Worth $25 Billion : Fortune’s List of Richest Says Sultan Is No. 1
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, leader of the nation of Brunei, maintained his position this year as the world’s richest man with personal wealth of $25 billion, Fortune magazine said Wednesday.
The 42-year-old billionaire, whose wealth comes from petroleum revenues, lives with his two wives, three sons and six daughters in a 1,788-room palace complete with air-conditioned stables.
The magazine’s annual survey of the world’s wealthy showed that if the globe’s richest 129 people combined their $320.6 billion, they could “finance the U.S. military for a year, even if hammers really did cost $435 apiece, and still have enough left over to wipe out the collective debt of Colombia and Ecuador.”
Fifty-one of the 129 individuals and families making up the magazine’s list are from the United States, including eight Californians; 38 are from Europe; 19 are from Asia, including 12 from Japan; 13 are from the Middle East, and eight from elsewhere in the world.
One notable newcomer to the list was New York real estate tycoon Donald Trump, 42, in the 91st postion with a reported wealth of $1.3 billion.
Queen Is No. 4
The sultan of Brunei was followed by King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia, with a personal wealth of $18 billion.
The wealthiest Americans this year were the Mars family, owners of Mars Inc., makers of M&M; candies, Kal Kan pet food and Uncle Ben’s rice. The secretive family, headed by Forrest E. Mars, 84, of Las Vegas, Nev., was said to be worth $12.5 billion.
Queen Elizabeth II, the 62-year-old monarch of England, took the No. 4 position with wealth of $8.7 billion, including $30 million annually from tax-free foreign investments.
New York’s Newhouse family, headed by Mitzi Newhouse, 86; Samuel I. Newhouse Jr., 60, and Donald E. Newhouse, 59, posted wealth of $8.0 billion.
Newhouse holdings include such media ventures as book publisher Random House; the New Yorker, Parade, Vogue, Glamour and Vanity Fair magazines; the nation’s ninth-largest cable television operation, and a newspaper chain.
Sam Moore Walton, 70, of Bentonville, Ark., clocked in as the sixth-wealthiest person at $7.4 billion, largely from his 39% stake in Wal-Mart Stores, the discount store chain he founded in 1962.
Canada’s Reichmann family, owners of Olympia & York--the largest commercial real estate owner in New York--had a combined wealth of $6.3 billion and is Canada’s wealthiest family.
The family, headed by Albert, 59; Paul, 57, and Ralph, 54--fled Austria to escape the Nazis and moved to Canada in 1956. They contribute 10% of their annual earnings to charity.
The oil, shipbuilding, forestry and media empire of Kenneth Colin Irving, 89, of New Brunswick, brought his personal wealth to $6.2 billion last year.
The wealth of Kenneth R. Thomson of Toronto totaled $6 billion from his International Thomson Organization, Thomson Newspapers, Hudson Bay department store chain and assorted energy holdings.
Thomson now owns more newspapers in the United States than anyone else.
Rounding out the world’s wealthiest top 10 was landowner Gerald Grosvenor, 36, of London, with $5.4 billion.
WORLD’S RICHEST PEOPLE
Wealth Name Age Home ($ billions) Source Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah 42 Brunei 25.0 Oil King Fahd 68 Saudi Arabia 18.0 Oil Forrest Mars & family 84 Las Vegas 12.5 Candy Queen Elizabeth 62 London 8.7 Land Mitzi Newhouse & family 86 New York 8.0 Media Sam Moore Walton 70 Arkansas 7.4 Retail Albert Reichmann & family 59 Toronto 6.3 Land K.C. Irving 89 New Brunswick 6.2 Oil K.R. Thomson 65 Toronto 6.0 Media Gerald Grosvenor 36 London 5.4 Land CALIFORNIANS David Packard & family 76 Los Altos Hills 2.2 Computer Marvin Davis 63 Beverly Hills 1.6 Oil William Hewlett 75 Portola Valley 1.6 Computer Randolph A. Hearst 72 San Francisco 1.6 Media Donald Bren 56 Newport Beach 1.4 Land David Murdock 65 Los Angeles 1.3 Land
Source: Fortune
