He enjoyed big political wins in his bid to become the Republican candidate for the US presidency on ‘Super Tuesday’, but Donald Trump’s reputation as a financial colossus has taken a slight hit today.
Forbes has published its ‘Rich List’, ranking the wealthiest people on Earth in 2016, and Trump has slipped to 324th position. The businessman from Queens has been boasting that his wealth stands at $10 billion during his Republican race for the White House, but Forbes puts his net-worth at $4.5 billion – less than half the figure he claims.
As recently revealed by British satirist John Oliver on Last Week Tonight, Trump has previously confessed that the number he picks can depend on: "feelings, even my own feelings... And that can change rapidly from day to day.”
The wealthiest Irish citizen is Indian construction tycoon Pallonji Mistry. Married to Dubliner Patsy Perin Dubash, he is worth $12.5 billion and is the 73rd richest person in the world.
Below Mistry, John Grayken is placed at $6.3 billion. The Massachusetts financier is the founder of Lone Star Funds and renounced his American citizenship to become fully-fledged Irish in 1999. John Dorrance III, heir to Campbell’s Soup, has $2.7 billion to his name.
In terms of more familiar faces, Denis O’Brien has $5.7 billion, ranking at 219th. He is joined by Dermot Desmond and Martin Naughton to round off the Irish six, with that pair at an estimated wealth of $1.9 bn and $1.6 bn respectively.
And the richest person on the planet according to Forbes? You guessed it – Bill Gates. He’ll face stiff competition from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg over the coming years, though. "Zuck" had the biggest gains on the list, jumping 10 places into sixth position with a fortune estimated at $44.6 billion.
