The American financial magazine Forbes has published its annual list of the richest people in the world. According to Forbes, this is the strongest growth in more than 30 years. The number of billionaires who made it into the list rose by 13 percent to 2043. Thus, the average earnings of the high-earners are now 3.75 billion US dollars, they bring it to a wealth of a rich 7.67 trillion US dollars (about 7 trillion euros) - that is an increase of 18 per cent over 2016. Reason According to Forbes, the booming stock markets and the rising oil price are the reasons for the flourishing wealth.
Bill Gates remains undefeated
Internet companies are also 2017 on the advance. The undisputed leader in the rankings remains Microsoft founder Bill Gates. In 23 years of Forbes history, he has already won the first place 18 times. In 2017, the 61-year-old leads the ranks of the richest people in the world with an estimated fortune of 86 billion US dollars for the fourth time in a row. With US $ 75.6 billion, the US investor Warren Buffet is at second place, placing the owner of the Spanish fashion company "Zara" Armanico Ortega in the fourth place with 71.3 billion US dollars. In the third place of the ranking, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos made it with 72.8 billion US dollars. With an increase of 27.6 billion US dollars, it is the great clearing house 2017.
Trump slides further
Big loser of this year's ranking is the freshly baked US President Donald Trump. The entrepreneur is known to like a secret from his real assets and has been struggling with Forbes for many years. He is regularly underestimated by the financial magazine. According to the ranking, Forbes estimates his assets "only" to $ 3.5 billion in 2017, slipping the US president to 544. By way of comparison, in 2016 he placed 324 with an estimated 4.5 billion US dollars. Trump himself gives his assets with at least 10 billion US dollars.
The richest Germans
Also some Germans made it into the top 50 of the ranking list. Accordingly, the Aldi South heirs Karl Albrecht Junior and Beate Heiser are the richest here. With an estimated total assets of 27.2 billion US dollars, they managed to reach 24th place. The shareholder of the same-named auto-supplier Georg Schaeffler, followed by BMW heir Susanne Klatten, is ranked 36th with 20.7 billion US dollars . (with material of the DPA.)