The richest people in the world have gotten poorer, just like the rest of us. This year the world’s billionaires have an average net worth of $3 billion, down 23% in 12 months. The world now has 793 billionaires, down from 1,125 a year ago.
After slipping in recent years, the U.S. is regaining its dominance as a repository of wealth. Americans account for 44% of the money and 45% of the list’s slots, up seven and three percentage points from last year, respectively. Bill Gates lost $18 billion but regained his title as the world’s richest man. Warren Buffett, last year’s No. 1, saw his fortune decline $25 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway fell nearly 50% in 12 months. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helú maintains his spot in the top three but lost $25 billion.
Now ranking:
1 - Bill gates - net worth = $40 bil with $18 bil down
2 - Warren buffet net worth = $37 bil with $25 bil down
3 - Carlos Slim Heti net worth = $35 bil with $25 bil down
With the snow set to batter New England this week, likely closing shopping centers and keeping would-be customers off roads during crucial last-minute shopping hours, retailers are looking toward online shopping.
Online spending this holiday season, from Nov. 1 through Dec. 19, has decreased 1.0%, to $24.03 billion, through Dec. 19, compared with the corresponding days in 2007, according to Internet stat tracker comScore. Dollars spent during the month of December increased slightly to $12.8 billion, from $12.7 billion last year.
On average, consumers have spent $643.0 million each day between Thanksgiving and Dec. 19, an increase of 5.0% compared with 2007. Dec. 9 remains the highest-trafficked day with $887.0 million spent online.
“With five fewer days of holiday shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, there is increasing pressure on consumers to make their holiday purchases in time for Christmas,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni in a statement. “The combination of the compressed holiday schedule and the challenging economic situation faced by many consumers means that retailers have their work cut out for them this season.”
Gifts this holiday season are trending toward items that yield the most entertainment per dollar or are in some way reusable — in line with past consumer spending trends during tough times. People spend more time at home and less time out on the town, and their purchasing habits reflect that.
Through the first half of this month, spending on the sports and fitness category increased some 31.0%. Book and magazine sales were up 18%. Sales of videogames and related paraphernalia increased 17.0%.
Conversely, says comScore, sales of consumer electronics are slowing: Music, movie and video sales are down 24.0%. Spending on office supplies — no doubt a result of corporate belt tightening — decreased 19.0%, and spending on jewelry and watches is off by 17.0%.
Last year casino mogul Sheldon Adelson was on top of the world. When the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans was published in September 2007, the gruff son of a Boston cab driver–who spent his life amassing a mega-fortune in conventions and casinos–was worth $28 billion.
A month later, shares of his Las Vegas Sands (nyse: LVS - news - people ) casino company had swelled to an all-time high of $144 a share, adding another $10 billion to Adelson’s fortune. Between September 2006 and September 2007, he made $20.5 million per day.
Proud of his accomplishments, the plutocrat reportedly adopted a new nickname. According to a 2008 article in The New Yorker magazine, he began referring to himself as “Sheldon Adelson the 3rd,” a nod to his place on our list as America’s third-richest citizen. (Adelson’s spokesman declined to comment for this story.)
That was before the economy fell apart. Since the beginning of 2008, LVS shares have plummeted 95%, erasing $24 billion from Adelson’s fortune as cost-conscious consumers stay away from casinos in Las Vegas and Macau. When the next Forbes 400 is published in September 2009, Adelson will likely be vying just to stay on the list unless the economy rapidly recovers. (He’s doing everything he can to stay rich: This fall Adelson injected $1 billion of his own cash into LVS to help keep the company afloat).
Adelson tops the Forbes list of America’s 25 biggest losers of 2008, an estimate of the largest drops (in dollars) of American citizens holding publicly traded stocks from Jan. 2, 2008 to Dec. 5, 2008. It excludes shares bought or sold during that period. Fortunes tied to privately held companies were not evaluated; they will be re-tallied for our list of the World’s Billionaires in March.
Combined, the tycoons on our ranking lost $167 billion in 11 months, while shares of the companies in which they own stakes fell an average 59%.