Billionaires back to biting Big Apple

Billionaires back to biting Big Apple - TheMoveChannel.com

(EMAILWIRE.COM, March 25, 2009 ) Despite losing more than a fifth of its billionaires as a result of the credit crunch, New York City is once again home to more billionaires than any other city in the world, forcing last yearÂ’s winner Moscow into second placeÂ…

ForbesÂ’ annual richlist of the worldÂ’s billionaires has been dramatically reduced this year, with a mere 793 of the deep-pocketed darlings still in evidence.

At the beginning of last year, before the credit crunch had really got its teeth into the money markets, there were 1,125 billionaires living it up all over the world, mostly in in Moscow.

This year, the non-stop New York has stolen the Â‘most billionairesÂ’ title from the Russian capital, despite having lost more than a fifth of its wealthiest people Â– NYC now has 55 billionaires rather than the 71 it had in 2008.

On average, the worldÂ’s billionaires have lost 21 per cent of their net worth, which is now Â£2 billion.

Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, many Wall Street types have lost cart loads of cash - News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch has dropped off the list, along with former Citigroup Chairman Sandy Weill, whose shares have lost nearly all of their worth.

Private equity billionaire Stephen Schwarzman has lost Â£2.7 billion in the past year alone.

Those who were still clinging onto their places on the list included Bill Gates, who, with his Â£27.4 billion fortune, recaptured the title of worldÂ’s richest from Warren Buffett whose fortune fell to a measly Â£25.3 billion. Even though Bill took the title, he has still lost Â£12.3 billion over the last year.

Third place remained the same as last year, going to telecom tycoon Carlos Slim with Â£24 billion.

Despite the number of billionaires falling in New York, last yearÂ’s winner Moscow was hit even harder, losing 47 of its wealthiest residents due to falling property and oil prices.

SÃ£o Paulo, which took ninth place, is the only South American city in the top 10. The US has more cities in the top 10 Â‘most billionairesÂ’ list than any other country - New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and the Â‘city of Angels,Â’- Los Angeles.

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TheMoveChannel.com
Dan Johnson
020 7952 7650
dj@themovechannel.com