INSURANCE MAGNATE Seán Quinn has lost his top place in the ranks of Irish-born billionaires to Denis O’Brien as rampant volatility in the commercial world extracts an unforgiving toll on the fortunes of the world’s wealthiest business people.
The US magazine Forbes, which has dropped Independent News Media (INM) chief Sir Anthony O'Reilly from its latest list of world billionaires, suggests that the world's richest people have on average lost 23 per cent of their wealth in the last 12 months.
With millions of ordinary workers losing their jobs as turmoil grips world economies, Forbes suggests that catastrophic financial losses in the global marketplace have reduced the ranks of world billionaires to 793 this year from 1,125 in 2008.
Among those that did make the 2009 Forbes list, 87 per cent lost money in the past year.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates regained his position as the world’s richest man in 2009, despite losing a total of $18 billion (€14 billion).
Veteran investor Warren Buffett, the number one player last year, slipped into second place after his fortune declined by $25 billion.
The pain spread inexorably to these shores, with Mr Quinn estimated by Forbesto have seen his fortune drop by some $4.5 billion in the past year to €1.5 billion.
In a separate development yesterday, Mr Quinn revealed that he has resigned from a range of subsidiary companies within his business empire.
Forbesestimates that the accumulated fortune of Denis O'Brien, his successor as the wealthiest Irishman, was static last year at $2.2 billion. This was despite big losses on his investment in INM, where he has challenged the dominance of Sir Anthony.
Mr O’Brien’s Caribbean-based mobile phone group Digicel yesterday confirmed that it has completed a $335 million corporate bond offering, carrying a coupon of 12 per cent. The fundraising will result in Mr O’Brien earning about $143.5 million from the sale of equity in Digicel’s Central American business.
According to Forbes, the value of Mr Desmond's fortune dropped by $1 billion to $1.5 billion last year.
For all of that, the publication reports that the wealthiest Irish citizen is an Indian-born businessman, Pallonji Mistry, who received an Irish passport two years ago in light of the Irish citizenship of his wife and sons. Mr Mistry’s fortune stands at $2.5 billion, the magazine said.
The second-wealthiest Irish citizen is John Dorrance III, US-born heir to the Campbell’s soup fortune who received an Irish passport some years ago. His fortune is estimated at $2.3 billion, down from $2.7 billion.
