Almost a quarter of the world’s billionaires live in just ten world cities, and this is where the world’s richest have chosen to live.
This year there are a record 2,781 billionaires in the world, and they are everywhere: from the Isle of Man to Manantiales, a tiny fishing village in Uruguay. However, mostly they live in a handful of elite cities.
Moreover, almost a quarter of billionaires, whose wealth totals three trillion dollars, live in ten cities in only six countries, according to Forbes’ latest list of the world’s billionaires. Once again, New York is home to the most billionaires in the world: an estimated 110 billionaires live there, with a combined fortune of $694 billion. New York has long dominated this list – it has been first of 10 for the last 11 years. Among the New York billionaires, there are 62 Wall Street brokers and other tycoons from the world of finance and investment. There are also 14 real estate moguls and a dozen magnates from the world of retail and fashion.
Second place is shared by Hong Kong and Moscow: each has 74 billionaires.
Shenzhen lost its place in the top 10. Last year, this Chinese city was eighth on the list, but it lost 17 billionaires and is now in12th place. Beijing and Shanghai were included in the top ten, but both fell compared to last year.
Here are 3 cities where the most billionaires live:
1. New York City
With 110 billionaires – nine more than last year – New York has maintained its status as the billionaire capital of the world. The two richest residents of this city have as much as a quarter of the total wealth of all billionaires: media magnate and former mayor Michael Bloomberg (wealth of $106 billion) and Koch Industries heiress Julia Koch ($64.3 billion). New York is also home to eight new billionaires, including Jean Madar ($1.1 billion), co-founder of French perfume company Interparfums, and Assaf Rappaport ($1 billion), co-founder of Israeli security startup Wiz.
2. Moscow
As Russia’s war in Ukraine rages, Moscow’s richest residents have become $50 billion richer this year, pushing the Russian capital from sixth to second place, tied with Hong Kong. There are 12 new billionaires in the city this year, some of whom, directly or indirectly, profited precisely from the war. Among them is Vladimir Melnikov ($1.7 billion), whose retail clothing chain Gloria Jeans has seen a 28 percent increase in sales over the past two years, thanks in part to the fact that foreign competitors H&M and Zara have closed nearly 650 stores in the country.
3. Hong Kong
Hong Kong is second again this year, with four new billionaires. There are also eight newcomers among the residents. Among them are Jean-Louis van der Velde ($3.9 billion), co-founder and CEO of crypto businesses Tether and Bitifinex, as well as Solina Chau ($3.1 billion) whose venture capital fund Horizons Ventures was among the first to have invested in tech companies like Facebook, Spotify and Zoom,Forbes writes.
E.Dz.