He replaces Nicky Oppenheimer and surpasses Natie Kirsh, the other two South Africans on the list.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Richemont Group founder Johann Rupert has replaced former De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer as South Africa’s richest person.
Oppenheimer, who was previously 216th on the list of the world’s 500 richest people, fell to 245th. Rupert, who was 240th, is now 241st, surpassing Oppenheimer.
Rupert’s net worth has increased to $7.36 billion (about R105 billion) from $6.55 billion (about R93.2 billion) in 2019.
Oppenheimer’s net worth has also increased. In 2019 his net worth was $7.05 billion (about R100.3 billion) and it has increased to $7.33 billion (about R104.3 billion).
Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos is still the richest person on the index, despite losing $38 billion (about R540.7 billion) in what was history’s biggest divorce settlement, where his ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos took almost 20 million Amazon shares.
His net worth in 2019 was about $125 billion (about R1.78 trillion) and fell to $115 billion (about R1.64 trillion) after the divorce. It currently stands at $166 billion (about R2.36 trillion).
There is only one other South African on the list, head of the Kirsh Group, which holds a majority stake in New York-based Jetro Holdings, Natie Kirsh, who falls 317th with a net worth of $6.16 billion (about R87.7 billion).
