WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a new report published by Oxfam Monday to mark the annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos.
Oxfam's report, 'An economy for the 99 percent', lists the world's 8 richest people, in order of net worth:
Bill Gates, US founder of Microsoft (net worth $75 billion); Amancio Ortega, Spanish founder of Inditex which owns the Zara fashion chain (net worth $67 billion); Warren Buffett, American CEO and largest shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway (net worth $60.8 billion); Carlos Slim Helu, Mexican owner of Grupo Carso (net worth: $50 billion); Jeff Bezos, American founder, chairman and chief executive of Amazon (net worth: $45.2 billion); Mark Zuckerberg, American chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Facebook (net worth $44.6 billion); Larry Ellison, American co-founder and CEO of Oracle (net worth $43.6 billion); and Michael Bloomberg, American founder, owner and CEO of Bloomberg LP (net worth: $40 billion).
Picked from Forbes' billionaires list, six of them are Americans.
The report, published ahead of the World Economic Forum opening in Davos. shows that the gap between rich and poor is far greater than had been feared. It details how big business and the super-rich are fuelling the inequality crisis by dodging taxes, driving down wages and using their power to influence politics. It calls for a fundamental change in the way we manage our economies so that they work for all people, and not just a fortunate few.
New and better data on the distribution of global wealth - particularly in India and China - indicates that the poorest half of the world has less wealth than had been previously thought. Had this new data been available last year, it would have shown that nine billionaires owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the planet, and not 62, as Oxfam calculated at the time.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX