According to Forbes magazine, South African billionaire Johann Rupert has ousted Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote to become Africa’s richest man.
Rupert’s net worth is currently pegged at $12 billion according to Forbes’ Real-Time Global Billionaires Ranking, while Dangote trails behind with a net worth of $10.8 billion as of Friday.
Dangote’s net worth has taken a hit due to Nigeria’s currency hitting a record low after the central bank auctioned dollars at a rate nearly 30-percent weaker than the tightly controlled official market. This development has led Forbes and Bloomberg, the two outlets that publish the world’s most reliable billionaire rankings, to recalculate the fortunes of all Nigerian billionaires, leading to significant losses for the Nigerian billionaires who feature on both rankings – Dangote, Abdul Samad Rabiu and Mike Adenuga.
While Rupert is now Africa’s richest man, according to Forbes, Bloomberg still lists Dangote as the continent’s numero uno. Bloomberg estimates Dangote’s net worth at $16.8 billion, while Rupert’s fortune is pegged at $13.3 billion.
Forbes and Bloomberg publish lists of the wealthiest people in the world, but the methodology for calculating net worth can vary between the two publications.
Forbes and Bloomberg may have different access to financial information and may use different methods to verify the accuracy of the information they receive. Also, both publications tend to apply different discounts to various assets billionaires own.
