North Sea veteran Sir Ian Wood is ranked 1,561st on a new list of the world’s richest people.
US business magazine Forbes, publishing its 32nd annual list of the world’s billionaires, estimates his personal wealth at just over £1billion.
But Wood Group’s founder and former chairman has a long way to go to catch up with runaway list leader Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of retail giant Amazon.
Mr Bezos seizes the top spot for the first time, thanks to a fortune of £80.2billion – up by £28billion in only a year, the biggest one-year gain ever. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has been the richest person in the world for 18 of the past 24 years, drops to second spot at £64.5billion. US business magnate, investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett, worth just over £60billion, falls to third.
A record 2,208 billionaires have made it on to the list, up from 2,043 last year, with an average net worth of £2.9billion – also an all-time high. The top 20 billionaires have a combined net worth of a record £860billion, up from £694billion in 2017.
Their aggregate wealth represents 13% of all 2,208 billionaires, while the minimum net worth to make it into the top 20 is now a record £28billion – up from £21.8billion last year.The family behind London-headquartered diversified firm Hinduja Group are the top-ranked UK entry and 55th overall at £14billion, while Ineos Group owner Jim Ratcliffe is 78th on £11.8billion.