Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson has once again been named the world’s wealthiest casino entrepreneur, according to Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List 2020.
The gaming magnate, who has interests in Macau, Singapore and the U.S., is ranked the world’s 28th wealthiest person overall with a net worth of $26.8 billion (212 billion patacas), according to the 2020 list. Adelson’s annual position fell four places from last year when his net worth was estimated at $35.1 billion.
Other notable listings in the casino business include Galaxy Entertainment Group’s Lui Che Woo and family (106th), Caesars Entertainment Corp’s Carl Icahn (78th), NagaCorp’s Chen Lip Keong (437th) and Shun Tak’s Pansy Ho (565th). Former casino executives Steve Wynn and James Packer also made the list, placing in the 648th and 908th spots respectively.
The list was finalized on March 18, and does not fully reflect the rapid changes to the world economy brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Forbes, even “the richest people on Earth are not immune to the coronavirus.” The aggregate wealth of the world’s billionaires has fallen $700 billion from last year to $8 trillion, partly due to what Forbes describes as an implosion in global equity markets.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos retained his top spot for the third consecutive year. The e-commerce giant is now worth $113 billion, buoyed by a 15% rise in Amazon’s shares in the past year.
Bill Gates is the second-
wealthiest individual, followed by luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault, who nudged out Warren Buffett to take the number three spot.
In terms of geographic distribution, the U.S. remains the country with the most billionaires, followed by China. However, this year there were 178 newcomers on the list hailing from 20 countries. Among them is Zoom Video Communications founder and CEO Eric Yuan, whose business is booming in response to social distancing measures enforced by the world due to Covid-19. DB
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