4 ms·
Warren Buffett is now the richest man in the world (beating Bill Gates after 13 years).
- kingnothing 19y agoSince he is already obligated to give the majority of his stock to the B&M Gates Foundation, shouldn't that be subtracted from his net worth as it is an outstanding debt, so to speak?
- rms 19y agoI see it like a will, you don't subtract someone's will out of their net worth. He just set it up even more formally than a will because you need to take billions of dollars very seriously.
- mdemare 19y agoBut you can change a will. Can he back out of this?
- Xichekolas 19y agoHe wouldn't want to, and neither would his children or grandchildren, from what I have read. Even donating 99% of his net worth, his family will still have over half a billion dollars, which is more than enough for down to earth people. And I'm not even sure he is donating that much.
- aneesh 19y agoYes, but he's set it up so that he only donates 5% every year. The rest is counted in his net worth.
- j1o1h1n 19y agoTruely richer than Putin?
- moog 19y agoThat's an interesting question. Buffet is clearly the "world's richest man" measured by the criteria used by the author of this article. I suspect there are many people in the world who are 'richer', but we don't know about them because they operate in the 'black' economy or appear much further down the 'official' list.
- falsestprophet 19y agoI think it is hard to hide $63 or more billion.
- pchristensen 19y agoHow many people do you think there are? You'd have to a) control vast resources or businesses, b) make sure no legit journalist in the entire world can tie you to it, and c) not care about achieving higher returns by investing in legitimate options, d) grow to that fortune without using mainstream investment options, and e) restrain your spending enough that you don't arouse suspicion. Not to mention that a huge, illicit fortune would be worth less than face value because it would be less liquid than a legitimate fortune. Let's look at the top 3: Buffet: started one of the most successful investment funds ever, which now owns most of Coca Cola and many insurance companies, among other giant, prominent copmanies Helu: owns most of the telecom in Central and South America Gates: started and ran the largest software company in the world, running on ~1B computers. Was one of the biggest business and technology success stories of the century. You have to be prominent to get those big numbers.
- moog 19y agoI dunno, haven't trillions gone missing from the Pentagon budget? Who has all that money? I think it might be easier to hide immense wealth than you suggest. Granted, to do so would require extreme political power or approval, which is why the GP's question about Putin is so insightful.
- pchristensen 19y ago