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IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ World’s richest people |
2️⃣ Why folks on a beach in Italy are ‘hangry’ |
3️⃣ Photo of the day |
Hi Intriguer. Before we dive in, let me give a quick shout-out to our newest subscribers in the office of Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi! I was lucky enough to participate in a closed-door event with the Congressman and Australia’s Ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week. I’ll have more to say on the very interesting takeaways from that event soon.
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As for today’s briefing? Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, formerly Africa’s richest man, has lost almost $2B in recent months (don’t worry, the sugar and cement magnate is still worth a cool $13B). But beyond those eye watering numbers lies a broader story of wealth, power, and yes – geopolitics.
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PS – We’ll be on break this Monday, but will be back in your inbox on Tuesday!
THE HEADLINES
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Nvidia revenue doubles, shares drop.
The year’s most-anticipated earnings report has arrived (again), with Nvidia more than doubling its revenue over the last quarter thanks to continued demand for its advanced AI chips. And yet… the company’s stocks fell by as much as 8% in after-hours trading. It seems some investors, accustomed to Nvidia’s extraordinary results, were hoping for even better numbers, and were probably also spooked by the revelation of a minor production issue.
Israeli West Bank raids continue.
Israel’s military says it’s killed five “terrorists” hiding in a Mosque on the second day of Israel’s large-scale operation across the occupied West Bank. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to stop the operation.
Honduras to end extradition treaty with US.
The foreign ministry has announced it’ll terminate a century-old extradition treaty with Washington in protest, after the US ambassador to Honduras expressed concern about a senior Honduras-Venezuela meeting last week. The Honduran president has recognised the (let’s be honest: fraudulent) re-election of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, and is condemning the US ambassador’s comments as meddling in her country’s affairs.
Telegram CEO released on $5M bail.
Pavel Durov is prohibited from leaving France and will have to check in with the police regularly, as a judge investigates six indictments against him related to illegal activity on his app.
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Xi Jinping holds surprise meeting with US national security advisor.
China’s president has met Jake Sullivan today (Thursday) during Sullivan’s three-day China visit. Details are still emerging, but Xi reportedly told Sullivan, “China and the United States should be responsible for history, for the people and for the world, and should be a source of stability for world peace.”
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Brazil supreme court threatens Twitter/X ban.
An ongoing feud between a top Brazilian judge and billionaire Elon Musk might heat up further today (Thursday) after the judge gave Musk’s social media platform 24 hours to appoint a new local representative or face a ban.
TOP STORY
Meet some of the world’s richest people
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Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote woke up yesterday to the news that he’s now lost the title of ‘Africa’s richest person’, largely as a result of a devaluing naira. Hopefully his $13B fortune helped soften the blow.
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His crown now belongs to South African billionaire Johann Rupert. Naturally, we had to investigate, and ended up getting a little carried away.
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So dear Intriguers, with thanks to Bloomberg for crunching the numbers, we present to you… some of the world’s richest people.
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Africa – Johann Rupert ($14.2B)
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He’s the chair of both the Swiss-based luxury-goods company Richemont (think Cartier and Montblanc) and South Africa-based investment company Remgro (think banking, food, infrastructure and beyond).
Johann’s cautious nature somehow earned him the nickname “Rupert the Bear”, and he has a soft-spot for sport, with a stake in the Saracens English rugby team. Interestingly, he’s spoken in favour of universal basic income and against fracking.
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Fun fact: Johann actually dropped out of university but eventually received two honorary doctorates. We have enough friends with hard-fought PhDs to know this is definitely the way to get that certificate – more cash, less dissertation.
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Europe – Bernard Arnault ($198B)
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Bernard is the French billionaire founder of LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury goods firm rocking brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and Sephora.
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His nickname? Thanks to his aggressive business strategies, folks have dubbed Bernard “the Terminator”.
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He’s an avid art collector and once rescinded his request for Belgian nationality after being criticised for seeking to evade French taxes (which he denies).
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South Asia – Mukesh Ambani ($113B)
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Mukesh is the Indian billionaire with vast business interests that span the energy, media, telecom, and financial services sectors. His company, Reliance Industries, is India’s largest by market cap and has faced accusations (all denied) of stock manipulation, predatory pricing, and crony capitalism.
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Born in Yemen when it was known as the British colony of Aden, his family returned to India when his father founded a spices and textiles firm. Which reminds us – one of Mukesh’s nicknames is ‘the polyester prince’ which is also, incidentally, the name of his unofficial biography that’s banned in India.
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Oh and if you’re wondering why the Ambani surname rings a bell, you might’ve heard of his youngest son’s epic recent wedding, which included guests like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and two former British PMs (Johnson and Blair).
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East Asia – Zhong Shanshan ($49.5B)
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The title of China’s richest person has been ping-ponging between Temu founder Colin Huang and water bottle mogul Zhong Shanshan in recent weeks. But a disappointing Temu earnings call just wiped billions off Huang’s net worth, so Zhong and his Nongfu Spring beverage giant are back at the top of the pile.
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Like many of his fellow tycoons in China, Zhong Shanshan has a cracking backstory: he failed his college entrance exams twice, did a stint as a reporter, sold turtle-meat supplements for a bit, then founded his bottled water company.
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Oh, and his nickname? Local media outlets call him the ‘lone wolf’ for his low profile and concerted efforts to avoid China’s elites.
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But yes, his Nongfu Spring has faced accusations it’s damaging some of China’s most sensitive water basins, and it’s even copped criticism from local nationalists complaining it uses design elements from rival Japan.
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Latin America – Carlos Slim ($87.6B)
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Carlos Slim’s portfolio includes Mexico’s América Móvil (one of the world’s biggest mobile network operators) plus ventures across mining, healthcare, real estate, and consumer goods.
