Ethiopia’s richest man Mohammed Al-Amoudi loses nearly $1 billion this year

Ethiopia’s richest man Mohammed Al-Amoudi has seen his net worth drop by about $1 billion since the start of the year, as the market value of his industrial assets, which include prestigious Swedish oil companies, continues to plummet, closely mirroring the drop in European stocks.

Al-Amoudi, a leading billionaire who was the wealthiest Black person in the world until he was dethroned by Nigerian cement tycoon Aliko Dangote in 2013, derives the majority of his net worth from an assortment of industrial assets in Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia.

His net worth has dropped from $6.71 billion at the start of this year to $5.73 billion as of the time of drafting this report, according to data gathered from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This translates to a loss of almost $1 billion ($981 million) for the Ethiopian billionaire this year.

The performance of his industrial assets, particularly his stakes in Preem, Sweden’s largest oil refiner, and Svenska Petroleum Exploration, another Swedish oil and gas exploration, and production business, can be traced to the billion-dollar decline in his net worth.

Al-Amoudi’s recent loss places him on a select list of African billionaires who have all seen their net worth fall by more than $500 million so far this year, including South African billionaire Johann Rupert, Swazi billionaire Natie Kirsh, and Zimbabwean tech tycoon Strive Masiyiwa.

As a result of the poor financial performance of his prime oil assets, Preem, the market value of his position in the leading oil refiner has fallen from $1.7 billion to $1.26 billion since 2022 began.