.'s 2005 GDP of $11.351 trillion. Warren Buffett would rank #14, with a ratio of 270.

Note, incidentally, on the link that Goldman Sachs is projecting China, currently 5th in GDP (behind Japan, big gap then to Germany and the U.K.), will surpass the U.S. by 2050.

Image of Rockefeller from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

Uncredited Zuma Press photo of Helu via Forbes.com.