These 8 Men Have as Much Money as Half of the World’s Population
Eight individuals, all men, own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population, Oxfam have said in a report calling for action to curtail rewards for those at the top.
Oxfam added that it was “beyond grotesque” that a handful of rich men are worth $426bn, equivalent to the wealth of 3.6 billion people.
“Across the world, people are being left behind. Their wages are stagnating yet corporate bosses take home million dollar bonuses; their health and education services are cut while corporations and the super-rich dodge their taxes; their voices are ignored as governments sing to the tune of big business and a wealthy elite,” said Max Lawson, Oxfam’s head of policy.
“If billionaires choose to give their money away then that is a good thing. But inequality matters and you cannot have a system where billionaires are systematically paying lower rates of tax than their secretary or cleaner,” Lawson have also added.
Oxfam bases its calculations on data from Swiss bank Credit Suisse and Forbes. The eight individuals named in the report are Bill Gates, Inditex founder Amancio Ortega, veteran investor Warren Buffett, Mexico’s Carlos Slim, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
