Billionaire Wealth Fell for First Time in Three Years in '18
- Last year’s shaky markets, rising rates among causes, UBS says
- Asia’s richest hardest hit as U.S. billionaires fared better
Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg
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The world’s billionaires saw their collective fortunes dip in 2018 for the first time in three years, erasing $388 billion of their net worth.
Asia was hardest hit, as slowing growth in China and rising U.S. interest rates resulted in an 8% wealth drop among that continent’s richest people, according to the UBS/PwC Billionaires Report released Friday. Those in the U.S. fared better, fueled by tech billionaires who numbered 89 by the end of 2018, up from 70 a year earlier.