Asia’s richest person lost US$3.6 billion yesterday, the most among all billionaires worldwide, as China’s stock markets had the biggest plunge since 2007 and a wave of selling spread across the globe, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
Wang Jianlin saw US$2 billion wiped from his stake in Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, after the Hong Kong-listed property developer tumbled 17 per cent to its lowest level since it went public in December.
Wang also lost nearly US$1 billion from his Shenzhen-traded Wanda Cinema Line, which fell by the exchange-exposed limit of 10 per cent yesterday. His fortune stood at US$31.2 billion after the decline.
China’s stocks tumbled yesterday after government stimulus failed to lift investors’ confidence in the country’s slowing economy.
The rout also spread to other regions, seeing fortunes plummet worldwide.
About US$124 billion was wiped off the collective fortunes of the world’s 400 richest people as the global selloff pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index into its first correction in nearly four years.
Twenty-four billionaires saw their wealth fall by more than US$1 billion on Monday.
They included Bill Gates, whose wealth dropped US$3.2 billion, the most of anyone after Wang, and Inditex SA founder Amancio Ortega, whose wealth fell US$1.5 billion, the most of any European, according to data compiled by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mexico’s Carlos Slim lost US$1.6 billion as his fortune fell to its lowest level since the Index began in 2012.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates lost US$2 billion and US$3.2 billion.