The world’s five richest people lost $8.7 billion Monday in a global stock selloff sparked by weak factory data in China and a flareup in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos led decliners on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in the first trading day of 2016, losing $3.7 billion as the world’s largest online retailer fell 5.8 percent. His net worth is now $56 billion.
Spain’s Amancio Ortega dropped $2.5 billion to $70.4 billion as his Inditex SA, the biggest fashion retailer, fell 3.5 percent.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett, Mexico’s Carlos Slim and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, the richest person on the planet, lost a combined $2.5 billion.
The biggest gainer was activist investor Carl Icahn, whose net worth climbed $210.4 million to $20.1 billion. The Bloomberg index is a daily ranking of the world’s 400 richest people, who lost a combined $82.4 billion for the day.
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