There is a tipping point where large numbers start to lose all meaning. For example, what is the meaningful difference between Bill Gates’ $97 billion and Jeff Bezos’ $131 billion. Is that $34 billion gap making a difference to Gates’ life? What is that $34 billion in practical terms?
One way to contextualise it is to ground it in the companies that we are familiar with in Australia. That $34 billion gap is about the market value of Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO – $35.9b) – Australia’s second biggest mining company. Or another way to think about it, that $34 billion is the size of Australia’s biggest gambling players – Aristocrat (ASX: ALL – $21.6b), Crown (ASX: CWN – $8.7b) and Star Entertainment (ASX: SGR – $4.4b).
In this article we decided to ground the fortunes of the 7 richest people in the world in terms of Australia’s largest companies. Between them, they could personally purchase a fair chunk of Australia’s business world.
Name | Net Worth | What they could buy | |
Jeff Bezos | $131 billion | WAAX Stocks… with $100 billion left over Wisetech ($8.6b) Afterpay ($8b) Appen ($3b) Xero ($11.5b) | |
Bill Gates | $97 billion | ASX Top 10 Mainstays Wesfarmers ($48b) Macquarie ($49b) | |
Warren Buffet | $83 billion | Miners Woodside ($32.5b) Santos ($17b) Fortescue ($30b) Whitehaven coal ($3b) | |
Bernard Arnault | $76 billion | Grocery Sector Woolworths ($50b) Coles ($22b) Metcash ($3b) | |
Carlos Slim Helu | $64 billion | Market Darlings REA Group ($14b) Seek ($8b) Car Sales ($4b) A2 Milk ($11b) Treasury Wine Estates ($13.5b) TPG ($6.5b) Resmed ($9b) | |
Amancio Ortega | $63 billion | Australian Real Estate Mirvac ($13b) Stockland ($12b) GPT Group ($12b) Lendlease ($11b) Vicinity ($10b) Charter Hall ($5b) | |
Larry Ellison | $63 billion | Infrastructure Giants Transurban ($42b) Syd Airport ($21b) |
To give an idea of what Jeff Bezos’ remaining $100 billion can buy him:
- Australia’s insurance industry: Insurance Australia (ASX: IAG – $18.2b), Suncorp (ASX: SUN – $16.8b), QBE Insurance (ASX: QBE – $16.6b) and Medibank Private (ASX: MPL – $8.9b), AND
- Australia’s health care giants: Ramsay Health Care (ASX: RHC – $14.7b), Sonic Health (ASX: SHL – $14.3b) and Cochlear (ASX: COH – $13.5b)
The great news is that you don’t need to be a billionaire to own these companies. Owning shares in these companies through the share market offers the opportunity to be a part owner and to share in the profits of these well-known Australian businesses.
To help you get started we’ve put together the twelve-part podcast series Get Started Investing. Start listening to the series below, or subscribe in your preferred podcast host so you never miss an episode.