GENERAL
The world’s most hated billionaire.
More money, more problems.
The old adage might well be true, but with soaring inflation and ever-worsening inequality, plenty of might just want to get out the world’s smallest violin in sympathy.
Even before the pandemic paid further dividends to the mega rich, the word “billionaire” can often be synonymous with “bad guy”.
Billionaires make up a tiny fraction of the world’s population (0.000035 per cent to be exact), yet control an outsized 3.5 per cent of the world’s wealth.
Meanwhile, the poorest 50 per cent control just 2 per cent.
While 2,750 billionaires sit on an interest-generating fortune exceeding $12 trillion, according to Oxfam International a lack of affordable healthcare kills nearly 6 million people in developing nations each and every year.
Mixed Feelings
According to a new study by businessfinancing.co.uk, a strange thing happens when we voice our feelings about the mega wealthy.
The group collected thousands of geotagged tweets mentioning billionaire entrepreneurs, and sorted the tweets by location and used an AI ‘sentiment detector’ to analyse them. Then the percentage of tweets was calculated about each billionaire into positive and negative.
As long as billionaires remain anonymous, their wealth is fair game for all sorts of progressive wealth redistribution polices, but, once we put a name to that wealth, eg: hello Elon Musk, things become a little more complicated.
Here’s what the study found.
5. Bill Gates
The Microsoft founder comes in at number five, most hated in Libya, Algeria and Cuba.
While the Gates Foundation has held shares in companies like Monsanto, the maker of controversial insecticides, he is also the target of countless wild conspiracy theories.
In fact, according to the Business Finance study, Gates is simultaneously the most loved billionaire, most popular in 37 countries, including China, all of Scandinavia and many African nations.
Perhaps he’s not the devil and this is just a classic case of “hater’s gonna hate”?
4. Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg comes in at number four, hated in Columbia, Sri Lanka and Italy.
We’re not sure exactly what Zuck did to this specific and diverse set of nations, but a quick look at the hot mess that is Facebook, or our now ad-infested Instagram feeds, is enough to make anyone cranky.
The Winklevoss Twins aren’t too fond of him either.
3. Rupert Murdoch
The media mogul of Fox News infamy, Rupert Murdoch comes in at number three, most hated here in his former home of Australia, as well as Canada, Ireland and Mexico.
From helping to get Donald Trump elected president, to holding back the conversation on climate change and toppling numerous Australian prime ministers, there’s definitely a lot to love about this guy.
It’s worth noting the Sky News Australia owner is most hated in countries where he either holds significant media interests, or in countries that directly border those nations.
2. Jeff Bezos
In second place we have Amazon founder and former world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, most hated in Russia, India, Bangladesh, Peru, Ecuador and Panama.
Looking at that list, it appears Bezos has become the world’s favoured whipping boy for American imperialism via capitalism.
On the bright side, the same study also has him as the third-most-loved billionaire, most loved in 15 countries ranging from Finland to Mozambique.
Can you guess who takes out the top spot?
1. Donald J. Trump aka #45
Yep that’s right.
Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, the only president to ever be impeached twice, an associate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and the guy who threatened to withhold US aid to the Ukraine.
Hated in a whopping 84 countries too numerous to name, Most Hated Billionaire may be a dubious title, but you can’t knock the man’s showing.
The other billionaires on the list have a lot of work to do if they want to try and take out the Don.
Trump taking the top spot should hardly come as a surprise, but what is interesting, is the New York Attorney General’s and Manhattan District Attorney’s respective investigations into Trump’s alleged financial fraud.
The Don allegedly inflated asset values to borrowers and understated them to tax officials, so it’s not quite clear how much he’s actually worth all up.
Imagine being the most hated billionaire in the world and maybe not even being a billionaire? Just another dubious achievement for “The Donald.”
