Last year, I looked at the list of Forbes richest people and concluded a few things. A lot of billionaires lost huge percentages of their fortunes (up to 90%). Many of these people are very wealthy, but a large portion of their wealth is tied up in less liquid assets. For example, if Bill Gates all of a sudden sold all his Microsoft stock, there wouldn’t be enough buyers for the demand. Oversupply of shares with no change in demand will result in a drop of value so much he’d be half wiped out. Same goes for Warren Buffett. The guys that started Google are slowly selling off a few share here and there, because any big move would be deemed as insider trading or have a similar effect as Gates.

But for 2010, we’re throwing out all these crappy summaries and instead getting a little dirtier.

One of my very first posts on Weakonomics (March of 2008; to give you an idea of how long ago that was, unemployment was 5.1%) was about the guy who is now the richest man in the world. Was I foreshadowing? No. His name is Carlos Slim and he’s juggled the richest man in the world title with Buffett and Gates for the last few years. Slim is a telecom mogul in Mexico. That’s right, the richest man in the world is Mexican. Not American, Mexican. And to make matters worse, aside from Gates and Buffett, there’s only one other guy in the top 10 from the US. A total of 4 hail from emerging economies: Mexico, India X2, and Brazil. If there’s ever been a sign of dwindling US economic influence it’s this list.

There are other trends too. Most of the billionaires are old. Of the top 25, only one is below the age of 52, and that’s one of the guys that started Google. He’s 36. What had you accomplished by 26? Probably not amassed $17.5 billion in wealth. This is the perfect tribute to how important Google has become to the economy. The two guys that started Google are together worth $35 billion. Powers combined that puts that at the 4th wealthiest. Google is THAT big. The younglings don’t stop there either. Some of you will have heard of this next guy, most of you won’t. Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook (I know you’ve heard of that). Mark is 25. Yeah, the guy behind Facebook is TWENTY-FIVE. He’s worth $4 billion.

Facebook has plans to go beyond just their own website. They intend to basically become the internet for certain users. Zuckerberg could sell his stake in the company and retire as the wealthiest 20 something ever. But this guy has ambition. Because Facebook isn’t a publicly held company, its value can’t be certain, but estimates are around $10-$15 billion. The company will go public in the next few years, that’s a fact. But Zucker’s ambition is about legacy. Facebook has the potential to be larger than Google. Zuckerberg could very easily become the first person to break $100 billion and stay there (Gates was first, but it was brief). This is in large part due to the fact that again most of the billionaires are old and the rate their wealth is growing has slowed.

Here’s another interesting note. Aside from Buffett, you have to get to #35 on the list before you find an American that made his billions from finance. If you want to be a billionaire, your best chance to do it is by starting a company. You likely won’t get there investing, and you sure as hell won’t get there by being just a simple fat-cat CEO. They are simpletons in this crowd.

One last observation before my biggest revelation. Let’s go back to Carlos Slim-Shady. His net worth is exactly $500 million more than Gates’. This number is so close that a small change in the peso/dollar exchange rate will change it. Furthermore, like most of the big guys, their wealth is no longer tied up in just the companies that made them. They’ve diversified and invest in tons of things impossible to track. In other words, I’m convinced Forbes, a struggling magazine and dying media brand, “allowed” Slim’s “estimated” net worth to just edge out Gates for the media attention. It worked, bastards.

Finally, I saw in a news story yesterday where I guy interviewed said that after $500 million these people don’t see much of a change in lifestyle. This means that one you crest a half billion then there aren’t many more things that are incrementally more expensive. Said in another way, Bill Gates can’t really live much better than Oprah (worth about $2 billion). I see a business opportunity here. I’ve already got a list of potential clients thanks to Forbes, I just need to figure out how to charge outrageous amounts of money for stuff that still has a perceived value. To date, only one group has figured it out, yachts. There has to be something else, something.

By The Weakonomist

The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice.

categories: business, lists, media