R461 million a day for South Africa’s richest people since January

Despite the turbulent start to 2024, all of the country’s billionaires listed by Forbes have increased their net worth in the first six months of the year.

According to Forbes’ real-time tracking of billionaires, the country’s six richest businessmen have gained $4.6 billion (R83 billion), or R461 million a day, since January.

However, this is a drop in the ocean, as their current collective net worth is estimated to be $29.9 billion (R541.7 billion).

After the first six months of 2024, luxury goods mogul Johann Rupert, former diamond magnate Nicky Oppenheimer, media mogul Koos Bekker, mining boss Patrice Motsepe, Capitec founder Michiel le Roux, and consumer retail businessman Chrstoffel Wiese remain the wealthiest South Africans.

Rupert maintains his title as the richest South African and is the second richest person in Africa (behind Aliko Dangote of Nigeria). His net worth of $11.7 billion (R212 billion) is thanks to his wide array of investments.

Rupert is the chairman of Richemont, a Swiss-based luxury goods holding company that owns Cartier, Dunhill, and Mont Blanc, where he maintains 51% voting power.

For the financial year ended 31 March 2024, Richemont sales were up by 3% at actual exchange rates and 8% at constant exchange rates to EUR R20.6 billion (R407 billion), driven by Jewellery Maisons and retail, each representing 69% of Group sales.

Using the groups’ data, Rupert will receive roughly R354 million for his A shares and R2.96 billion for his B shares through the proposed dividend payments, totalling about R3.32 billion.

He is also the chairman of Stellenbosch-based investment holding company Remgro, which invests in healthcare, food, sports, and media.

Rupert has also gained 22 spots on the world’s richest list over the year, ranking 173, and still remains the only South African among the top 200 wealthiest individuals in the world.

Former diamond magnate Nicky Oppenheimer has also gained some places (38), ranking 244 and remaining among the world’s wealthiest 300—with a net worth of $9.5 billion (R172 billion).

Africa’s first black billionaire, Motsepe, broke the $3 billion (R54.4 billion) mark and is now ranked at 1,125.

According to Billionaires Africa, this is mainly due to TymeBank’s rapid gains in the markets of South Africa and the Philippines.

TymeBank boasts a customer base of 12.4 million, with 9.2 million in South Africa and 3.2 million served by GoTymeBank in the Philippines.

The self-made billionaire’s 40.37% stake in African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) also played a role.

Naspers chairman Bekker, Capitec founder le Roux, and retail giant Wiese all saw considerable gains in their net worth and world billionaire ranking positions, collectively gaining 513 spots.

South Africans on Forbes’ list

South African-born Elon Musk remains the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $215.6 billion (R3.90 trillion), mainly thanks to his income from Tesla and SpaceX.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has overtaken France’s Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, as the second richest with a net worth of $201.6 billion (R3.65 trillion).

Arnault is now third with a net worth of $192.7 billion (R3.49 trillion), and Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Meta, and Larry Ellison, co-founder of software giant Oracle, complete the world’s top five.

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