[box type=”info” align=”” class=”” width=””]by Katharina Buchholz, [/box]
The Forbes 2021 Billionaires List reveals who the world’s richest people are but also how the wealth of the superrich is distributed among the sexes. With the Bezos divorce finalized in 2019, MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is now the world’s third richest woman. The 51-year-old is a Princeton graduate, an award-wining novelist and the former executive director of anti-bullying organization Bystander Revolution.
A newcomer to the list of the world’s richest women in 2021 was Miriam Adelson, who inherited a fortune of around $38 billion when her husband, Las Vegas Sands CEO and chairman Sheldon Adelson, died early in the year.
According to the list, there were only 14 women among the 100 wealthiest people on the planet in 2021 and only two of them had not made their fortune by inheritance (or divorce) from a wealthy relative or husband. French L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers topped the list last year, taking the lead from 2020’s richest woman, Walmart heiress Alice Walton.
Women from China and Hong Kong dominated the list of the richest self-made female billionaires. The richest of them comes in at rank 89 of the Billionaire’s List. Zhong Huijuan is the chair of drugmaker Hansoh Pharmaceutical. The Shanghai-based businesswoman has profited from the recent biotechnology boom in her home country China. Wu Yajun of Beijing (overall rank 100) made her fortune by cofounding Hong Kong-listed real estate company Longfor Properties with her then-husband. Since the divorce, she has been chairing the company by herself. Three more self-made billionaires from China and Hong Kong became rich by supplying smartphone screens and other parts to companies like Samsung, Microsoft, Apple and Huawei.
The single non-Chinese or Hong Kongese on the self-made list of 2021 was Russian Tatyana Bakalchuck in rank 5, who founded e-commerce retailer Wildberries in 2004. Due to strong economic sanctions and scrutiny against Russia in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Bakalchuk’s wealth has diminished in the meantime. As the fortunes of billionaires are typically unrealized gains tied to stock markets, losses like these can be temporary however, unless stakes are sold.
The Forbes World’s Billionaires List is therefore only a snapshot of the fortunes of the world’s super wealthy. Women sharing their wealth with their husbands or other male relatives were not included in this list.
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