If billionaire businesspersons were stocks and shares, how might they be represented? Bloomberg has come up with a novel way of showing the daily rise and fall of the billionaires running global industry. The company has launched the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a new feature that measures the total worth of billionaires around the world on a daily basis. So you no longer have to wait for the Forbes list of billionaires. You can get updates from the Bloomberg Billionaire Index at 5.30pm everyday. The index will consider factors such as stock market changes, economic indicators and the news of the day. My question is this: would news of who purchased the largest superyachts or who set out on the most extravagant luxury vacations have a bearing on the index?
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index was launched on Sunday night. Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim topped the inaugural index with a net worth of $68.5 billion. Bill Gates took the second spot with $62.4 million. Warren Buffet came third. Interestingly, Slim and Gates took the top spots despite their daily net worth registering huge losses of $478 million and $102 million respectively. It is striking that even huge losses do not make much of a dent in the fortunes of the richest billionaires of the world.
Interest is expected to grow in the billionaires index over the coming months. The index will also be a great way to track billionaire producing companies. However, one man will be conspicuous by his absence. New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will not be considered in the list because of his association with the company.
