00:00 It was an up year for billionaires, with a record 2,781 of them worth a record $14.2
00:06 trillion on Forbes' 2024 World's Billionaires list.
00:11 But not everyone is celebrating.
00:13 An unlucky quarter of those on the ranking are poorer than they were in 2023, and 189
00:19 people fell below the $1 billion threshold, losing their membership to the three-comma
00:24 club entirely.
00:26 These billionaire drop-offs include moguls behind some notable brands, such as Estee
00:30 Lauder heir Gary Lauder, Hajime Satomi, former CEO of Japanese gaming company Sega Sammy,
00:38 and David Tran, owner of the company behind Sriracha hot sauce.
00:43 The overwhelming majority of the losses came from China, one of the few huge markets to
00:47 sputter in an otherwise positive year amid fallout from slower economic growth, a property
00:53 market glut, a decline in foreign investment, and rising geopolitical tensions.
00:58 China, including Hong Kong and Macau, shed 133 billionaires since last year's list.
01:05 The United States, meanwhile, which has the most billionaires of any country, only saw
01:10 eight billionaires drop from the ranks, followed by six in Japan and five in Russia.
01:16 Here are the top drop-off billionaires in 2024.
01:21 Osman Kibar
01:24 Long gone are the days of the pandemic pushing up the value of healthcare firms, like Kibar's
01:28 biotech business BioSplice Therapeutics.
01:32 Forbes estimates that the company, which uses pre-mRNA splicing in osteoarthritic and oncology
01:39 treatment, is worth $1.6 billion, far below the 2018 funding round that had pegged it
01:46 at $12 billion.
01:48 That's enough to knock Kibar, who has an estimated 36% stake in the private firm, off
01:53 the list.
01:55 Baiju Ravindran
01:57 Ravindran co-founded learning app Baijus, once India's most valuable startup, in 2011.
02:05 In January, Baiju posted its long-delayed results for the fiscal year ending March 2022,
02:12 showing a net loss topping $1 billion.
02:15 BlackRock slashed its valuation of Baijus to about $1 billion, down from the firm's
02:21 $22 billion valuation in 2022, amid the company's struggle to secure capital and allegations
02:27 of accounting irregularities.
02:29 Baiju's shareholders voted to oust Ravindran as CEO in February.
02:36 Hoy Kayan
02:38 In March, securities regulators fined his property developer, Evergrande Group, $580
02:44 million, and Hoy personally $6.6 million, for defrauding investors and colluding with
02:50 others to inflate the group's revenues by 564 billion yuan, about $78.4 billion.
02:59 After a Hong Kong court approved Evergrande's liquidation to pay back debts totaling around
03:03 $300 billion, Hoy's net worth plummeted to around $700 million, a pittance compared to
03:10 his peak estimated fortune of $36 billion back in 2019.
03:15 The disgraced magnate hasn't been seen in public since September.
03:20 René Benko
03:22 The Austrian real estate tycoon lost his membership to the Three Comma Club late last year, after
03:28 his real estate firm, Cigna Holding, filed for insolvency amid a mountain of debt.
03:34 Two key subsidiaries, Cigna Prime Selection and Cigna Development, filed for insolvency
03:39 shortly after.
03:41 Based on the net asset values for Cigna Prime, Cigna Development, and Cigna Holding, Forbes
03:47 has lowered his estimated net worth to nothing.
03:51 Last month, Benko himself filed for personal insolvency.
03:56 Wang Wenyin
03:59 In October, a Chinese court ordered a three-year freeze on Wang's stake in metals giant Amer
04:04 Holding following a series of contractual disputes.
04:08 Wang, dubbed "the King of Copper," stepped down as chairman of Shenzhen Amer, a subsidiary,
04:14 in the ensuing days.
04:17 With Wang holding 90% of the company, which accounts for the bulk of his wealth, the freeze
04:22 knocks him off the billionaire's list and easily makes him the biggest loser in both
04:26 percentage and dollar terms.
04:29 It's a sharp fall for the self-made entrepreneur, who was worth $19 billion last year and China's
04:35 ninth richest.
04:37 In March, a court from a separate province issued the same three-year freeze on Amer
04:41 Holding.
04:43 The company reportedly has a history of overpromising and underperforming on some of its projects.
04:50 Wang did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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