More and more billionaires getting richer and richer. Just a few words to summarize the latest Forbes' rich list released yesterday. With 1,210 members in this exclusive club, there are no less than 20% more billionaires reported this year compared to 2010.
The Mexican Carlos Slim is still the richest man in the world, followed by the first American, Bill Gates. The French Bernard Arnault is the first European at fourth place. Larry Ellison, winner of the America's Cup and owner of multiple yachts is at the 5th place, while Christy Walton, the first woman, is at the tenth place. The entire list is available on the Forbes website.
Another important point of this up-to-date list concerns the newcomers. Most of them come from the emerging countries, mainly from Russia and China, but Brazil and India are also reenforcing their presence.
The USA still represents the majority with 34% of these billionaires. Europe represents 15.5%. Even if Russians lost a part of their fortunes in 2008, now they are stronger than before and exceed 8% (+30% compared to 2010). The Chinese, including 36 fortunes from Hong-Kong, represents 12.7% of the world billionaires. They have more newcomers than any other country in the Forbes' list (+40% compared to 2010).
With this quick overview, we can imagine that a large part of these new fortunes will enter the superyacht market and will become a real target for the superyacht industry. A new Eldorado is possible and recent reports from Italian yards and recent sales during the latest boat shows already prove this trend.