The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List / Forbes billionaires 2009

The UK list must give BNP members an aneurysm when they read about Ruskies, Chinese, Kazakhstanis, Indians and suchlike overtake good British boys like Richard Branson, Philip Green and the Duke of Westminster.

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

The UK list must give BNP members an aneurysm when they read about Ruskies, Chinese, Kazakhstanis, Indians and suchlike overtake good British boys like Richard Branson, Philip Green and the Duke of Westminster.

It gives me aneurisms when I think how hard we all work to keep these people in the style to which they are (or quickly get) accustomed.

Quote :

It's been a tough year for the richest people in the world. Last year there were 1,125 billionaires. This year there are just 793 people rich enough to make our list.

The world has become a wealth wasteland. Like the rest of us, the richest people in the world have endured a financial disaster over the past year. Today there are 793 people on our list of the World's Billionaires, a 30% decline from a year ago.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/worlds-richest-people-billionaires-2009-billionaires-intro.html

Bill Gates replaced Warren Buffet as #1 Billionaire.

O'Brien replaces Quinn on irish billionaires list - Irish Times

More tech investors replacing the bricks and mortar ones.

Glad to see that chancer Quinn off the top spot.

johnfás wrote:

Glad to see that chancer Quinn off the top spot.

As opposed to Denis O'Brien? He isn't a chancer at all!

I know Denis, so I won't say a word. He is a very nice man, though I disagree with his residency status.

johnfás wrote:

I know Denis, so I won't say a word. He is a very nice man, though I disagree with his residency status.

Oh! Don't we move in circles! I'm not that bothered, tbh. He's a very good businessman and thousands of people both here and abroad have been employed through his enterprise.

Residency status is an interesting subject. I wonder how they produce these lists? I would have thought that the object of the exercise is often to disperse and conceal?

Squire wrote:

Residency status is an interesting subject. I wonder how they produce these lists? I would have thought that the object of the exercise is often to disperse and conceal?

They assess wealth from shareholdings, known property holdings, art, horses, land, dividends and declared income from directorships. Inheritance is also included wherever it is an issue.

Incidentally, the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List will be out in the next few month. It will be fascinating reading since a comparison with last year's list will be an excellent indicator of the general shape of the economy.

Bernie Madoff was led off in chains today. It was strange to see the small peaky looking crowd of former millionaires/billionaires demonstrating outside the court.

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

They assess wealth from shareholdings, known property holdings, art, horses, land, dividends and declared income from directorships. Inheritance is also included wherever it is an issue.

Then the possibility of the list being totally accurate is zero. Amazing how many people prefer to conceal the extent of their wealth. Get your name on a list like that and every member of your family become possible targets for kidnap or just some nut case.

cactus flower wrote:

Bernie Madoff was led off in chains today. It was strange to see the small peaky looking crowd of former millionaires/billionaires demonstrating outside the court.

How the mighty are fallen. The amounts that some gave to Madoff are truely staggering. At the very least you would think you would spread your risk.

John S Doyle has started doing It Says in the Papers - and I hope he's kept. I don't know him but he used to write for the Indo and brings that little radio slot back to the glory days of PP O'Reilly as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, he finished yesterday's two broadcasts with a word on Tony O'Reilly describing him as 'A billionaire no more.' I don't know if that phrase was his own or was in one of the papers but it stuck with me all day as an epitaph for the celtic tiger and more.

Squire wrote:

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

They assess wealth from shareholdings, known property holdings, art, horses, land, dividends and declared income from directorships. Inheritance is also included wherever it is an issue.

Then the possibility of the list being totally accurate is zero. Amazing how many people prefer to conceal the extent of their wealth. Get your name on a list like that and every member of your family become possible targets for kidnap or just some nut case.

Well it is difficult to assess the wealth of 1,000 UK and 250 Irish billionaires and multimillionaires accurately. They do, however, make a good estimate of people's fortunes from the research they do into each individual's holdings.