While one South African has lost his dollar-billionaire status, according to the annual Forbes billionaire ranking for 2020 – all of the country’s billionaires, and indeed the super wealthy globally, have suffered financially from the global coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
According to Forbes, it originally compiled its annual list of global billionaires in early March. Markets however, collapsed, forcing the group to recalculate the wealth of the world’s super rich by the middle of the month, with very different results.<\/p>\n
Overall, billionaires saw their combined net worths decline by $700 billion compared to 2019’s ranking.<\/p>\n
“The richest people on Earth are not immune to the coronavirus. As the pandemic tightened its grip on Europe and America, global equity markets imploded, tanking many fortunes,” Forbes said.<\/p>\n
“As of March 18, when we finalised this list, Forbes counted 2,095 billionaires, 58 fewer than a year ago and 226 fewer than just 12 days earlier, when we initially calculated these net worths.”<\/p>\n
South Africa’s billionaires were not immune, either.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Forbes ranked five South Africans among global billionaires – in 2020, only four remain. Capitec co-founder Michiel le Roux has slipped off the list having seen his 2019 estimated net worth of $1.2 billion fall below the billion-dollar mark.<\/p>\n
Other South African billionaires have been able to weather the storm somewhat, but are still financially worse off than a year ago. Combined, South Africa’s richest people have seen their fortunes shrink by $2 billion (R37 billion) over the last year.<\/p>\n
Diamond magnate Nicky Oppenheimer is the richest man in the country, with a net worth of $7.4 billion – down from $7.6 billion recorded in 2019.<\/p>\n
Luxury goods tycoon, Johann Rupert, who was hardest hit over the last year, remains in second place, with a net worth of $4.6 billion – despite the loss of $1 billion over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
Koos Bekker and Patrice Motsepe follow, with net worths of $2 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively, also down from last year.<\/p>\n
The table below outlines how South Africa’s billionaires have fared:<\/p>\n