Billionaires: Vicky Safra is the richest in the country, says Forbes – 04/04/2023 – Market

Vicky Safra, 70, and her four children occupy, for the first time, the top of the list of Brazilian billionaires, released by Forbes this Tuesday (4).

The fortune they inherited from banker Joseph Safra, who died in 2020, rose from US$ 7.4 billion (R$ 37.6 billion) to US$ 16.7 billion (R$ 84.8 billion), according to the magazine.

Previously, the list was led by Jorge Paulo Lemann, founder of 3G Capital, the investment fund behind the world’s largest brewery AB Inbev and food manufacturer Kraft Heinz. Forbes estimates that Lemann’s wealth is around US$ 15.8 billion (R$ 80.2 billion), up from US$ 15.4 billion (R$ 78.2 billion) last year.

The other partners of the 3G fund are Marcel Herrmann Telles (US$ 10.6 billion or R$ 53.8 billion), Carlos Alberto Sicupira (US$ 8.6 billion or R$ 43.7 billion) and Alexandre Behring (US$ 5 .2 billion or BRL 26.4 billion) appear, respectively, in the third, fifth and sixth positions of the Forbes ranking.

Lemann, Telles and Sicupira are key shareholders at Lojas Americanas, which is facing a crisis after the revelation of a billionaire hole in the cash register. The case led Americanas to enter into judicial recovery.

The fourth place on the list is the Brazilian founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin, with an estimated net worth of US$ 10.2 billion (R$ 51.8 billion).

Forbes says it calculates the wealth of billionaires from stock prices and currency quotes. The current list refers to March 10th. “Some people get richer or poorer within days of publication,” explains the publication.

The economics magazine identified 51 Brazilian billionaires, among 2,640 people with a fortune of more than 1 billion dollars worldwide. Vicky Safra is ranked 100th on the global list, and Lemann, 18th.

The world’s billionaires add up to a net worth of US$ 12.2 trillion (R$ 61.9 trillion), a drop of US$ 500 billion (R$ 2.5 trillion) in relation to what had been registered in 2022 (US$ 12.7 trillion).

Americans lead the way in the number of billionaires, with 735 members on the list. The Chinese appear in second, with 522 representatives, followed by India, with 169.

The chief executive of the holding company for luxury products LVMH, Bernard Arnault, with a fortune of US$ 211 billion (R$ 1.07 trillion) has displaced Elon Musk, of Tesla and Twitter, from the position of the richest man in the world. The conglomerate is behind the brands Louis Voitton and Moët et Chandon. It is the first time that a Frenchman has taken the top spot on the list.

Musk’s equity fell from US$ 219 billion (R$ 1.11 trillion) to US$ 180 billion (R$ 913.6 billion), after the purchase of Twitter for an above-market value and splashes of scandals on social networks devaluing Tesla shares.