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Global Financial Movers and Shakers
The Big Picture // The Money Masters // Global Financial Movers and Shakers
There are many individuals whose business empires are worth tens of billions.
Due to the incredible size of their net worth, public profile, global influence, political, banking and business network, a number of these billionaires rank similarly in power and influence to the money masters. They have the wealth, the control of multi billion dollar corporations and the banking and political connections to impact governments, economies, markets and world events.
A few of these billionaire entrepreneurs are money masters in their own right.
In 2010, Forbes list of billionaires rose from 793 to 1,011. In 2011, the list broke its previous year’s record with 1,210 billionaires with a total net worth of USD $4.5 trillion dollars. If you average the total wealth by the number of billionaires, they will each be worth USD $3.7 billion.
To put the amount of wealth in its proper perspective,
- $1,000,000 (1 Million dollars) is 1000 x $1,000.
- $1,000,000,000 (1 Billion dollars) is 1000 x $1 million dollars.
- $1,000,000,000,000 (1 Trillion dollars) is 1000 x $1 billion dollars
That is a lot of zeros, even without the decimal points.
The world’s richest man, Carlos Slim Helu, the Chairman of Telmex, a telecommunication tycoon in Mexico, increased his wealth to USD $74 billion on 2011, an increase of USD $20.5 billion from the previous year, easily widening the wealth gap between Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and himself. Bill Gates’ wealth was calculated at USD $56 billion followed by Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, at USD $50 billion dollars.
The billionaires of the world have earned notoriety for razor sharp business acumen, as financial geniuses, powerhouses of influence and world changers. They are watched and studied by millions of people, their action and speeches carefully dissected, analyzed, quoted and studiously reviewed for insight, wisdom, market direction and profit.
Some billionaires have even becomes celebrities in their own right. Donald Trump is well known for his signature hairstyle, lightning fast wit, opulence lifestyle, product endorsements, Miss Universe Pageants and TV show, The Apprentice. Vince McMahon, owner of the World Wrestling Entertainment is famous for his business ruthlessness, showmanship, bad manners and physical altercations with his wrestling superstars.
Although some billionaires continue to expand their business empires to increase their net worth, there are others who have delegated the responsibilities of running their corporation to their successors and pursue personal interests.
A number of them have become philanthropists, giving away much of their wealth to worthy causes to help those in the third world countries, education, medical research and charities.
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft; created the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to channels his wealth to help those less fortunate. He believes in the powerful credo that “all lives have equal value” and he has been instrumental in tackling some of the tough global problems like extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries and the failure in the US education system.
Warren Buffett, ranked for many years as one of the world’s richest person, made a pledged to give away 99% of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
On December 9, 2010, Buffett, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook), signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge", in which they promised to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over the course of time, and invited others among the wealthy to join them. Within the same month, 57 billionaires in the United States joined this campaign with the first 40 pledging USD $125 billion.
Other well known billionaire philanthropists include Richard Branson (Virgin Group), George Soros (Soros Funds Management), Micheal Dell (Dell Inc), Jeff Skoll (eBay), Ted Turner (CNN), J.K. Rowling (Author, Harry Porter series), Oprah Winfrey (Harpo Productions) and many more.
Billionaire philanthropists use their wealth for the good of others. They are compassionate money masters with a heart of gold.
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