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While rich Swiss residents figure in Bloomberg’s top 500 world’s wealthiest, there are nine Americans in the top ten slot. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

In the latest version of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, eight Swiss or Swiss-resident names figure among the 500 richest people in the world.

The richest of the Alpine-based billionaires is Geneva-based Ernesto Bertarelli, who according to his own self-description is a “Swiss entrepreneur active in the fields of business, finance, sport and philanthropy”.

Bertarelli is worth some $20.4 billion (CHF18.4 billion), according to the Bloomberg list, where he sits in 92nd place overall.

Behind him in 241st spot comes fellow Swiss-based Italian Gianluigi Aponte, whose $10 billion fortune stems mainly from his ownership of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, headquartered in Geneva.

Then there is Hansjörg Wyss (280th), Blocher siblings Magdalena Martullo and Rahel (334th and 342nd), and various shareholding families of pharma giant Roche: André Hoffmann (430th), Vera Michalski-Hoffmann (453rd) and Maja Hoffmann (454th).

Americans in top slot

Americans take nine of the top ten spots on the list, with Jeff Bezos topping the ranking with $190 billion. After Frenchman Bernard Arnault in second place, come the trio of Elon Musk (who has “slipped” in recent months due to the falling share price of Tesla), Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Switzerland’s own unofficial “rich list” is usually drawn up by the Bilanz magazine, who in their 2020 edition put at the top of the list the family of Swedish-born (and deceased) Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, with CHF56 billion. The Kamprad family is followed by the Hoffmans and Oeris, who control Roche (CHF29-30 billion), Gérard Wertheimer, the main shareholder of Chanel (CHF25 billion), the Safra family, active in the field of private banks and real estate (CHF21-22 billion), and the Blocher family (CHF15-16 billion).

While these fortunes are counted in billions, there are also a considerable number of millionaires in Switzerland. These numbered 438,000 in 2019, according to the Capgemini World Wealth Report 2020.

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