Not A Good Year For The World's Richest Billionaires

Bloomberg: The World's Richest People Got Poorer This Year

 * Ortega chases Gates as planet's five richest shuffle positions
 * Soaring Bezos doubles wealth, Wal-Mart heirs lose $35 billion

The richest people on Earth became a bit poorer this year.

The world’s 400 wealthiest individuals shed $19 billion in 2015, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Falling commodities prices and signs of a slower-growing China spooked investors around the world leading to the first annual decline for the daily wealth index since its 2012 debut.

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Editor: Some of these individuals may have lost billions .... but I am sure that they will survive.

Inside The Private Jets Of The Rich And Famous

Real estate tycoon, Donald Trump, owns a Boeing 757 jet that is reportedly worth almost US$100 million 

 Daily Mail: From Trump's $100m 757 to Oprah's luxurious interiors and Tom's 'Top Gun' G4: Inside the private jets of the rich and famous 

 * Real estate tycoon Donald Trump has a luxurious jet worth almost $100m 
 * Meanwhile, Star Wars' Harrison Ford has a collection of eight planes 
 * Actor (and pilot) John Travolta has TWO runways on his Florida property 

 My Comment: I suspect that boarding their planes at the airport and dealing with customs is slightly more easier for these air-plane owners than for all of us.

What Do Billionaires Have In Common (Beside Being Billionaires)?

The World's 2,325 Billionaires Have These 14 Traits In Common -- Business Insider 

There are 12 million millionaires in the world, but only 2,325 billionaires.

That's an exclusive club, of which the likes of Warren Buffett, Jack Ma, and Oprah Winfrey are members.

Digging into research firm Wealth-X's new Billionaire Census, we found that billionaires have some commonalities. Such as:

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My Comment: Only 2,325 billionaires in the world (that are known) .... yup .... that is a small club.

London Is The City With The Most Billionaires

Russia's Richest Oligarchs Are Divesting Away From America

Alisher Usmanov (RIA Novosti / Aleksey Nikolskyi)

Russia's Richest Man Usmanov Ditches Apple And Facebook For China -- RT

Russia’s biggest billionaire has bought shares in big Chinese internet retailer Alibaba, after selling his stakes in US tech giants Apple and Facebook. The deal comes as the West imposes sanctions on Russia, that could spread from politics to business.

Usmanov, 60, a founder of Russia’s iron ore Metalloinvest holding company, has an estimated fortune of $18.6 billion as of March 2014 and is increasing his bet on China, while selling American assets.

 “Chinese companies account for about 70 percent to 80 percent of the portfolio of our foreign internet investments,” Ivan Streshinskiy, head of Usmanov’s asset-management company USM Advisors LLC, told Bloomberg in an interview in Moscow.

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My Comment: Alisher Usmanov is the "Warren Buffet of Russia" (more or less) .... what he does influences what others in Russia will do with their money. His 10% Facebook investment .... and selling it after the IPO for a massive profit .... is a textbook case on how an investor should invest in an internet company.

Global Super Rich Eye Office Blocks Over Mansions

Skyscrapers in Singapore. Wikipedia 

Global Super Rich Eye Office Blocks Over Mansions As Wealth Hits $20 Trillion -- Reuters 

 LONDON (Reuters) - The world's super rich are turning from luxury mansions to hotels and office blocks, as they hunt for bigger property deals to preserve their growing fortunes which hit a combined $20 trillion in 2013, data showed on Wednesday.

The move into commercial property comes as wealth levels rebound after the financial crisis and home values in London and Monaco soar, prompting the rich to look for riskier investments that offer higher returns than gold or bonds.

Wealthy individuals spent $11.2 billion on hotels, offices, warehouses and shops globally in 2013, up from $7 billion in 2012 and three times the amount spent in 2008 after the crash, data compiled for Reuters by research group Real Capital Analytics (RCA) showed.

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My Comment: Office blocks give rental/leasing income .... mansions do not.

The 10 Richest Russian Heiresses

Photo: Victoria Mikhelson 

 From Russia With Love: The 10 Richest Russian Heiresses -- The Richest 

 Russia, the largest country in the world, is never far from international news these days: from the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, to the latest controversy from the ever contentious President Vladimir Putin, Russia is a nation that consistently holds our attention – and yet, for many, Russia maintains an air of mystery. The end of Communism in 1991 radically changed the nation with the country’s once tightly-controlled natural resources suddenly up for sale to the most enterprising – and, more importantly, luckiest – Russians. Those who had the chance to cut themselves a piece of the oil-rich pie have done well for themselves, with many oil magnates now cosying up to the big wigs in the Kremlin- whether for better or for worse.

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  Editor: Victoria Mikhelson is the richest at $13.74 billion.