Who remains to be our billionaire?

Three prominent businessmen fell off the list of South African billionaires, according to the latest list of world billionaires published by Forbes, the global media company that focuses on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle.

The Steinhoff scandal knocked consumer retailer Christo Wiese off his perch, while a tough economy in 2017 also took its toll on Jannie Mouton, founder and chairman of the PSG investment group, and Allan Gray, the South African business magnate, investor and philanthropist.

It’s hard work to make it from millionaire to billionaire and these men will battle to make it back onto the elite list. Just look at the facts, millionaires are a dime a dozen – 15.2 million of them to be exact. But there are only 2,125 billionaires in the world. To get the bigger picture, have a look at this detailed infographic created by our friends at Betway either below or by clicking here.

It’s analysing the journeys of the world’s 100 richest individuals. It also shows who won big with their start-up and made their first billion the fastest, like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg? It also tells the story of some hard grafters that took a lifetime to achieve their billionaire status.

Here in South Africa there are only five super wealthy men left that remain part of the three-comma club. They are diamond magnate Nicky Oppenheimer, followed by luxury goods businessman, Johann Rupert, Naspers media group chairman, Koos Bekker, followed by mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, and founder and chief executive of Aspen Pharmacare, Stephen Saad.

And who is the richest man in the world? Apart from being the first billionaire to have a 12-figure net worth, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also posted the biggest gain ever recorded within in year. His wealth jumped over $39 billion.

The elite group of global billionaires were worth a combined total of $9.1 trillion, up 18% from 2017, with an average net worth of $4.1 billion each. After Bezos, former number one, Bill Gates, ranked second at $90 billion, followed by famous investor Warren Buffet at $84 billion. Bernard Arnault, with a fortune of $72 billion, reclaimed the title of richest European for the first time since 2012.