The 100 richest Israelis are worth $274 billion, more than half of the country’s GDP
Miriam Edelson, the widow of Israeli-American real estate tycoon Sheldon Edelson retains her top spot in the Forbes list of Israel’s richest people, revealed Friday, with an estimated fortune of $27.5 billion.
After a year marked by numerous crises, the owner of the Las Vegas Sands casinos, like most of the great fortunes of the planet, has experienced significant losses, since her fortune was estimated at 33.9 billion dollars in 2021.
The owner of the daily Israel Hayom is ahead of another real estate tycoon, Eyal Ofer, holder of a fortune estimated at 15.4 billion dollars. The owner of the Mizrahi Tefahot bank saw his fortune increase, since he held “only” 11.5 billion dollars in 2021, and was only ranked fifth.
It is the industrialist of Russian origin Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, who notably chairs the World Holocaust Remembrance Forum, who completes the podium with a fortune estimated at 14.3 billion dollars.
The owner of the Russian group Acron, which produces mineral fertilizers, made a significant jump in the ranking since his fortune was estimated at 4.6 billion dollars in 2021, and he was ranked only eleventh. Kantor has notably benefited from the recent surge in commodity prices, seeing his fortune tripled.
According to Forbes, despite the crises that shook the world economy this year, between rising inflation and interest rates, the prolonged consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the particularly acute geopolitical tensions between China, Russia and the United States, the war in Ukraine or the rise in the price of raw materials, the overall wealth of the 100 richest people in Israel has increased by regarding 10% compared to last year.
The 100 richest Israelis are now worth around $274 billion, more than half of the country’s GDP. Over the past eight years, the wealth of the wealthiest in Israel has soared by 130%.
However, the various crises have hit the high-tech sector hard. Tech billionaires, who made up nearly half of Forbes’ list last year, make up just a third this year.
This phenomenon can be explained in particular by the end of interest rates at zero percent, following more than a decade of expansionist and addictive policies. The stock market declines have clearly manifested themselves in the pricing of technology companies in particular, which have benefited in recent years from inflated valuations and must now experience the dramatic change in investor sentiment.
