Companies

Smile on Facebook’s Face

Published

19 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

Mark Zuckerberg, the ‘face of Facebook’, must indeed be smiling these days. Not only does the company which he co-founded in 2004 continue to expand it’s clientele, but the value of Facebook and his personal wealth, and therefore his – literally – disposable income, continue to rise.

Statistics seldom tell a complete story, but Zuckerberg’s and Facebook’s figures are genuinely impressive, beginning with Mark dropping out of prestigious Harvard University in 2004 because he was so interested in computing and confident of his project which was to become Facebook, that he didn’t see the need to complete his degree course; disagreements with university administration may have contributed to his decision.

As of late 2015, the social network site Facebook is recording over one billion users a day, and Zuckerberg’s fortune approaches $45 billion, ranking him as the seventh richest person in the world according to the authoritative Forbes magazine, a meteoric career to date for a person still just 31 years old. Significantly, Forbes rates Zuckerberg’s ‘self-made’ score very highly too, as indeed are almost all the top 10 richest in the world.

Of particular significance is that Facebook has been immune to the volatility of stock exchanges in 2015, enabling a steady rise in the value of company assets. Of course this situation has also benefited the majority share holder, Mark Zuckerberg to the extent that while others in the Forbes Top Ten Richest have seen their fortunes eroded somewhat, Mark’s has risen by almost $7 billion in the year.

Interestingly, Mark and wife Priscilla are two of the most generous philanthropists, joining with fellow ‘top tenners’ Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in promising to donate (‘dispose of’) a reputed 50 per cent of their fortune to charitable causes, as evidenced this year alone by a donation of $100 million to the Newark, New Jersey public school system, and $5 million to fund education for struggling immigrants.

Clearly Zuckerberg and Facebook are rather more than just social animals: long may they smile.

Daniel Wanburg

As the Managing Editor at Net Worth Post, I lead a talented team in delivering compelling content on the lives and achievements of influential figures. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I oversee the production of insightful biographies that resonate with our audience. My role involves not only managing the editorial process but also conducting research, crafting engaging narratives, and ensuring the accuracy and quality of our publications. At NetWorthPost, we strive to provide our readers with in-depth profiles that offer valuable insights into the worlds of business, entertainment, and beyond. Through meticulous research and captivating storytelling, we bring to light the remarkable journeys and successes of individuals who inspire and captivate us.

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Companies

BlackBerry Expected to get $500 Million Tax Refund

Published

9 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

BlackBerry is poised to get a huge tax break. Within the 2nd quarter of FY 2014, BlackBerry posted a tax reduction of $965 million, chiefly in the foundation of inventory writedown. But, various other facets of the finances are going to look when some regulatory filings become public. Some of those variables include the prices with remodeling the whole smartphone lineup, laying-off 4, 500 workers and revamping sales and marketing. The business is in the middle of restructuring and is seeking a customer, as revenue of the BlackBerry Z10 touchscreen mobile are lower than expected. It seems, though, that BlackBerry might ultimately be coming out after once having become the darling of the PDA market.

Companies

Net Worth Of The World’s Richest Families

Published

18 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

The richest individuals around the world are constantly in the headlines, partly out of fascination for just how much they are worth – amounts unimaginable to the average person, regardless that 80% of ‘the richest’ are actually self-made billionaires. However, during this period of stock markets’ volatility in early 2016, they are just as newsworthy for how much they can lose, or gain, in one day, which can markedly effect their ranking on the ‘richest list’.

Not so well-known are families with accumulated net worth which puts them close to the aforementioned richest individuals, perhaps unsurprisingly if there are three, four or five relatively ‘super-rich’ relatives who pool their energies, business interests and their net worth. Many are indeed consistently linked in a family business or conglomerate, as can be seen in this list which authoritative sources estimate comprise the richest in the world, share markets allowing! Very few are built on ‘new’ money, but mostly the result of steady growth over, in some cases, hundreds of years.

Table of Contents

10. Cox family Net worth: $34.5 billion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

James M. Cox was firstly a social reforming politician, being twice elected Governor of Ohio, but also built a considerable business empire in the media and communications industries beginning before the turn of the 20^th century, so now well over100 years old. Now under the control of James’ daughter Anne Cox Chambers and his grandchildren James Cox Kennedy – current chair of Cox Enterprises – and Blair Parry-Okeden who are all heirs to a considerable fortune, the company is now expanding its interests into the automotive industry.[/one_half_last]

9. Bernard Arnault & family Net worth: $37.7 billion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: France

World renowned names Moet Hennessy and Louis Vuitton (LVMH) are just two of the business interests of the Arnault family, which also has interests in retail, yachts and web companies as well as in Christian Dior, a prominent fashion brand. CEO and chairman is still Bernard, but Executive VP at LVMH is daughter Delphine, and CEO of Berluti, a subsidiary of LMVH, is his son Antoine. The company made initial inroads into business through real estate, but smart investing saw it reach its current prominent position in several industries.

