Billionaires bounce back to post record levels of wealth

THE wealth of the world’s billionaires hit a record $10.2 trillion (£7.8 trillion) this year, research has found.

The latest Billionaire Insights study f rom i nvestment bank UBS and accountant PWC said the super-rich have benefited from a rapid “V-shaped” rebound in markets as panic over the pandemic died down by the end of July.

It sent billionaires’ collective wealth surging above the previous $8.9 trillion peak reached at the end of 2017. The report revealed that there are now 2,189 billionaires – up from the 2,158 in 2017.

The remarkable recovery of the billionaire class comes after the collapse in global markets temporarily wiped $565 billion from their wealth between March and April.

The biggest gains were made among billionaire entrepreneurs in the technology, healthcare and industrial sectors – a trend accelerated by the virus.

A surge in online shopping during lockdowns also boosted the fortune of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, as the company’s shares soared 65 per cent this year and added $70 billion to the value of his stake.

The UBS figures showed that during 2018, 2019 and the first seven months of 2020, technology billionaires’ total wealth jumped by 42.5 per cent to $1.8 trillion.

This was supported by surging tech shares as white-collar workers across the world turned to Zoom and other internet systems for home working

Healthcare billionaires’ total wealth jumped more than 50 per cent to $658.6 billion, boosted by drug discoveries, new medical technology and the demand for Covid-19 treatments and equipment across the world.

These two sectors far outstripped a 19.1 per cent rise in the wealth of the billionaire class as a whole since the beginning of 2018. Industrial firms also performed strongly as markets priced in a V-shaped economic recovery.