In the 1970s it was an OPEC sheik.

In the 1980s it was a Japanese industrialist.

In the 1990s it was a US software company owner.

...who has recently lost first place to the founder and majority shareholder of IKEA.

I don't think home furnishings is the cutting-edge growth industry of the decade. Maybe this says something about the rising importance of the Euro (the US-dollar's decline is partially responsible for Gate's decline) and perhaps it's about the continued importance of the abusrd stock market. IKEA Man's wealth is based on the value of shares in his company, not in the overall value of his compay's real assets.

quote:

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Originally posted by thwap:

I don't think home furnishings is the cutting-edge growth industry of the decade. Maybe this says something about the rising importance of the Euro (the US-dollar's decline is partially responsible for Gate's decline) and perhaps it's about the continued importance of the abusrd stock market. IKEA Man's wealth is based on the value of shares in his company, not in the overall value of his compay's real assets.

Is that it?

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Well, actually, it turns out not to be true. BG's still on top. For now. Until Linux brings him down.
Apparently they were in fact valuing IKEA Man's wealth based on the overall value of his company's real assets--except that he gave his holdings to a nonprofit a while back, so even if that was a good way to evaluate his wealth it isn't his any more. As to why it would challenge Gates' wealth--well, people have always spent a hell of a lot more on furniture than on software. IKEA's just taken a much bigger slice of that than any company has before, I guess. Similarly, Microsoft isn't really that big a company, IBM is way bigger in sales and workforce and whatnot, and the big car companies are considerably bigger, while the biggest of all nowadays isn't some high-tech powerhouse, it's Wal-Mart. Nothing special about Wal-Mart except it's the product of concentration. If it hadn't been them, it would have been someone else.