The Richest in the world Gained $1.2 Trillion In 2019

The year 2019 was sure a great year as massive wealth was accumulated. Bloomberg Billionaires Index revealed that the 500 richest people in the world added $1.2 trillion to their fortunes this year, boosting their collective net worth to $5.9 trillion, up 25% from 2018. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index tracks the world's wealthiest.

It was revealed that founder and CEO of Amazon (AMZN), Jeff Bezos remained the richest person in the world even though he ended the year down by almost $9 billion due to his divorce settlement with MacKenzie Bezos. Shares of Amazon increased and the company reported a record-breaking Christmas sales.

The richest Brit is Jim Ratcliffe, founder and majority owner of London-based Ineos, a closely held chemicals manufacturer. At number 52 on the Bloomberg ranking, he is worth $20.8bn (£15.8bn).

Bernard Arnault led the 2019 gains. Arnault successfully grew his fortune by $36.5 billion as he rose to number three on the Bloomberg index and became one of three “centibillionaires” ( people with a net worth of at least $100 billion). France's richest person is the chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (MC PA), the world's largest maker of luxury goods. Last year, Investing Port reported about LVMH plans to acquire Tiffany and Co.

The number of Chinese billionaires on the list went up to 54 from 40 in 2018. He Xiangjian, founder of China’s biggest air-conditioner exporter, added the most to his fortune as his wealth surged by 79% to $23.3bn.

The Bloomberg Billionaire Index further revealed that 172 American billionaires on the list increased by $500 billion collectively, with Facebook’s (FB) Mark Zuckerberg up by $27.3 billion and Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder, Bill Gates up by $22.7 billion, coming in at number five and number two respectively.

The richest in Russia had a good year, despite the threat of heightened sanctions against the country. The 23 billionaires on the list added $52.9bn to their fortunes in 2019, which was the greatest in four years. Emerging-market assets from currencies to stocks and bonds rebounded this year after experiencing big losses in 2018.

In 2019, the number of people that experienced a decline in their fortunes were just 52. Media expect, Rupert Murdoch’s personal fortune dropped by about $10bn after he distributed proceeds from The Walt Disney Company’s (DIS) purchase of Fox (FOX) assets to his six children; and making them billionaires in the process.

Bloomberg ranking had some new entries in 2019. Alcoholic sparkling water beverage White Claw became popular propelling its creator, Anthony von Mandl onto the list as his net worth grew to $3.6bn. Dutch founder of fast food delivery site Takeaway.com (T5WF), Jitse Groen grew his wealth to $1.5bn, and the popularity of soya milk gave eight members of Hong Kong’s Lo family a combined fortune of $1.5bn.

It is expected that these figures would ignite debates on the wide gap between the rich and the poor worldwide of which some politicians have called for restructuring.