Dwarf
July 15th, 2004, 07:04 AM
Who's really the world's richest?
One suspect report gave the crown to the founder of IKEA. But Gates and Buffett still rule.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/05/news/newsmakers/billgetsthegate/?cnn=yes
I remember seeing someone here posted that that IKEA guy was the richest but it turns out that was wrong.
On Sunday, April 4, the Reuters news service published a story crediting IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad with a fortune of more than $53 billion, exceeding Gates's $46.6 billion net worth.
The story was based on a Swedish TV news report, which in turn cited a soon-to-be-released article from Veckans Affaerer, a Stockholm-based business weekly.
By Monday, April 5, the story had been quickly debunked. IKEA spokeswoman Marianne Barner stated strongly that the report was just wrong, according to the Associated Press.
She contended that the magazine simply estimated the value of the entire company and assigned it to Kamprad. But the furniture maven hasn't fully owned IKEA since 1982, when he donated ownership to the Dutch Stichting INGKA Foundation.
Luisa Kroll, a Forbes associate editor who helps put together the magazine's list of the world's wealthiest people, agrees that the accounting is way off.
"Kamprad has several holding companies that own stakes in each other," she points out, suggesting the Veckans Affaerer analysis included incorrect "double counting" of assets.
Forbes editor Kroll stands by her magazine's calculations, which put Kamprad's wealth at $18.5 billion, thirteenth on the 2004 list of the world's wealthiest, which came out in February.
She does say that Kamprad's assets have grown steadily in dollar terms. "We even thought he might slip into the top ten this year," says Kroll, "but not up to number one."
When Microsoft stock peaked in 1999, Gates had assets of more than $90 billion. That means he has lost about $45 billion, more money than anyone in history. :eek:
One suspect report gave the crown to the founder of IKEA. But Gates and Buffett still rule.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/05/news/newsmakers/billgetsthegate/?cnn=yes
I remember seeing someone here posted that that IKEA guy was the richest but it turns out that was wrong.
On Sunday, April 4, the Reuters news service published a story crediting IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad with a fortune of more than $53 billion, exceeding Gates's $46.6 billion net worth.
The story was based on a Swedish TV news report, which in turn cited a soon-to-be-released article from Veckans Affaerer, a Stockholm-based business weekly.
By Monday, April 5, the story had been quickly debunked. IKEA spokeswoman Marianne Barner stated strongly that the report was just wrong, according to the Associated Press.
She contended that the magazine simply estimated the value of the entire company and assigned it to Kamprad. But the furniture maven hasn't fully owned IKEA since 1982, when he donated ownership to the Dutch Stichting INGKA Foundation.
Luisa Kroll, a Forbes associate editor who helps put together the magazine's list of the world's wealthiest people, agrees that the accounting is way off.
"Kamprad has several holding companies that own stakes in each other," she points out, suggesting the Veckans Affaerer analysis included incorrect "double counting" of assets.
Forbes editor Kroll stands by her magazine's calculations, which put Kamprad's wealth at $18.5 billion, thirteenth on the 2004 list of the world's wealthiest, which came out in February.
She does say that Kamprad's assets have grown steadily in dollar terms. "We even thought he might slip into the top ten this year," says Kroll, "but not up to number one."
When Microsoft stock peaked in 1999, Gates had assets of more than $90 billion. That means he has lost about $45 billion, more money than anyone in history. :eek: