Apparel tycoon becomes Japan's richest man
The owner of affordable clothing retailer Uniqlo, Tadashi Yanai, has jumped from sixth to first place on Japan's rich list, after his fortune was valued at $6.1bn.
The Japanese tycoon added $1.4 billion to his wealth in nine months to become Japan's richest person for the first time, becoming the fifth person in as many years to take the top spot in Japan, according to Forbes.
But many of Yanai's peers have not been so fortunate. Most of Japan's rich lost money in the past year as the country slipped into a recession, business confidence hit its lowest level in 34 years, and the Nikkei stock index dropped 45% since its June peak.
Japan's 40 wealthiest are now worth a combined $69.5bn, down from $89.9bn in May.
Everyone in the top ten excluding Yanai and 28 of the 40 richest, lost money.
Yanai knocked Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi off top spot, whose net worth fell by $3.3bn, who fell to third place. Kazuo Okada, who founded pinball and slots company Aruze, and Yasumitsu Shigeta, who runs telecom provider Hikari Tsushin, have both lost half their fortunes since the last Forbes ranking in May. Another 13 list members declined 25% or more.
The Japanese rich may have lost $20bn, but this is pocket change compared to the Russian wealthy, who have seen their fortunes dive 69% according to Finans, the Russian rival to Forbes.
The combined fortunes of the richest 49 Russians slid nearly 70% to $151bn, tracking the 67% decline in the benchmark Micex Index of 30 stocks as the global slowdown hobbled demand for energy and metals exports.
Oleg Deripaska, formerly Russia's richest man, fell to eighth place after losing $35bn during the credit crunch, while peer Mikhail Prokhorov jumped to become the richest Russian.
Prokhorov was worth $14.1bn at the end of last year, $200m more than Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich, who retained the runner-up slot in the sixth-annual ranking by Finans.
The situation could be even worse for the US wealthy. Last month strategist Jeremy Grantham, founder of US asset manager GMO, estimated individuals in the US have suffered a $20 trillion loss of wealth in the past 15 months, but their riches were mostly illusory in the first place.
This illusion was worth $50 trillion at the market's peak in 2007, according to Grantham. In his quarterly review he wrote: "How could we kid ourselves that we were suddenly rich and didn't need to save for our pensions when we were sitting in the very same buildings we bought in 1974? We have not lost wealth, but just the illusion of wealth."
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- Forbes Japanese Rich list - Web link
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