his is an expanded version of a story that appears in the March 26, 2012 issue of Forbes Magazine.
To flip through the original Forbes Billionaires issue is to tour the titans of capitalism’s past. And I don’t simply mean the 140 billionaires we identified in 1987, the vast majority of whom have since passed on or fallen from the ranks. From extinct behemoths such as Pan Am to doomed upstarts like Financial News Network, that original magazine’s ad pages serve as a testament to the fact that success is often fleeting. Yet to also encounter familiar trademarks such as DuPont and IBM demonstrates that prudent discipline and shrewd management, along with more than a little luck, are proven guards against time and market forces.
For our 25th anniversary Billionaires issue, we identified just 24 individuals with this unique brand of staying power. Not only were these 24 current Forbes Billionaires inaugural members of the list back in 1987, they also qualified for each and every edition in between. Members of the Forbes Billionaires club for a quarter-century straight, they are true legends of capitalism.The man at the top of the hall of fame list may be surprising at first glance, until one recalls that Microsofthas been a public company since March of 1986 and Bill Gates has grown up from tech wunderkind to middle-aged philanthropic revolutionary. Despite the fact that Gates’ charitable giving is rapidly approaching the $30 billion mark, he can’t seem to give it away fast enough; from his debut in 1987, Gates’ fortune has grown to 48.8 times its original size, from $1.25 billion to $61 billion today.
Gates’ Giving Pledge partner is also a bona fide Forbes legend. From a 1987 fortune of $2.1 billion, Warren Buffett now sits atop a $44 billion pile. Buffett, however, has developed a habit of giving away billions of dollars each year via the transfer of Berkshire Hathaway stock to charitable foundations. And if he now attempts a personal bailout of the United States Treasury as his political opponents have suggested he do, Buffett may not be in the Forbes hall of fame much longer. For the time being, however, Buffet’s focus is on affecting positive change, primarily through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The third and final Giving Pledge signatory to appear on our legends list is the current scion of one of America’s most historic industrial families: the Rockefellers. David Rockefeller Sr. is the only living grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller. While Standard was busted up by the federal government way back in 1911, the current patriarch has put the family money to work in industries such as banking and New York City real estate.
It’s not only American heirs whose wealth has stood the test of time. Liliane Bettencourt of France, whose father Eugene Schueller founded L’Oreal in 1907, remains the legal master of a $24 billion fortune, up from $1 billion in 1987. Japanese real estate mogul Eitaro Itoyama maintains a $2.9 billion empire, consisting primarily of nine golf courses and a driving range inherited from his father. However, if Itoyama held similar properties in the United States as opposed to Japan, he’d likely be worth well under $1 billion, as premium courses only fetch in the neighborhood of $20 million in the States. Luckily for Itoyama, his courses are collectively estimated to be worth more than $2.7 billion in land-strapped Japan.Though he has a quarter-century of membership in the Forbes Billionaires club under his belt, Itoyama’s fortune may not be quite as resilient as that fact suggests. We must keep in mind that the United States’ currency has undergone significant devaluation over the past 25 years. And while Itoyama’s net worth has fallen by just $100 million in nominal terms, from $3 billion in 1987 to $2.9 billion in 2012, his fortune has been more than halved in real terms. Itoyama’s current $2.9 billion is equal to approximately 1.45 billion 1987 dollars, the loss of real value due largely to the crash of the Japanese real estate market in the early 1990s and Japan’s subsequent “lost decade.”
But whether we measure in nominal or inflation adjusted dollars, Itoyama qualifies as a member of the Forbes Billionaires hall of fame. Other legends, such as Britain’sDavid Sainsbury, only make it in nominal terms. Sainsbury’s great-grandfather founded the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s in 1869, from which the current Baron Sainsbury of Turville’s fortune is derived. Worth $1.6 billion in 1987, Sainsbury’s fortune has shrunk to $1.1 billion today. In terms of purchasing power, that $1.1 billion is the equivalent of 550 million 1987 dollars, a 65% decrease in real terms.
While the majority of Forbes hall of famers landed in the billionaires’ club thanks to inheritance, among the remainder are risk-takers adept not only at creating, but also maintaining epic fortunes. In addition to the aforementioned Bill Gates, entrepreneurs such as Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing have stood the test of time. After fleeing China in 1940, Li was working full-time to support his family by age 12. Once he landed an apprenticeship in a watch-strap factory Li never looked back, minting his first of many millions manufacturing plastic flowers. From an entry point of $1.6 billion, Li is now worth $25.5 billion, enough to make him the wealthiest man in all of Asia.
Some faces you might expect to see are absent from the Forbes Billionaires hall of fame. For a select few, this is because they achieved billionaire status just one year too late to qualify. Having missed the 1987 billionaires list, but appearing in each and every subsequent edition, are nearly legends David and Charles Koch, now worth $25 billion each, Sumner Redstone, currently valued at $4.4 billion and Ronald Perelman, whose fortune has grown from $1 billion in 1988 to $12 billion today.
source: forbes magazine
Retweet this story
No comments:
Post a Comment