Bernard Arnault Net Worth

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8. Liliane Bettencourt & family Net worth: $42.7 billion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: France

The French are certainly still one of the fore-runners in the world of cosmetics and perfumes, as proven by their leading lengevity in the industry. The world-dominating cosmetic company L’Oreal is now run by Liliane Bettencourt’s daughter Francoise and grandson Jean-Victor Meyers, but she is still the richest woman in the world and principal shareholder of the company her father Eugene founded in 1907. She only retired from active involvement in 2011, aged 89.

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7. Cargill-MacMillan family Net worth: $45 billion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

Cargil Inc. outranks Koch enterprises in being the largest private company in the USA, with and 88% of it still owned by family members, in fact currently boasting 14 billionaires. William Wallace Cargill founded the company based on grain storage in 1865, which was split among his four children when he died in 1909. The company’s interests now include trading commodities as well as food products. In-laws the MacMillans are billionaires, the total wealth of the expanded family being an estimate because of the privacy attendant to the conglomerate.[/one_half_last]

6. Carlos Slim Helú & family Net worth $77.1 billion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: Mexico

Son Carlos is now the chairman of Grupo Carso, and with three siblings is ready to take over completely the conglomerate built-up by the second richest person in the world. The ‘Warren Buffett of Mexico’, Carlos Slim Helú is so important to Mexico – accounting for 40% of the listings on the Mexican stock exchange – made from scratch largely from his development of telecoms, that there is a strong chance of the Mexican economy collapsing if the stock exchange took a real dive.

Carlos Slim Helu Net Worth

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5. Mars family Net worth: $80 billion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

Mars Bars and M & Ms were developed more than 80 years ago, and are still going strong. Franklin Mars obviously knew his candy, and the money to be made out of it. As with other rich families, the family and the business are still private. Franklin founded the business in 1911, and son Forrest Sr. joined the company in 1929; children, Forrest Jr., Jacqueline and John continue to own the whole of Mars Inc., which now also makes pet foods as well as pasta sauces, and which means that they are now worth almost $30 billion each.

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4. Koch family Net worth: $89 billion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

In the country with the world’s largest GDP, Koch Industries is now the second-largest privately-held company in the USA. Charles and David Koch had the nous to buy-out their two other brothers in the early 1980s, and now control the oil and refining company founded by their father Fred C. Koch in 1940. Subsidiary interests in finance, manufacturing, trading and real estate have ensured the continued growth of this multinational corporation, with the brothers net worth now approaching $50 billion each.

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3. Walton family Net worth: $152 billion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

Jim, Rob, and Alice are direct heirs of Sam and James Walton, who had the foresight to establish Walmart in the southern USA in 1962. Christy is the widow of his son John who died in a ‘plane crash in 2005, and with her children the six Waltons control 54% of the shares of the world’s largest retailer. The company’s revenue regularly hits $500 billion, through 11,500 stores in 28 countries, so the present owners sum value is usually over $160 billion – share market machinations permitting!

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2. The House of Saud Net worth: $1.4 trillion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: Saudi Arabia

The al-Saud family have been in control of at least part of the Arabian peninsular since the early 1700s, and like the Rothschilds, their wealth is now distributed through so many family members that the total can only be estimated. Saudi Arabia is now run as an absolute monarchy, effectively established under the patronage of the British following the break-up of the Ottoman empire after World War One. Of course their main source of wealth is oil, the price of which has a very significant effect on the al-Saud family wealth, and the budget of the country! Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud has been king since early 2015.

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1. Rothschild family $350 billion – $700 trillion

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[/one_half][one_half_last]From: Germany (originally)

The name itself is fascinating, but more so because the family is now so widespread, with all their wealth effectively ‘private’, so the total of their net worth is always open to conjecture. However, since Mayer Amschel Rothschild established his banking company in Frankfurt, now Germany, in the 1700s, and distributed his five sons to the five centres of European finance, the family has had a finger in virtually every pie – business, industry, enterprise, exploration, war – over the last 250 years. Their influence has been such that descendents have been elevated to royal rank in countries such as Austria and the UK. The family fortune is therefore only an estimate, but even at the lower end it is still extremely impressive!

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