Mar 7, 2018

Jeff Bezos tops Forbes' annual billionaires list

Axios

Jeff Bezos at the Vanity Fair Oscars party. Photo: J. Merritt / Getty Images

A record 2,208 billionaires made Forbes’ 32nd annual ranking of the world’s richest with centi-billionaire Jeff Bezos seizing the top spot for the first time.

President Trump's fortune stands at $3.1 billion, down $400 million from last year. He dropped to #766 from #544 last year, thanks to falling "values of Midtown Manhattan real estate and declining revenues at several Trump golf properties."

  1. Jeff Bezos: $112 billion ... Up from 2017 ... U.S.
  2. Bill Gates: $90 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  3. Warren Buffett: $84 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  4. Bernard Arnault family: $72 billion ... Up ... France
  5. Mark Zuckerberg: $71 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  6. Amancio Ortega (Zara): $70 billion ... Down ... Spain
  7. Carlos Slim Helu family: $67.1 billion ... Up ... Mexico
  8. Charles Koch: $60 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  9. David Koch: $60 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  10. Larry Ellison: $58.5 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  11. Michael Bloomberg: $50 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  12. Larry Page: $48.8 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  13. Sergey Brin: $47.5 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  14. Jim Walton: $46.4 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  15. S. Robson Walton: $46.2 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  16. Alice Walton: $46 billion ... Up ... U.S.
  17. Ma Huateng: $45.3 billion ... Up ... China
  18. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers family (L'Oréal): $42.2 billion ... New ... France
  19. Mukesh Ambani: $40.1 billion .... Up ... India
  20. Jack Ma: $39 billion ... Up ... China

Go deeper: See the full list.

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Rebecca Falconer

New Zealand sets sights on coronavirus elimination after 2 weeks of lockdown

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gives a coronavirus media update at the New Zealand Parliament. Photo: Mark Mitchell - Pool/Getty Images

New Zealand has flattened the curve of novel coronavirus cases after two weeks of lockdown and the next phase is to "squash it," professor Shaun Hendy, who heads a scientific body advising the government on COVID-19, told Axios.

Why it matters: Te Pūnaha Matatini, the Center of Research Excellence hosted by the University of Auckland of which Hendy is director, released research Thursday showing there could've been hundreds more Covid-19 cases were it not for the lockdown — and that there's a good chance of eliminating the virus.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 6 mins ago - Health
Rebecca Falconer, Orion Rummler, Marisa Fernandez

U.S. coronavirus updates: Death toll surpasses 14,800

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 2,000 people for the second day in a row, and it's infected more than 432,000 others, per Johns Hopkins data.

Where it stands: More than 14,800 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. — including over 4,500 in New York. The state's death toll surged to its highest one-day total on Wednesday — beating the previous day's record. 779 people died in New York in 24 hours. The state has reported more cases than the most-affected countries in Europe.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 40 mins ago - Health
Axios

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 1 a.m. ET: 1,484,811 — Total deaths: 88,538 — Total recoveries: 329,876 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 1 a.m. ET: 432,132 — Total deaths: 14,817 — Total recoveries: 23,906 — Map.
  3. Federal government latest: Top Trump administration officials had been developing a plan to give cloth masks to huge numbers of Americans, but the idea lost traction amid heavy internal skepticism.
  4. States latest: New York has reported more cases than the most-affected countries in Europe. Chicago's Cook County jail is largest-known source of coronavirus in U.S.
  5. Business: One-third of U.S. jobs are at risk of disappearing, mostly affecting low-income workers.
  6. World: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to put politics aside "if you don’t want to have many more body bags.”
  7. Environment: COVID-19 is underscoring the connection between air pollution and dire outcomes from respiratory diseases.
  8. Tech: A new report recommends stimulus spending to help close the digital divide revealed by social distancing.
  9. What should I do? Pets, moving and personal health — Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk.
  10. Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

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Keep ReadingArrowUpdated 47 mins ago - Politics & Policy