329 people fell off Forbes’ 2022 list of the World’s Billionaires, including 169 one-hit wonders who were part of last year’s record 493 newcomers. It’s the largest number of drop-offs since 2009, when the financial crisis knocked 355 people off the list. Additionally, 30 billionaires died in the past year; they are counted separately from those who fell off due to net worth declines.

Three countries–China (153 drop-offs, including four from Hong Kong), Russia (35) and the U.S. (33)—accounted for two-thirds of the drop-offs. Former tech billionaires, whose fortunes soared more than any other group during the pandemic, were hit the hardest–53 dropped off, including 32 from China and Hong Kong. But the pain was widespread, with the fashion and retail (45), manufacturing (33) and real estate (29) industries also taking significant hits to their billionaire ranks. Two of Covid-19’s biggest early winners, the healthcare and finance sectors, also lost 25 billionaires apiece.

Of the 10 former billionaires whose net worths sank the most, eight were from China. The fortunes of this year’s two biggest losers, Zhang Bangxin of TAL Education (formerly worth $13.3 billion) and Larry Xiangdong Chen of rival GSX Techedu ($10.2 billion), evaporated when the Chinese government threatened to ban profits and overseas investment in the after-school tutoring industry.

Of the 30 billionaires who passed away in the past year, the most recent was Edward “Ned” Johson III. He took over Fidelity from his father in 1977 and ran it for 37 years, transforming the Boston-based firm into one of the largest U.S. money managers, before handing the reins to his daughter Abigail in 2014. He died at the age of 91, just days before Forbes’ finalized our 2022 billionaires list in March. Eli Broad, the home-building and insurance magnate turned philanthropist died at the age of 87, leaving $6.9 billion to widow Edythe, who is tasked with fulfilling the couple’s pledge to give most of it away. Czech investor (and formerly Czechia’s richest person) Petr Kellner was killed in a March 2021 helicopter crash at the age of 56. The wealthiest person to die in the past year, he left $16.6 billion to his wife, Renata Kellnerova.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/m....attdurot/2022/04/05/

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