Dangote Loses $2.5bn In One Month

The President/Chief Executive, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, saw its total net worth drop by $2.5bn in the last 30 days, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The index, which is a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, showed that his wealth fell from $15.9bn as of February 25, 2020, to $13.4bn on March 26. It had risen to a high of $16.5bn on January 27.

He was the only Nigerian on the list of 500 billionaires and retained his position as Africa’s richest person.

“Africa’s richest person controls Dangote Industries, a closely held conglomerate. The Lagos, Nigeria-based company owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement, which had revenue of N901.2bn ($2.5bn) in 2018. It also has interests in sugar, salt, flour, fertiliser and packaged food,” Bloomberg said.

The share price of Dangote Cement Plc, the biggest listed company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, fell by 23.71 per cent to N129.70 on Thursday from N170 on February 25, 2020.

Dangote became $4.3bn richer in 2019, ending the decade with a net worth of almost $15bn, making him the 96th wealthiest man in the world, according to the index.

The founder and Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, remains the richest person in the world with a total net worth of $116bn, followed by Bill Gates ($96.4bn), Bernard Arnault ($77bn), Warren Buffett ($71.2bn) and Mark Zuckerberg ($60bn).

According to Bloomberg, net worth figures are updated every business day at the close of every trading day in New York, with assets categorised as publicly traded companies, private assets (including closely held businesses, art and real estate), cash and other liquid investments and liabilities.

“Stakes in publicly traded companies are valued using the share’s most recent closing price. Valuations are converted to US dollars at current exchange rates,” it said.