World’s five richest men get even richer and double fortunes to £680billion
The fortunes of the world’s five richest men have more than doubled to around £680billion in three years alone, analysis found.
In the same time, the poorest 60% – nearly five billion people – became even worse off, according to a report.
The chasm was exposed as the super-rich and powerful gather this week for the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
The growth in wealth of the top five wealthiest from around £266bn coincided with the Covid pandemic.
Oxfam estimates the world’s more than 2,500 billionaires are a combined £2.6trillion richer than in 2020. Governments pumping money into economies during the crisis drove up stocks, boosting the value of corporations and delivering record profits.
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CEO of LVMH Bernard Arnault (AFP via Getty Images)
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez (GC Images)The group is topped by tech tycoon Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. His wealth is estimated to have surged from £19.3bn in March 2020 to £192billion by November.
Mr Musk, whose interests extend from electric car maker Tesla to Space X, is believed to own a string of mansions around the world.
Second on the list is French businessman, investor and art collector Bernard Arnault and family.
Their wealth is estimated to have jumped from £59.5bn to £150bn since 2020. Mr Arnault heads up luxury fashion group LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton among others.
Larry Ellison (Getty Images)His Paris mansion boasts paintings by Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso.
Third in the list is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whose fortune jumped from £88bn to £131bn since 2020.
The businessman, who is dating journalist Lauren Sanchez, pictured above, owns a £400m, triple-masted superyacht.
While the rich have got richer, soaring inflation has left most others worse off. Oxfam’s Inequality Inc report says The wealth of the poorest 4.77 billion people has fallen by 0.2% in real terms since 2020.
Oxfam chief Aleema ShivjiOxfam chief Aleema Shivji said “These extremes cannot be accepted as the new norm, the world can’t afford another decade of division.
“Extreme poverty is still higher than it was pre-pandemic, yet a small number of super-rich men are racing to become the world’s first trillionaire. “This ever-widening gulf between the rich and the rest isn’t accidental.
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“Governments are making political choices that enable and encourage this distorted concentration of wealth, whilehundreds of millions of people live in poverty."
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