Elon Musk’s wealth soared to levels only ever achieved by John D Rockefeller. Bill Hwang lost $20 billion in days, Bill Gates – once the world’s richest man – divorced and split his fortune with former wife Melinda French Gates.
For the wealthiest people on the planet, 2021 was a year of enormous gains, extreme losses and unprecedented scrutiny.
Mostly, it was a good time to be a multibillionaire. Soaring equity markets and rising valuations of everything – from mansions to cryptocurrencies to commodities – boosted the collective fortune of the 500 richest people by more than $1 trillion even as the Covid-19 pandemic left the world reeling for a second year.
The gains mean there are now a record 10 fortunes in excess of $100bn, more than 200 above $10bn and Mr Musk reached the level of riches, inflation-adjusted, achieved by modern history’s wealthiest person.
The combined fortunes on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index now exceed $8.4tn, more than the gross domestic product of all countries except the US and China.
Mr Musk ended 2021 with a personal fortune of $273.5bn, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world's second wealthiest person with $194.2bn and LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault with $177.1bn. Rounding off the top five was Mr Gates with $138.3bn and Google co-founder Larry Page on $129.5bn.
The enormous fortunes amassed by the 0.001 per cent also underscored how the uneven recovery from the economic shock of Covid-19 has become more entrenched.
As the very richest benefited from bumper markets and loose fiscal policy, the pandemic pushed as many as 150 million people into extreme poverty, according to World Bank estimates, a number that stands to increase if inflation continues to rise.
“Since the mid-1990s, the share of wealth held by the global richest 0.01 per cent has risen from around 7 per cent to 11 per cent,” said Lucas Chancel, co-director of the World Inequality Lab at the Paris School of Economics. “The crisis did not reverse this trend. It slightly amplified it.”
From Washington to Moscow to Beijing, politicians ratcheted up rhetoric around the ultra-affluent, vowing to raise taxes and close loopholes in response to public pressure and drained budgets.
In October, US Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden unveiled a proposed levy specifically aimed at 10-digit fortunes.
The billionaires tax, however, quickly drew scorn from the people such as Mr Musk and disappeared within days. An earlier proposal pitched by US President Joe Biden to raise taxes on inheritances and almost double those on capital gains, a prime source of income for many billionaires, also withered.
US Senator Joe Manchin’s objection to the Build Back Better plan could rule out higher taxes of any kind for the rich in the near future.
However, on December 20, Mr Musk tweeted that he would pay more than $11bn in taxes for 2021. The bill comes after Mr Musk exercised about 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover the taxes related to those transactions.
It was a different story in China. The country’s financial elite had their worst year since Bloomberg began tracking wealth in 2012, losing $61bn as Beijing clamped down on Big Tech and promoted “common prosperity”. Alibaba Group Holding's Jack Ma disappeared from the public stage and property moguls shed $35bn amid a spiralling debt crunch.
No one embodies the squeeze better than China Evergrande Group’s Hui Ka Yan. Once China’s second-richest person, Mr Hui’s net worth fell $17bn last year as his property empire slumped under a crushing debt load. The government urged him to use his personal wealth – including a mega-yacht – to help to repay investors.
Among the richest sources of new wealth in 2021 were less tangible assets: digital assets, shares of newly listed technology stocks and special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs).
The gyrating value of digital coins added then erased billions for cryptocurrency influencer Mike Novogratz, while a record number of initial public offerings lifted the paper wealth of founders such as Brian Armstrong of crypto-trading platform Coinbase and Brazilian FinTech chief executive David Velez.
Former US president Donald Trump, who left office significantly less wealthy than when he entered the White House, could make billions of dollars if his nascent media company can complete its Spac merger with a blank-cheque company.
At the end of the year, 42 members of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index made their debut on the ranking in 2021, mostly due to IPOs.
Overall, it was a year of big swings and massive payouts. With valuations soaring and growing wariness over potential tax increases, many billionaires seized the moment to sell.
A low-profile Chicago clan struck a $32bn deal with private equity for their medical goods supplier, possibly the biggest liquidity event in history for a single family.
America’s richest billionaires unloaded $43bn in stock through the start of December, more than double the $20bn they sold in all of 2020.
Fortunes were reshaped in other ways. The Gates’s divorce meant the Microsoft co-founder ceded assets, while securing Ms French Gates’s own spot on the index, where she is ranked 194th.
MacKenzie Scott set records for philanthropy while her former husband, Mr Bezos, amped up his giving to environmental causes after stepping down as chief executive of Amazon.
Alongside the stratospheric monetary gains, there were implosions. In March, former hedge fund manager Bill Hwang shot from obscurity to infamy in the blink of an eye when his family office, Archegos Capital Management, collapsed under the weight of soured leveraged bets, vaporising a $20bn fortune.
Since the mid-1990s, the share of wealth held by the global richest 0.01 per cent has risen from around 7 per cent to 11 per cent
Lucas Chancel,
co-director of the World Inequality Lab at the Paris School of Economics
At the centre of it all – the market volatility, whipsawing cryptocurrencies, the tax discourse, the selling, the record-smashing wealth gains – was Mr Musk. The revered and reviled entrepreneur sailed to the top of the index in January and remained on top most of the year, thanks to Tesla’s ascendant stock price, consistent profit growth and the rising value of SpaceX.
The electric car maker’s climb was so steep, it vaulted its third-largest shareholder, Leo KoGuan, a low-profile, Singapore-based retail trader and professed super fan of Mr Musk, on to the index with a $10.8bn fortune.
One constant throughout the year was the world’s richest person’s often-sophomoric tweets taunting regulators, riffing on cryptocurrencies or pondering the obligations, tax and otherwise, of the super wealthy. Mr Musk’s social media feed frequently reflected the conflicted relationship between megabillionaires and everyone else in a volatile, increasingly unequal time.
The world's top 10 richest people in 2021
- Elon Musk – $273.5bn
- Jeff Bezos – $194.2bn
- Bernard Arnault – $177.1bn
- Bill Gates – $138.3bn
- Larry Page – $129.5bn
- Mark Zuckerberg – $128.4bn
- Sergey Brin – $124.6bn
- Steve Ballmer – $120.7bn
- Warren Buffett – $109.5bn
- Larry Ellison – $108.1bn
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,000m
Winner: AF Mozhell, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Majdi, Szczepan Mazur, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: AF Athabeh, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: AF Eshaar, Bernardo Pinheiro, Khalifa Al Neyadi
4pm: Gulf Cup presented by Longines Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Al Roba’a Al Khali, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Younis Al Kalbani
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Apolo Kid, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muahiri
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
The specs: 2018 Audi RS5
Price, base: Dh359,200
Engine: 2.9L twin-turbo V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 450hp at 5,700rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 1,900rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.7L / 100km
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
The specs: McLaren 600LT
Price, base: Dh914,000
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 600hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 620Nm @ 5,500rpm
Fuel economy 12.2.L / 100km
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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The biog
Favourite food: Tabbouleh, greek salad and sushi
Favourite TV show: That 70s Show
Favourite animal: Ferrets, they are smart, sensitive, playful and loving
Favourite holiday destination: Seychelles, my resolution for 2020 is to visit as many spiritual retreats and animal shelters across the world as I can
Name of first pet: Eddy, a Persian cat that showed up at our home
Favourite dog breed: I love them all - if I had to pick Yorkshire terrier for small dogs and St Bernard's for big
Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra
Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa
Rating: 4/5
