BY David Oputah
The 2015 forbes list of billionaires has revealed that Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has lost a net worth $10.3 billion from his net worth in 2014.
Despite the slide, the Nigerian business mogul, whose fortune drop to $14.7 billion from $25 billion was propelled downward by a weaker Nigerian currency and reduction in demand for cement, retained his spot as Africa’s richest man.
A total of five Nigerians were retained on the list from seven Nigerians who made it in 2014: Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Folorunsho Alakija, Femi Otedola, and Abdulsamad Rabiu.
Orji Uzor Kalu and Tony Elumelu were unable to make the list.
America’s Bill Gates retained his position as world’s richest person, adding $3.2 billion to hit $79.2 billion. He was followed in second place by Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico and Warren Buffett in third.
While Dangote was the biggest loser, Warren Buffet was the list’s biggest gainer, adding $14.5 billion to hit $72.7 billion.
Forbes also revealed the youngest billionaire on the planet is Evan Spiegel, 24, co-founder of photo-messaging app, Snapchat.
“Despite plunging oil prices, we found a record 1.826 billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $7.05 trillion, up from $6.4 trillion a year ago,” Forbes said.
The list includes 290 newcomers, 71 of whom hail from China, while the total number of billionaires under age 40 rose to 46.
The country that lost the most ground was Russia, losing 23 billionaires to retain 88 billionaires on the list, thereby losing ground to US China, Germany and India.
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