Forbes Billionaire 2018 list: Trump jumps 51 spots, Zuckerberg falls three notches

The world’s billionaire class is poorer by about $400 billion, thanks to stock market drops in 2018 and global economic slowdowns, according the latest Forbes ranking of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Indeed, nearly 1,000 billionaires tracked by Forbes saw declines in their estimated net worths. Among the highlights:

• President Donald Trump jumped 51 spots to 715th place on the list, although his estimated fortune stayed the same at $3.1 billion, Forbes said. Mr. Trump’s rise is more indicative of the record ranks of billionaires whose wealth have decreased.
• Jeff Bezos was named the world’s wealthiest individual for the second year running. The Amazon founder and CEO, who became the list’s first “centi-billionaire” last year, is worth an estimated $131 billion, up $19 billion from the previous year. Bezos benefited from the e-commerce giant’s soaring stock price in the past year.
• Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg fell to eighth place, dropping three spots on the list after a tumultuous year at the social network drove down the company’s stock price and shrunk his estimated wealth by $8.7 billion to $62.3 billion.
• Kylie Jenner was named the world’s youngest self-made billionaire — at just 21 years old. The founder of Kylie Cosmetics made the list for the first time after her company generated $360 million in sales last year and Forbes valued her enterprise at a cool $1 billion.
• Bill Gates came in at No. 2 with $96.5 billion. Gates could’ve been No. 1 again — the Microsoft founder had made it to the top of the Forbes’ list 12 times since 2001 — if he hadn’t donated $35.8 billion to his foundation, Forbes said.
• Warren Buffett came in third place, even though his net worth fell by $1.5 billion to $82.5 billion.

“The billionaire ranks prove that even the world’s richest are not immune to economic forces and the volatility of world markets,” Luisa Kroll, assistant managing editor of wealth at Forbes, said in a statement.