Aliko Dangote Makes Bloomberg List for World’s Richest People, Earns $3.5 billion so far in 2012
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote cement and richest man in Africa has been mentioned for Bloomberg Markets’ inaugural list of the world’s richest people, in the magazine’s December 2012 issue.
The magazine says the individuals mentioned on the list have a net worth that totals $2.7 trillion or the size of the GDP of France, the world’s biggest economy.
According to Bloomberg, “The ranking shows who’s on top (America Movil SAB Chairman Emeritus Carlos Slim, with a net worth of $77.5 billion), who’s faltering (Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, who’s down $6.8 billion since Jan. 1) and who’s just wealthy enough to make our top 200 (SAS Institute Inc. co-founder John Sall, who’s worth $5.8 billion).
“Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both in the top five, are household names. Yet nobody racked up billions faster than relatively unknown No. 3, Amancio Ortega of Spain. The 76-year-old founded Inditex SA, the world’s largest clothing retailer, which is known for its more than 1,600 trendy Zara stores. He made more than $18 billion from the start of the year through Oct. 5 — or about $66 million a day. That windfall was more than enough for the Spanish tycoon to eclipse Buffett — who’s now No. 4, with $48.4 billion as of Oct. 5.
“Ortega’s ascent coincides with an overall rise in retail stocks. Low cotton costs, cheap credit and demand for reasonably priced goods have driven shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Inditex to records. Nine of the world’s 25 wealthiest people are retail moguls. Among them are Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, four members of the Walton family that controls Wal-Mart and Stefan Persson, the largest shareholder in Swedish clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz AB.”
Dangote was listed as number 62 with a networth of $13.5 billion and is said to have made another $3.5 billion so far this year.