Spare a thought for the increasingly impoverished billionaires of the world, of which there are now 28 fewer than at this time last year.
Forbes has calculated that more than half of the remaining mega-rich lost money over the last 12 months.
But MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company founder and owner Gianluigi Aponte was not among them.
In fact, Forbes believes he came in at number six on the list of the biggest gainers, adding $14.4bn to his total over the last year.
Forbes assesses the shipowner as worth $31.2bn, thanks to huge earnings in record markets and a surge in the value of a rapidly expanding container ship fleet.
In October last year, the Aponte family’s wealth as a whole was assessed at $100bn by Le Matin Dimanche and Sonntagszeitung.
This makes the clan the richest in Switzerland and one of the wealthiest in the world.
“During Covid, MSC made more money than during the whole previous decade,” the report quoted a source close to the company as saying.
The newspapers came up with a vastly different figure from news agency Bloomberg, whose Billionaires Index in May 2022 put the Aponte family on $19bn.
Forbes said it had been a bad year for many billionaires, with the global total shrinking to 2,640.
However, luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault has been the biggest gainer among the fortunate few.
His net worth jumped $53bn as shares in his LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany & Co, rose by 18% as demand increased.
