The World's Billionaires list: Down and off
A pizza empire goes cold, accounting troubles and other dramatic billionaire drop-offs
Over the past year, 120-odd individuals fell from the global billionaire ranks. China lost the most—around 50—while all 10 Saudi Arabians also dropped out of the three-comma club. The four former billionaires below experienced especially dramatic drops; 20 other notables are at the bottom.
Image: Jamel ToppinJohn Schnatter
US | Papa John's Pizza2018 NET WORTH: $750 MILLION (DOWN 25 PERCENT)
Schnatter blamed slowing growth at his Papa John’s pizza chain partly on the National Football League’s (NFL) “poor leadership” in handling national anthem protests. Football fans eat a lot of pies, and Papa John’s is a major NFL sponsor.
Christoffel Wiese
South Africa | Retail
2018 NET WORTH: $600 MILLION (DOWN 89 Percent)
An accounting scandal ravaged Steinhoff International, a home-goods retailer that forms a major part of Wiese’s expansive empire. He resigned as chairman in December; company shares have lost nearly 87 percent of their value.
Image: Kirstin Sinclair / Filmmagic via Getty ImagesRussia | Insurance, Banking, Real Estate
2018 NET WORTH: $170 MILLION (DOWN 92 Percent)
His insurance company, Rosgosstrakh, was absorbed by Otkritie Bank in 2017; Russia’s central bank then nationalised the troubled Otkritie Bank in December.
India | Diamond Jewellery
2018 net worth: LESS THAN $100 million (down 94 Percent)
State-run Punjab National Bank alleged in January that Modi and his business partner had colluded with some executives at one of the bank’s Mumbai branches to conduct fraudulent transactions, resulting in a reported $1.8 billion flowing into Modi’s jewellery companies. Modi, who left India before the scandal broke, reportedly denied the allegations.
(This story appears in the 27 April, 2018 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
