2024 has been a great year for the fortunes of billionaires. Together, their coffers have grown by $14 billion in the last 12 months. However, not everyone has had the wind at their back during their journey through 2024 and the turbulence in the markets and the Price of their businesses have meant that their fortunes register significant falls.
Altogether, these ultra-rich saw some $97 billion disappear, although this loss figure cannot be compared with the $378 billion that, according to Forbesthey lost another five billionaires in 2022. These are the five fortunes that have suffered the most losses in 2024 and, despite everything, they continue to be among the richest people on the planet.
1- Bernard Arnault.
For much of 2024, Bernard Arnault has occupied the first position on the list of greatest fortunes of 2024, with an estimated fortune of $212.1 billion in January. However, in the middle of the year, LVMH’s decline in sales began to make visible the enormous difficulties that the luxury sector was going through.
The fall in luxury goods consumption in China cut the last rope holding LVMH, causing the share price of Arnault’s business holding company to lose 16%. Since the Arnault family bases 48% of their fortune on LVMH, their personal fortune fell by more than $53 billion, although they still retain a fortune of more than $169.4 billion. That places him as the fifth largest fortune in the world, according to the list of millionaires of Forbes.
Thanks to diversification in his investments, the French millionaire has managed to reduce his capital loss, closing the year with $29.8 billion less in 2024.
2- Carlos Slim Helú
The Mexican Carlos Slim has not had his best year either. The most valuable asset in its portfolio is the telecommunications company Telmex. This operator has suffered a drop of almost 20% in the price of its shares, which has caused its personal fortune to suffer.
On the other hand, the weakening of the currency exchange between the Mexican peso and the dollar has caused the millionaire to end the year with a contraction in his fortune estimated at 24 billion dollars lessclosing 2024 with a fortune of 78.5 billion dollars. The Mexican millionaire currently occupies nineteenth place on Forbes’ list of greatest fortunes.
3- Françoise Bettencourt Meyers
Her reserved nature and distance from the media spotlight has meant that Françoise Bettencourt Meyers does not occupy the front pages of the press, and has gone unnoticed for much of the year. However, the procession goes inside and the figures of losses in his fortune are counted in tens of billions of dollars.
The heir to the L’Oréal empire started the year on a high note, knocking on the doors of the 100,000 million club (along with Amancio Ortega). However, the French cosmetics firm suffered the same problems as LVMH and the rest of the luxury retail industry.
L’Oréal’s sales in China fell 6.5% and with them the firm’s price plummeted by almost 24% until December. Fluctuations in the price of his family’s company made him more than 22 billion dollars will disappear of her personal fortune throughout 2024. However, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers continues to be the owner of an estimated fortune of 74,000 million dollars and occupies twenty-first place on the list of the largest fortunes in the world, being the richest woman in Europe.
4- Colin Huang
Many consider Colin Huang to be a kind of King Midas of e-commerce for his great successes in this area. That talent for business made many see him as Jack Ma’s successor. For the good, but also for the bad. However, it appears that 2024 has struggled to maintain its fortunes due to a highly volatile market and investors eager for higher profit margins.
The founder of Temu and former president of business conglomerate PDD Holdings suffered a sharp drop of more than 31% in his company’s share price starting in August. The sudden drop in its valuation occurred after announcing that the holding company would not reach the estimated profits for the second quarter of the year, which caused many investors to flee in a rush.
That financial earthquake caused Huang’s personal fortune to plummet. 15.3 billion dollars in its fallalthough the Chinese millionaire still has a financial cushion of 34.3 billion dollars.
5- Bill Gates
The founder of Microsoft is one of the fortunes that has been in the Top 10 richest fortunes in the world for the longest time (with the permission of his friend Warren Buffett). In 2024 and for the first time in more than three decades, Bill Gates’ fortune has fallen below the top ten positions.
It was something that had to happen one day, especially when the millionaire has spent a decade donating a good part of his fortune to philanthropic causes through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The most notable drop occurred barely two months ago, when Amancio Ortega surpassed the technology millionaire in fortune, pushing him out of the Top 10.
In this case, the behavior of the tycoon’s investments has had nothing to do with it. In fact, his participation in Microsoft has been the driving force that kept him in the top positions despite donating his money. One of the keys has been the departure of his ex-wife Melinda French Gates from the board of directors of the Gates Foundation in June 2024. That departure has been accompanied by an assignment of 12.5 billion dollarsjust as published The Countrywhich went from Bill Gates’ account to Melinda French’s.
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