Eike Batista.
After marching up the magazine’s rich-list rankings during the past few years, a shocking 2012 means he can no longer claim to be the richest man with ties to shipping.
Batista’s fortune has been shaved by two thirds to $10.3bn in a year which saw him fall from the world’s seventh most wealthy man to 100th position.
“It's been a humbling year for Eike Batista, who lost the title of Brazil's richest man as prices plummeted on five of his six publicly-traded holdings,” Forbes said in its profile.
“Altogether, over the past 12 months Batista's assets shed nearly two-thirds of their value, or $19bn, making him the billionaire with the biggest drop in net worth,” it added, suggesting he lost over $2m per hour during the year.
“Needless to say, Batista is no longer boasting loudly about overtaking Carlos Slim of Mexico as the world's richest man.”
Port tycoon Li Ka-Shing is now ahead of Batista as the owner of the maritime world’s fattest wallet.
Li moved up the Forbes list to eighth position with $31bn to his name – more than $5bn more than he had 12 months ago – on the coat tails of Charles and David Koch.
Vladimir Lisin of Volga Shipping was also heading in reverse, with his wealth slipping to $14.1bn, a little ahead of Facebook frontman Mark Zuckerberg, whose $13.3bn is good enough for 66th place.
Robert Kuok, of Malaysian Bulk Carriers fame, was a shade better off. His $12.5bn saw him home in 76th position, with an extra $100m to his name this time around.
John Fredriksen had a $400m plus dividend from Seadrill to thank as his wealth climbed to $11.5bn.
This saw the world’s most recognizable shipowner finish in 87th spot, just ahead of the UK’s wealthiest landowner Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor.
Fredriksen may raise a smile at edging ahead of Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea Football Club owner he once famously refused to sell his house too.
Having written a string of cheques to fire managers and hire therapists for Fernando Torres, Abramovich has fallen outside of Forbes’ top 100 with a trimmed down $10.2bn still stuffed in his piggy bank.
Hapag-Lloyd owner Klaus Michael Kuhne also slipped outside the top 100 as $800m came off his bank balance. He finished the year with $9bn to his name – which is $500m more than Giorgio Armani and $700m ahead of Lego man Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, whose family have had a play with shipping investments in recent years.
Both Idan and Eyal Ofer managed to keep themselves inside Forbes’ top 200 after building on last year’s performance.
Idan was ranked 182nd with $6.5bn, up from $6.2bn last year and just behind Glencore’s Ivan Glasenberg.
Eyal has $500m less than his brother and finished in 198th spot level with newcomer Margarita Louis-Dreyfus.
Both of the Ofer’s were ahead of Seaspan’s Dennis Washington, who finished the year with $5.2bn.
Micky Arison may still be nursing the wounds from the Costa Concordia disaster, but the Carnival Corp CEO saw his fortune improve over the past year.
Arison is said to be worth $5.7bn, a full billion dollars more than at this stage in 2012 thanks in part to Miami Heat’s championship win, Forbes notes.
Spiro Latsis has dodged some of the financial bullets flying in his homeland to finish the year with $3.3bn (412nd place) to his name.
Latsis, who has seen his fortune drop to $2.6bn amid strife for Greek banks in the previous year, benefited from improved stock values at EFG International, Lamda Development, and Hellenic Petroleum, Forbes says.
Aker supremo Kjell Inge Rokke, pictured above, was not far behind Latsis with $3bn in the bank. The Norwegian ranked 458th on the list, almost 50 spots and $200m clear of Oprah Winfrey.
Shipping’s private equity poster boy Wilbur Ross was in good company in 554th position. His $2.6bn left him level pegging with Phillip Niarchos, son of Greek shipping legend Stavros.
Former Rongsheng chairman Zhang Zhirong endured what Forbes called a “tumultuous year” but a $14m insider dealing settlement made little dent in his $2bn (736th place) nest egg.
Chang Yung-fa of Evergreen could be donating a little less to charity after seeing his wealth fall by $400m to $1.5bn.
This saw him leapfrogged by Arne Wilhelmsen as the Royal Caribbean shareholder remained stable at $1.6bn.
Helmut Sohmen continued to slide down the list and finished outside the world’s top 1,000 after issues in the tanker market and a fall in BW Offshore’s shares left his wallet $900m lighter at $1.3bn.
Another private shipowner to make the list is Palmali Navigation chief Mubariz Gurbanoglu. His $1.2bn leaves him in the company of Sir William Ford despite spending $25m a year on football club Lankeran.
-
Share
-
-
Print
- Newsletter Signup
-
Your message has been sent
E-mail this to a friend.