The total net worth of Dangote Group President, Aliko
Dangote, rose to $16.6 billion after he gained $5.8 billion within 24-hours,
becoming the only billionaire from one of the 60 poorest countries, a new
report disclosed.
Dangote whose wealth had dropped to $9.63 billion on January
1, 2019, from $10.5 billion at the end of last year, 2018, reportedly gained
$10.8 billion on Monday, February 25, Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed.
His net worth increased by 23 per cent from $13.5bn on
February 26, 2018, to $16.6bn, emerging 64th richest person in the world. He
was the only Nigerian on the list of 500 billionaires and retained his position
as Africa’s richest person.
“dangote controls dangote industries, a closely held
conglomerate. the lagos-based company owns sub-saharan africa’s biggest cement
producer, dangote cement, which had revenue of n805.6bn ($2.4bn) in 2017. it
also has interests in sugar, salt, flour, fertiliser and packaged food,” said
bloomberg.
Other gainers on the Index
Dangote emerged as the second biggest mover with 58 per cent
so far this year, after Andrew Forrest, founder and largest shareholder of
Fortescue Metals Group, the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer. Forrest’s
wealth has grown by 59 per cent this year.
Other Africans on the list were Nicky Oppenheimer of South
Africa, who was ranked 216th with a net worth of $7.05bn; Johann Rupert of
South Africa (ranked 225th with $6.92bn wealth); Nassef Sawiris of Egypt
occupied the 228th position with $6.83bn; Natie Kirsh of South Africa (ranked
263rd with a net worth of $6.10bn) and Naguib Sawiris of Egypt emerged 331st
with a fortune of $5.12bn.
According to Bloomberg, net worth figures are updated every
business day at the close of every trading day in New York, with assets
categorised as publicly traded companies, private assets (including closely
held businesses, art and real estate), cash and other liquid investments and
liabilities.
“stakes in publicly traded companies are valued using the
share’s most recent closing price. valuations are converted to us dollars at
current exchange rates,” it said.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, remains the
richest person in the world with a total net worth of $136bn while Bill Gates
and Warren Buffett occupied the second and third positions respectively with
$98.4bn and $83bn fortunes.
