DUBAI: Forbes has recently released its list of cities with the most number of billionaires with New York City once again topping with its 84 billionaires whose combined net worth os $469.7 billion – bigger than Austria’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“Of the 2,153 members of the 2019 Forbes World’s Billionaires List, 551 live in just 10 of the world’s 1,860 cities,” said the Forbes report. “Billionaires living in this relative handful of locations possess a collective $2.3 trillion of wealth, exceeding the GDP of all but seven nations on earth,” it added.
And without much ado, here is the list from 10th to the top as per the Forbes report published online, March 9, 2019:
- Mumbai, 37 billionaires
Total net worth: $184.4 billion
Richest resident: Oil and gas heir Mukesh Ambani, $50 billion
Mumbai is home to what is likely the most expensive residence on earth: Ambani’s $1 billion 27-story palace.
- Seoul, 38 billionaires
Total net worth: $99.9 billion
Richest resident: Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, $16.9 billion
All but one of South Korea’s billionaires reside in its biggest city, and all are South Korean citizens. Seoul’s richest people control the nation’s biggest businesses, including global powerhouses Samsung and Hyundai.
- Shenzhen, 39 billionaires
Total net worth: $190.5 billion
Richest resident: Tencent CEO Ma Huateng, $38.8 billion
Every listmaker from Shenzhen is a self-made billionaire, says Forbes, with its second-richest resident Hui Ka Yan working as a factory technician for ten years before founding one of China’s foremost real estate developers.
- San Francisco, 42 billionaires
Total net worth: $109.2 billion
Richest resident: Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskowitz, $11.1 billion
The heart of America’s tech revolution, San Francisco is homebase for founders of Uber, Airbnb and Pinterest. The region’s influx of digital-age companies has made it the most expensive city in the U.S.
- Shanghai, 45 billionaires
Total net worth: $110.7 billion
Richest resident: Ecommerce entrepreneur Colin Huang, $13.5 billion
Shanghai, also the world’s biggest port, is home to four major package delivery companies, each with a pair each of billionaires.
- London, 55 billionaires
Total net worth: $226 billion
Richest resident: Russian bank founder Mikhail Fridman, $15 billion
At least 35 expatriate billionaires from 23 countries including India, Iceland and Russia have relocated to London. Five, including two Ikea heirs, come from high-taxed Sweden.
- Beijing, 61 billionaires
Total net worth: $193.3 billion
Richest resident: Commercial real estate titan Wang Jianlin, $22.6 billion
Beijing is home to China’s two youngest billionaires, both products of the internet era: 33-year-old cryptocurrency miner Jihan Wu and 35-year-old ByteDance chair Zhang Yiming.
- Moscow, 71 billionaires
Total net worth: $336.5 billion
Richest resident: Natural gas oligarch Leonid Mikhelson, $24 billion
Nearly 80% of all billionaires in Russia live in its capital, which is also its most populous city.
- Hong Kong, 79 billionaires
Total net worth: $355.5 billion
Richest resident: Conglomerate kingpin Li Ka-shing, $31.7 billion
Housing prices in the city have quadrupled since the Great Recession, thanks to its government’s tight grip on supply. The booming market has vaulted the fortunes of developers like Lee Shau Kee and Peter Woo, and 29 Hong Kong billionaires (and half of its top-ten richest) count real estate as their chief source of wealth.
- New York, 84 billionaires
Total net worth: $469.7 billion
Richest Resident: Media magnate Michael Bloomberg, $55.5 billion
Some Big Apple billionaires were born and raised in New York, including Estee Lauder heir Ronald Lauder, JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon and Highbridge Capital cofounder Henry Swieca.
