Castles in France. Islands in the Caribbean. Private jets. With a collective $1.27 trillion at their disposal, the members of The Forbes 400 could buy almost anything.
How about a country? A quick glance at the CIA Fact Book suggests the individual fortunes of many Forbes 400 members are as big as some of the world’s economies.
Bill Gates, America’s richest man with a net worth of $50 billion, has a personal balance sheet larger than the gross domestic product (GDP) of 140 countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia and Uruguay. The Microsoft ( MSFT – news - people ) visionary’s nest egg is just short of the GDP of Tanzania and Burma.
In Pictures: Countries Billionaires Could Buy
Warren Buffett, who lost $10 billion in the past 12 months and is this year’s Forbes 400 biggest dollar loser, still has a fortune the size of North Korea’s economy at $40 billion. (The Oracle of Omaha probably would steer clear of that investment, though.)
One Forbes 400 member does actually run a small chunk of a state in an official capacity: Mayor Michael Bloomberg. While he is busy serving as the chief executive of New York City and grappling with its sluggish economy, his own personal balance sheet–amassed through financial information services and media company Bloomberg LP–equals the value of all the goods and services produced in South Africa’s Republic of Zambia’s ($17.5 billion).
George Lucas, the famed Hollywood director behind the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and ILM, the world’s most bankable special effects shop, has a $3 billion fortune, making him worth as much as the GDP of Guyana.
Hedge fund founder David Shaw’s $2.5 billion net worth parallels Belize’s marketplace.
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MB: Shocking! Why are we all so intrigued by the rich, or better yet why do we care about how much they make? The reason is because we rely on them. In the fast pasted world in which we live in, it is easy to take our possessions for granted. I noticed how much I rely on the products and services that billionaires provide us just this morning.
I woke up and had a glass of orange juice from Dole Foods (David Murdock). While I was drinking my orange juice I got onto my HP computer, with an Intel processor, and performed my daily Google Searches. After that I started my homework which required me to use a variety of Microsoft Office applications. It is now 10 am and I have already relied on the products and services of at least five billionaires.
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