Forbes will reveal today its list of billionaires.
My buddies at Forbes already told me who they are, but you plebeians will have to wait until 11 PM (6 PM EST) to find out.
MWHAHAHAHAHA :showoff:
Place your bets.
I'm betting on Mono.
Kevin
Carlos Slim?
Lakshmi Mittal or Bill Gates
L.
people still read magazines? How quaint.
Quote from: Viking on March 10, 2010, 09:03:28 AM
Carlos Slim?
That's my bet. Being a crony capitalist in a third world country is a much safer bet than owning volatile equities and funding charities in US.
Quote from: DGuller on March 10, 2010, 10:20:07 AM
Quote from: Viking on March 10, 2010, 09:03:28 AM
Carlos Slim?
That's my bet. Being a crony capitalist in a third world country is a much safer bet than owning volatile equities and funding charities in US.
Plus Mittal has had problems with Corus and the Nano during the last year.
I'll add that it was a VERY close race.
So close, in fact, that if it was an election, there would probably be a recount.
People read Forbes magazine?
Is it that important?
Maybe when you are so rich, the only thing that matters is beating your competition.
Quote from: clandestino on March 10, 2010, 11:54:29 AM
Is it that important?
Maybe when you are so rich, the only thing that matters is beating your competition.
The only thing that matters is to find alchemists who can give you mortality.
Quote from: Razgovory on March 10, 2010, 12:16:35 PM
Quote from: clandestino on March 10, 2010, 11:54:29 AM
Is it that important?
Maybe when you are so rich, the only thing that matters is beating your competition.
The only thing that matters is to find alchemists who can give you mortality.
Actually, alchemists are quite good at this.
Quote from: PDH on March 10, 2010, 12:25:53 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on March 10, 2010, 12:16:35 PM
Quote from: clandestino on March 10, 2010, 11:54:29 AM
Is it that important?
Maybe when you are so rich, the only thing that matters is beating your competition.
The only thing that matters is to find alchemists who can give you mortality.
Actually, alchemists are quite good at this.
:lol:
It's me, for I am rich in friendship.
Not with anyone from Languish, obviously.
Quote from: DGuller on March 10, 2010, 10:20:07 AM
Quote from: Viking on March 10, 2010, 09:03:28 AM
Carlos Slim?
That's my bet. Being a crony capitalist in a third world country is a much safer bet than owning volatile equities and funding charities in US.
Yeah, I don't think Gates even wanted to keep the title.
Isn't it the Ikea guy? :unsure:
I just saw it in the news, I WIN!!
What do I win?
Quote from: Viking on March 10, 2010, 01:48:19 PM
I just saw it in the news, I WIN!!
What do I win?
The prize.
I didn't know Forbes was still around, or that anyone still cared about who was the nominally-richest man.
It is ironic seeing Martim as the one squealing like a girl because he knew ahead of time. :P
Quote from: grumbler on March 10, 2010, 01:54:36 PM
I didn't know Forbes was still around, or that anyone still cared about who was the nominally-richest man.
It is ironic seeing Martim as the one squealing like a girl because he knew ahead of time. :P
Does anyone believe that he knew ahead of time though?
He has a rather odd set of groups he is in tight with - both the Soverrrh, Russian government, and Forbes.
Quote from: Viking on March 10, 2010, 01:48:19 PM
I just saw it in the news, I WIN!!
What do I win?
And I was smart enough to know that you had a good guess. :smarty:
Quote from: Berkut on March 10, 2010, 01:56:04 PM
Does anyone believe that he knew ahead of time though?
He has a rather odd set of groups he is in tight with - both the Soverrrh, Russian government, and Forbes.
The Iraqi refugees who stay at his house could have told him, or he could have discovered this in a trip to his Union years ago (you know how accurately those Russian statistical economists could predict the future, so calculating the richest man in the world each year for 25 years or so in advance would have been easy.
Don't forget that he hangs out with Angelina Jolie.
Its rather a silly excercise b/c the key contenders hold the wealth mostly in the form of big blocks of equity that are subject to significant fluctuation, and which cannot be liquidated at market value.
Quote from: The Brain on March 10, 2010, 02:09:52 PM
Don't forget that he hangs out with Angelina Jolie.
:(
Quote from: DGuller on March 10, 2010, 10:20:07 AM
Quote from: Viking on March 10, 2010, 09:03:28 AM
Carlos Slim?
That's my bet. Being a crony capitalist in a third world country is a much safer bet than owning volatile equities and funding charities in US.
