Worst billionaire meltdowns

Many of us exited 2008 in something of a foul mood regarding our financial situation.

Jobs were lost or scaled back. Investments soured. The 401k shrank.

Unless you were smart (or just lucky), you probably took a hit in the year just completed. We’re here to offer a  bit of perspective.

You could have been Bjorgflur Gudmundsson. When Iceland’s second largest bank collapsed in October, Gudmundsson was its chairman and largest shareholder. His $1.1 billion fortune was reduced to zero.

Yes, zero, as in $0.

Now that you are feeling a little better about things — certainly better than Bjorgflur — here’s Forbes‘ list of some of the biggest billionaire wipeouts of ‘08. The first figure represents the individual’s estimated net worth in March, the latter is the estimated worth at the end of the year.

– Anil Ambani: $42 billion/$12 billion

– Oleg Deripaska: $28 billion/less than $10 billion

– Anurag Dikshit: $1.6 billion/$1 billion

– Bjorgflur Gudmundsson: $1.1 billion/$0

– Luis Portillo: $1.2 billion/$15 million

– David Ross: $1.4 billion/$150 million

– Tulsi Tanti: $3 billion/$500 million

– Wong Kwong Yu: $3.5 billion/$2.5 billion

– Larry Yung: $3 billion/$750 million

– Konstantin Zhevago: $3.4 billion/$350 million

To read about where these folks went wrong, and to see a slideshow, check out Forbes.

Advertisement