Five richest men doubled fortunes after 2020, Oxfam says as Davos opens
Al Jazeera
Charity says billionaires $3.3 trillion richer than in 2020 as annual gathering of business elites take place.
The world’s richest five men have more than doubled their fortunes since 2020, the charity Oxfam has said, sounding the alarm about unchecked corporate power as business elites hold their high-profile annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
The five men are worth a combined $869bn after growing their fortunes at a rate of $14m per hour during the past four years, Oxfam said in its report “Inequality Inc.”, released on Monday.
Despite the growth in the fortunes of the five – LVMH chief Bernard Arnault, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, investor Warren Buffet, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Tesla CEO Elon Musk – 5 billion people have gotten poorer over the same period, Oxfam said.
Billionaires are today $3.3 trillion richer than they were in 2020, while a billionaire leads 7 out of 10 of the world’s biggest companies, the London-based charity said.
If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade but poverty will not be eradicated for another 229 years, according to the anti-poverty group.
