The richest of the rich keep getting still richer. Indeed, it has been a fantastic year for an elite subset of the world’s wealthiest. The top five gainers of 2019 added nearly $112 billion to their fortunes. That is well more than double the jump in 2018, when the fortunes of the five biggest winners increased by just over $48 billion.
This year’s biggest winner by a landslide is France’s Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury goods titan LVMH. The third-richest person on the planet, he is worth $40 billion more than a year ago and is now one of just three people with 12-figure fortunes. His massive gain is nearly $18 billion more than that of anyone else on earth in 2019.
Coming in second is Facebook’s controversial chief Mark Zuckerberg, who was last year’s biggest loser. In a complete reversal of fortunes, he is $22.1 billion richer, after having lost $18.7 billion in the previous year.
Similarly, last year’s biggest gainer, Jeff Bezos, is now one of the biggest losers, due to his $30 billion-plus divorce settlement with his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Bezos. His fortune dropped only by approximately $13 billion, as Amazon’s stock rose 18%, counteracting much of the drop.
The third place is occupied by Subhash Chandra, Chairman of Indian media conglomerate Essel Group. He lost $3.4 billion, amounting to $660 million.
