Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Will Book People Become The World's Wealthiest?



How long before the owner and founder of the world’s biggest bookstore becomes the wealthiest man in the world – ever?

Forbes announced who made the cut in its annual list of billionaires.  This year’s collection featured the largest number of billionaires in the world – 2,043 – (up 13%) which collectively represented a record of combined assets that exceeded 7.67 trillion dollars – an increase of 18% over last year.  Billionaires from a year ago that increased their wealth outnumbered decliners, 3-to-1.

Bill Gates, the Windows pioneer, remained No. 1 for the fourth straight year. His fortune of $86 billion was up from $75 billion a year ago.  His numbers continue to scale higher even though he gives away billions with his amazing Gates Foundation.

Warren Buffett, the guru of investing, took back the No. 2 spot with a gain of $14.8 billion last year.  His $75.6 billion net worth exceeds that of Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, but not for long.

Bezos, worth 72.8 billion bucks, could become the first 100,000,000,000-dollar man.  His fortune juggernauted $27.6 billion in just 12 months.

Of course Bezos, who founded Amazon in 1995 and it quickly became the planet's biggest online bookstore, then the biggest online retailer, and now the biggest bookstore.  He is aiming to become the world’s biggest retailer and most powerful man, period.

Interestingly, of the top 10 richest people, many of them have been enriched in part, because of their role in mass communications.  Michael Bloomberg has a media empire; Mark Zuckerberg runs Facebook and dominates the social media landscape; Bezos has Amazon; and Gates created a dominant software used by writers and businesses.

Of the world’s wealthiest 68 people, only five are women.  The richest, at No. 14, Liliano Bettencourt, inherited her father’s company, L’Oreal.  She owns 33% of the cosmetics giant.

Unfortunately, the publishing industry’s wealthiest, are not well represented on this list.  Best-selling authors, book publishing tycoons, and bookstore owners can’t compete with the riches earned from energy, military, technology, or retail.

Being a writer or involved in the arts has its own rewards and those riches can exceed what billions of dollars can do for someone.  However, to have a couple of billion dollars couldn’t hurt!

DON”T MISS THESE!!!
When Our Dictionaries Make Us Dumber

A Ruling In Favor Of A People’s Court For Book Publishing Industry

Book Publishing Industry  Is Spared Its Oscar Moment


Will YouTube Actually Save Or Kill All Books?

When Book Marketing Hype Fools A Book Marketer

Do Book Readers Live Longer?

Does Social Do-Gooder Marketing Help Book Sales?

2017 Book Publicity & Marketing Toolkit For Writers Of All Genres

Which Of These 6 Reasons Inspires You To Write Books?

How To Craft Press Releases That Net Your Book Media Exposure

The right book marketing strategy for you


Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.