Aliko Dangote. He is eyeing the Kenyan cement manufacturing industry. [Photo: CNBC.com]
Dangote group president, Aliko Dangote, is now richer than Donald Trump, Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich and media mogul Oprah Winfrey who is also the richest black woman combined.
In a 2016 ranking by Forbes Magazine, Dangote was placed 51st making him richer than the combination of all other Nigerians who made the list.
This is despite losing $300 million from $15.7 billion.
In this ranking, Dangote remains the richest black billionaire in the world.
The 58-year-old Dangote is richer than Abramovich ($7.6 billion), Oprah ($3.0 billion) and Trump $4.5 billion.
Bill Gates remains the richest person in the world with a net worth of $75 billion despite losing $4.2 billion from a year ago.
Gates has topped the list for 3 years in a row and topped the list 17 out of 22 years.”
The second spot was taken by Amancio Ortega who displaced Mexico’s Carlos Slim. Slim slipped to number four, while Warren Buffett remained in the third position.
Facebook’s 31-year-old Mark Zuckerberg added $11.2 billion to his fortune and moved up 10 places from 16 to sixth.
Global economic upheavals have seen a plunge in commodity prices also affecting the billionaires’ list which saw 16 of them fall off the list.
“For our 30th annual guide to the world’s richest, we found 1,810 billionaires, down from a record 1,826 a year ago. Their aggregate net worth was $6.48 trillion, $570 billion less than last year. It was also the first time since 2010 that the average net worth of a billionaire dropped – it is now $3.6 billion, $300 million less than last year,” said Forbes.
Dangote is Africa’s largest cement producer who is eyeing the Kenyan market and whose entry will see the market shaken with increased competition.
He owns about 90 percent of publicly traded Dangote Cement through a holding company.