How has the Coronavirus impacted the world’s wealth?

And what does this mean for the World’s Wealthiest Countries, Companies and Billionaires?

Some of the world’s largest companies and richest individuals have seen their fortunes grow at a staggering pace over recent years, with unimaginable fortunes being made. In fact the total global wealth at the end of 2019 was a staggering $360.6 trillion.

However even the wealthiest companies and billionaires aren’t immune to the impact of the coronavirus and according to Forbes, some 51% of current billionaires are worth less than they were last year.

KIS Finance have investigated where the world’s wealth is currently located, leading them to compare the world’s richest countries, most profitable companies, and wealthiest individuals. They’ve explored how the Coronavirus is affecting global wealth and have found some very interesting results.


Notable statistics in this report

•The top 10 wealthiest companies in the world have a combined market cap of $9.2 trillion. Or turn this into a GDP and they would sit as the world’s third most wealthy country.

•The combined market caps of the top 7 companies in the USA of $6.2 trillion is more than double the GDP of the entire United Kingdom.

•The UK’s top 10 wealthiest companies’ combined market cap is greater than the GDPs of:
-Indonesia
-The Netherlands
-Saudi Arabia
-Turkey
Switzerland

•The world’s top 10 richest billionaires’ combined net worth of $686.4 billion would place them 21st in the list of wealthiest countries in the world if you were to turn their worth into a GDP.

•The coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on even the richest, with 226 less billionaires at the end of March 2020 than at the beginning of the same month.

•The 147 billionaires in the UK have seen a reduction in their wealth of £34.156 billion since last year.



In their detailed report KIS have investigated:

•Which countries own most of the world’s wealth and their share of the global economy.

According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data, the USA alone makes up 23.6% of the world’s economy, followed by China with 15.5%.

If you combine the nominal GDPs of the top 10 economies in the world, this adds up to 66% of the world’s economy. The top 20 economies contribute just under 79%. This means that the remaining 173 countries together constitute less than a quarter of the world’s wealth and less than that of the USA.


•Which companies are generating the greatest wealth.

If you combined the wealth of the world’s top 10 companies and made their collective market capitalisation equivalent to a GDP, they would sit as the world’s third most wealthy country, only being beaten by the GDPs of the USA and China.
The combined market capitalisation of the top 7 American companies alone would equal $6.2 trillion, which equates to a massive 29% of the entire USA’s GDP.


•What a league table would look like if the world’s richest companies and billionaires were compared to the wealth of the richest 20 countries

A detailed graphic is included in the full report.


•How the picture has changed since the Coronavirus pandemic

With even the wealthiest companies feeling the impact of the pandemic, the report has looked into which companies have been negatively affected, as well as some unexpected companies who have seen a positive impact on their bottom line.


•Who are the wealthiest individuals in the world and how is the pandemic affecting the mega rich.

The report looks at the top 10 billionaires in the world, who have a staggering net worth of $686.4 billion. This would place them 21st in the list of wealthiest countries in the world if you were to turn their worth into a GDP.


•What impact has there been on the UK’s rich list.

The UK’s billionaires have seen mixed fortunes over the last year with many seeing their wealth reduce as a result of the economic impact of the coronavirus.
According to the May 2020 Times Rich List there are 147 billionaires currently in the UK with a combined wealth of £490.687 billion, a reduction of £34.156 billion from last year.


•What does the future hold after the pandemic is over.

The impact of the Coronavirus on global markets is likely to have a long lasting effect on economies. We’ve seen dramatic falls on the global stock markets, with the Dow Jones reporting its largest ever single day drop of nearly 3000 points in mid-June, when the pandemic really took hold.

It will therefore be interesting to see if the pattern of where the majority of the world’s wealth currently lies will significantly change in the future.








Notes to editors

•Full report: https://www.kisbridgingloans.co.uk/finance-news/how-has-the-...


•Data All figures are correct at time of writing
Global wealth – Credit Suisse
Top 20 countries – Investopedia
Top 25 countries – Statistica
Countries’ share of global economy – Investopedia
Top 10 companies – FXSSI
Top 10 billionaires - Forbes
Top 10 UK companies – Disfold (based off of FTSE 100 data)
Top 10 UK billionaires - The Times



Contact Details

Alan Andrews
alan@kisfinance.co.uk
01884 820110