World billionaires are holding more than 1.7 trillion diallrs in cash due to growing risks in the economy and the world reports CNBC.
2,473 people that make the world’s billionaires are keeping 22.2 percent of their total net worth in cash according to a census by Wealth X.
Increase in corporate acquisitions and mergers have benefited the billionaires but they still hoard money equal to Brazil’s GDP.
The Wealth-X report said billionaires may also be sitting on the sidelines waiting for stock and asset valuations to fall to bargain levels.
The world’s billionaires saw their fortunes grow last year by 5.4 percent to $7.7 trillion — higher than any country’s GDP except the U.S. and China. While Europe had the largest number of billionaires of any region, 806, Asia had the fastest growth. Its billionaire count grew 15 percent over the prior year, to 645. North America had 628 billionaires, 3 percent higher.
“Finance, which includes hedge funds, banking and the investment industry, is still the biggest producer of billionaires, at 15 percent. But the industry’s share is shrinking, and was down 4 percentage points from the prior year. Billionaires working in finance saw their wealth shrink by 6.6 percent, to $1.2 trillion.” Says the CNBC report
It further adds that, billionaires who made their money from industrial conglomerates represent 12.8 percent of the world’s total, making it the second-largest industry. That’s up from 12.1 percent the previous year. There also was an increase in billionaires who made their money from insurance, retail, business services and information technology. Billionaires who inherited their entire fortune account for just 13 percent of the total.
More than half of the world’s billionaires entirely self-made (made the fortunes themselves) according to the Wealth-X report.
