How Dangote Lost $2.5 Billion

TRACKING____The President/Chief Executive, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, saw its total net worth drop by $2.5bn in the last 30 days, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The index, which is a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, showed that Dangote’s wealth fell from $15.9bn as of February 25, 2020, to $13.4bn on March 26.

He was the only Nigerian on the list of 500 billionaires and retained his position as Africa’s richest person.

“Africa’s richest person controls Dangote Industries, a closely held conglomerate. The Lagos, Nigeria-based company owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement, which had revenue of N901.2bn ($2.5bn) in 2018. It also has interests in sugar, salt, flour, fertiliser and packaged food,” Bloomberg said.

The share price of Dangote Cement Plc, the biggest listed company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, fell by 23.71 per cent to N129.70 on Thursday from N170 on February 25, 2020.

Dangote became $4.3bn richer in 2019, ending the decade with a net worth of almost $15bn, making him the 96th wealthiest man in the world, according to the index.

The founder and Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, remains the richest person in the world with a total net worth of $116bn, followed by Bill Gates ($96.4bn), Bernard Arnault ($77bn), Warren Buffett ($71.2bn) and Mark Zuckerberg ($60bn).