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Despite losing $25 million in net worth yesterday, South African billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer remains South Africa’s second-richest man and the world’s 250th wealthiest man, according to data retrieved by Billionaires.Africa.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks and compares the fortunes of the world’s 500 richest people, Oppenheimer is richer than U.S. billionaire Rupert Murdoch, who ranks 251st on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $7.91 billion at the time of writing this report.
Murdoch derives the majority of his wealth from Fox Corporation, a publicly traded New York-based company that focuses on television production, cable news, and broadcasting. Murdoch purchased MySpace for $580 million in 2005 and sold it for $35 million six years later.
Oppenheimer derives his $7.95-billion fortune from a combination of private equity investments in Africa, Asia, the United States, and Europe through Stockdale Street in London and Tana Africa Capital in Johannesburg.
Murdoch’s net worth has fallen by $971 million since the start of the year, from $8.88 billion to $7.91 billion, while Oppenheimer’s net worth has remained constant at $7.95 billion, despite widespread macroeconomic volatility and geopolitical tensions that have impacted the market value of companies and the net worth of billionaires.
Oppenheimer has been a private equity investor for decades, with many of his investments occurring after he sold his family’s 40-percent stake in De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer, to mining conglomerate Anglo-American in a $5.2-billion deal in 2012.
In addition to the cash proceeds from the deal, the South African billionaire received approximately $390 million in dividends from Anglo-American, and the value of his cash investments is based on these dividends.