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The son of Lebanese immigrants, he got started in haberdashery before making his fortune buying distressed assets during Mexico’s 1980s financial crisis, then buying state assets during Mexico’s 1990s political transition.
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His nicknames include ‘Mr Monopoly’, because that seems to be his preferred market share. Oh, and he once held a 17% stake in the New York Times, ‘cause why not.
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
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Billionaires don’t just send in a screenshot of their bank balance. To the contrary, many go to extraordinary lengths to avoid appearing on these lists given the associated legal, security, and tax risks. Others simply live in opaque, resource-rich, and authoritarian places where getting data on them is tricky.
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But still, these billionaire lists can offer some worthy geopolitical insights:
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What are they doing? Tech dominates the upper ranks, but it’s still pretty broad: Abercrombie & Fitch has outperformed Nvidia this year!
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Where are they based? More than half of the top 50, and nine of the top 10, are still located in one country: the US.
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Where are they going? The biggest exodus right now is out of China, witha net ~15,000 high net worth folks leaving this year amid uncertainty over China’s trajectory. Their top destination? The US.
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What’s their outlook? Billionaires everywhere have added $2T (‘a Russia’) to their wealth in a year. If you added them all up, they’d now be the world’s third-richest country after the US and China. They’ll be fine.
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But this growing list of names has enormous influence. There are major G20 economies where you can’t go a week without having to spend cash on a good or service controlled by one of them.
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And some of these names have bigger hired-gun legal teams than the entire national regulators tasked with scrutinising them.
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Also worth noting:
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The world’s richest person is still Elon Musk, sitting on $230B.
A MESSAGE FROM ELECTION INTRIGUE
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This week Intrigue co-founder John and Washington editor Kristen give you their take on what China-US ties might look like under a Republican administration.
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Don’t miss out on their breakdown today (Thursday).
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan: The Kyrgyz government has announced it’ll introduce temporary coal price controls starting September while it seeks to boost local mining and raise imports from China. The country is in the midst of a coal shortage and is bracing itself for price spikes.
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🇪🇸 Spain: Authorities have blocked a Hungarian consortium (formerly a Russian subsidiary) from buying Spanish train manufacturer Talgo, citing national security concerns. A spokesperson for the Hungarian outfit, part-owned by the Hungarian government, has said it’ll now take legal action, so Spain-Hungary ties are now likely in for a ride.
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🇹🇭 Thailand: The government’s caretaker commerce minister has announced Bangkok will set up a task force to combat the flow of cheap imports from China. Local manufacturers have been voicing their concern since China’s e-commerce giant Temu arrived in July.
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🇧🇷 Brazil: President Lula’s government has confirmed he’ll install an ally (Gabriel Galipolo) as his central bank’s next chief. This became “the worst-kept secret in Brasilia” when Lula appointed Galipolo to the bank’s board last year, after criticising the rival-appointed incumbent for not cutting rates.
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🇦🇴 Angola: Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the US-headquartered consultancy, has admitted paying millions in bribes to win contracts in Angola, and will now return $14M in tainted profits. BCG has since closed its Luanda office and fired the employees responsible for the scheme, which ran from 2011 to 2017.
EXTRA INTRIGUE
Meanwhile, in other worlds
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Art: While removing columns at the National Gallery’s Sainsbury wing in London, staff have found a 1990 letter from the late Lord Sainsbury, an original donor, expressing displeasure with the decision to put the columns up at all.
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Science: A China-led research team has published a study suggesting the speed at which the Earth spins actually slowed down dramatically millions of years ago: once during a major extinction event, and another during a rapid explosion in life on Earth.
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Travel: Beachgoers in Italy’s Bari on the Adriatic Sea are clashing with seaside clubs, who are shooing away beachgoers bringing their own food (and even three-course meals) onto the sand.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: Reuters.
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Every August, the Spanish town of Buñol on the outskirts of Valencia transforms into the world’s sauciest battlefield during La Tomatina, a festival where participants throw tomatoes at each other. Yesterday (Wednesday), the streets ran red with locals and tourists alike hurling the squishy fruit in a messy tradition that turns everyone into human gazpacho.
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You’d think there was some ancient, mystical explanation for this festival, but nope: there are a few theories, though it seems to have started in the 1940s as a food fight between friends.
DAILY POLL
What do you think about all these billionaires? |
Yesterday’s poll: If you could be a fly on the wall, which sitting leader’s office would you choose?
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🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🇺🇸 Joe Biden (13%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🇮🇳 Narendra Modi (4%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen (4%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🇧🇷 Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva (2%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤝 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (WTO) (.07%)
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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin (39%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🇸🇦 Mohammed bin Salman (4%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🇹🇭 Paetongtarn Shinawatra (.09%)
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🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🇨🇳 Xi Jinping (27%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (3%)
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Your two cents:
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🇷🇺 W.C.F: “More specifically, I’d like to be a tsetse fly on Vladimir Putin’s wall.”
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🇨🇳 E.K.H: “China is so opaque. Seeing how their decisions really get made would be invaluable.”
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🇧🇷 J.P: “As a Brazilian, the life of Lula is like a novel filled with intrigue… What a thrill it’d be to see up close.”
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🇺🇸 D.D: “The White House has by far the broadest and most high-quality hose of non-public information.”
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Honourable mentions: Javier Miliei (🇦🇷), Yoweri Museveni (🇺🇬), Kim Jong Un (🇰🇵), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (🇹🇷), Nicolás Maduro (🇻🇪), and Justin Trudeau (🇨🇦).
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✍️ S.F: “Politicians ultimately ‘depend’ on commercial enterprises, don’t they? So I’d prefer Larry Fink’s (BlackRock) or Jamie Dimon’s (JPMorgan) office.”
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