In that case, Ingvar Kamprad has a good shot too. :P
And here's the list
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank.html
QuoteRank Name Citizenship Age Net Worth ($bil) Residence
1 Carlos Slim Helu & family Mexico 70 53.5 Mexico
2 William Gates III United States 54 53.0 United States
3 Warren Buffett United States 79 47.0 United States
4 Mukesh Ambani India 52 29.0 India
5 Lakshmi Mittal India 59 28.7 United Kingdom
6 Lawrence Ellison United States 65 28.0 United States
7 Bernard Arnault France 61 27.5 France
8 Eike Batista Brazil 53 27.0 Brazil
9 Amancio Ortega Spain 74 25.0 Spain
10 Karl Albrecht Germany 90 23.5 Germany
11 Ingvar Kamprad & family Sweden 83 23.0 Switzerland
12 Christy Walton & family United States 55 22.5 United States
13 Stefan Persson Sweden 62 22.4 Sweden
14 Li Ka-shing Hong Kong 81 21.0 Hong Kong
15 Jim Walton United States 62 20.7 United States
16 Alice Walton United States 60 20.6 United States
17 Liliane Bettencourt France 87 20.0 France
18 S. Robson Walton United States 66 19.8 United States
19 Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud Saudi Arabia 55 19.4 Saudi Arabia
20 David Thomson & family Canada 52 19.0 Canada
21 Michael Otto & family Germany 66 18.7 Germany
22 Lee Shau Kee Hong Kong 82 18.5 Hong Kong
23 Michael Bloomberg United States 68 18.0 United States
24 Sergey Brin United States 36 17.5 United States
24 Charles Koch United States 74 17.5 United States
Why is there
12 Christy Walton & family
15 Jim Walton
16 Alice Walton
Are they not all of one family of is there some other stupidly rich Walton families around?
So basically, in a month. from now the top 3 could be reversed.
Quote from: sbr on March 10, 2010, 06:51:00 PM
Why is there
12 Christy Walton & family
15 Jim Walton
16 Alice Walton
Are they not all of one family of is there some other stupidly rich Walton families around?
Because Sam Walton divided the money among his descendants, who have separate households.
Quote from: Berkut on March 10, 2010, 01:56:04 PM
Does anyone believe that he knew ahead of time though?
He has a rather odd set of groups he is in tight with - both the Soverrrh, Russian government, and Forbes.
I wanted to post the results earlier, but didn't had the time. But note the difference between Slim and Gates is just .5 billion - an extremely close race, as I said.
My job makes me close to a lot of capitalists. Since one has to live in a rotten society, I guessed I might as well get a position in the places where real money is made. Which made me far more successful than most hardcore Liberals I know.
I guess that one needs to despise the system to actually thrive in it. Those that respect it kinda fall by the sidelines.
Quote from: sbr on March 10, 2010, 06:51:00 PM
Why is there
12 Christy Walton & family
15 Jim Walton
16 Alice Walton
Are they not all of one family of is there some other stupidly rich Walton families around?
And 18 S. Robson Walton, too.
Imagine if they pooled their resources....
Quote from: merithyn
Imagine if they pooled their resources....
The Waltons are Americas' wealthiest family, but they don't act as one.
Their internal disputes and personal quirks are like something out of a soap opera, and thus they are counted individually rather than collectively.
Tiny Hong Kong has two spots in the top 24 :yeah:
I wonder how they always come up with the numbers for the Albrecht brothers. Their company is not public, they don't give any earnings informations either. How can anybody even know how much their company is worth then?
Quote from: Martim Silva on March 10, 2010, 07:09:55 PM
Quote from: merithyn
Imagine if they pooled their resources....
The Waltons are Americas' wealthiest family, but they don't act as one.
Their internal disputes and personal quirks are like something out of a soap opera, and thus they are counted individually rather than collectively.
Also that TV show was sappy and generally sucked. Bush liked it though.
What about Rochschild?
Quote from: Zanza on March 10, 2010, 07:21:55 PM
I wonder how they always come up with the numbers for the Albrecht brothers. Their company is not public, they don't give any earnings informations either. How can anybody even know how much their company is worth then?
Guesstimates. I bet they have to do that for most people on the list.
Quote from: Zanza on March 10, 2010, 07:21:55 PM
I wonder how they always come up with the numbers for the Albrecht brothers. Their company is not public, they don't give any earnings informations either. How can anybody even know how much their company is worth then?
Should not be difficult to estimate sales and gross margins.
Those people also file income taxes reports, just look at those then an educated guess.
Quote from: Grey Fox on March 10, 2010, 08:12:49 PM
Those people also file income taxes reports, just look at those then an educated guess.
Income tax returns are usually confidential; sales tax receipts OTOH may be easier to get.
Quote from: Grey Fox on March 10, 2010, 08:07:43 PM
What about Rochschild?
To keep a secret, one must keep secret, that one has a secret to keep.
And they do real good job at it.