Will Gina Rinehart Be the World's Richest Person? Female Billionaire on the Rise

By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff | Secrets to Your Success

Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim is the world's richest person. But that could change in day, according to Bloomberg's new Billionaires Index. On Monday, the business news outlet launched a daily site that tracks the fortunes of the world's wealthiest. According to their analysts, Gina Rinehart, a 58-year-old Australian mining heiress worth $20.4 billion, is "on the rise". With the daily fluctuations of wealth now traceable, the mother of four could break into the top 20 ranked billionaires any day now, and even one day top the list. 

Already the richest person in Australia, Rinehart's wealth stems from her dad's discovery of the world's largest iron ore deposit in 1952. An only child, Rinehart studied economicsand worked with her late father, Lang Hancock, before his death in 1992. 

When he died, she inherited the royalty rights to a portion of thermal and iron-ore deposits throughout the country. More recently, the "soaring demand" for coal and iron ore from China has turned Rinehart's holdings into a goldmine and earned her about $2.9 billion in the past year alone, according to Bloomberg's report. In addition, she holds a significant stake in two of Australia's major media outlets. 

Much of her philanthropic work appears influenced by her gender: She's funded a girl's orphanage in Cambodia and supports a human rights organization dedicated to combating sex trafficking. 

But Rinehart's wealth hasn't come without its problems. The twice-married widow was engaged in an epic 14-year legal battle with her dad's last wife, who also happened to be his maid. Three of her own children are now fighting to have her removed from presiding over her family's trust fund. More recently, Rinehart claimed to be concerned over her personal safety, as her very public battle over the family trust wages on in court. These days she lives with the only child with whom she's not locked in a legal battle, daughter Ginia. 

"I don't think you understand what it means now the whole world thinks you're going to be wealthier than Bill Gates," Hope Welker, one of Rinehart's four children, wrote in an email to her mother. 

As of the March 5 launch of Bloomberg's Index, she hasn't surpassed Gates or even made it into the top 20 yet. 

Today's list of billionaires is dominated by men, with the top slot held by Slim. Hisfortune is valued at $68.5 billion, about $6 billion ahead of Gates. Only two of the 20 richest people are women. 

Christy Walton, heir to her late husband's Walmart fortune, clocks in at 14 with a $24.9 billion fortune. Liliane Bettencourt, the 89-year-old principal shareholder of L'Oreal, is number 20 with a $22.4 billion  fortune. But that could all change in the next few years. 

In a recent profile, The Daily Beast's David Leser projected the very real possibility of Rinehart's fortune ballooning to $100 billion, given the right global industrial climate. That would make her not only the richest woman on earth, but the richest person. Imagine that. 

http://shine.yahoo.com/secrets-to-your-success-20120120/gina-rinehart-worlds-richest-person-female-billionaire-rise-203700658.html

Mark Zuckerberg Seen Not Rich Enough for Global Daily Billionaires Ranking

By Ari Levy and Peter Newcomb

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg’s shares of Facebook Inc (FB). may be worth less than $21 billion when the company completes its initial public offering in the months ahead.

Facebook intends to issue more than 500 million shares of its Class B common stock at the offering through the exercise of stock options and grants of restricted stock, according to its IPO prospectus. Those shares aren’t included in the total share count in the filing, so the numbers used to calculate Zuckerberg’s 28.4 percent ownership are incomplete.

 

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March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Matthew G. Miller, Peter Newcomb and Rob LaFranco talk about the Bloomberg Billionaires Index: a daily ranking of the world’s 20 richest people. (Source: Bloomberg)

 

Play Video

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Carlos Slim, the telecommunications tycoon who controls Mexico's America Movil SAB, is the richest person on Earth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world's 20 wealthiest individuals. Owen Thomas, Linzie Janis and Matthew G. Miller report on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown." (Source: Bloomberg)

“The percentage in the prospectus can be very misleading,” said Sam Hamadeh, head of New York-based PrivCo, a research firm that specializes in private companies’ financial data. “It’s giving him credit for shares that he doesn’t actually own yet.”

At the time of the offering, Zuckerberg is likely to sell about $1.75 billion of Facebook stock to pay off the tax obligation he will incur when he exercises options to buy 120 million shares. The combined transactions will dilute Zuckerberg’s stake from 28.4 percent to about 21 percent. If the company maintains its projected $100 billion valuation, that would make Zuckerberg worth about $21 billion, less than the $28.4 billion implied by his stated ownership.

At that net worth, Zuckerberg isn’t rich enough to qualify for the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a new daily ranking of the world’s 20 richest people. The 20th spot is currently occupied by L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

Jonathan Thaw, a spokesman at Facebook, declined to comment in an e-mail.

New Shares

According to the prospectus filed last month, Facebook intends to issue 138.5 million shares of Class B stock upon exercise of options from the company’s 2005 stock plan. Those shares have a weighted-average exercise price of approximately 83 cents.

The Menlo Park, California-based company also will issue 380.7 million shares of restricted stock. Added together with the company’s 1.88 billion outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock, Facebook will have just less than 2.4 billion shares outstanding after the offering. At a $100 billion valuation, each share would be worth about $41.75.

Zuckerberg’s stock options carry an exercise price of 6 cents. Assuming he buys all 120 million shares at that price, his gains would total about $5 billion. At a 35 percent tax rate, the social network’s founder and chief executive officer would owe $1.75 billion in taxes. Zuckerberg would need to sell about 42 million shares to cover the bill, bringing his total holdings to 491.8 million shares.

Multiply that by the likely offering price and “it doesn’t get you anywhere close to $28 billion,” said Hamadeh.

To be sure, there is a strong possibility that Facebook shares will soar on the first day of trading. For every dollar the stock gains, Zuckerberg will increase his fortune by half a billion dollars. If the stock jumps 35 percent, Zuckerberg’s stake would be worth $28 billion.

Facebook’s implied market value stood at about $101.4 billion, based on a transaction last week via secondary exchange SharesPost Inc.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net; Peter Newcomb in New York at pnewcomb2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/zuckerberg-not-rich-enough-for-global-daily-billionaires-ranking.html