They are one of the businesses that attract the most investors because of what they can obtain. Bloomberg made a recent listing.
Every year the lists of millionaires made by specialized business and finance magazines show higher and surprising numbers.
Tech, retail and even luxury moguls saw their fortunes grow into billions of dollars in 2021, according to a listing of Bloomberg about the people who finished 2021 as the richest in the world.
The first place went to Elon Musk with $ 277.3 billion, thanks to its companies SpaceX and Tesla; the second for Jeff Bezos, the king of internet sales with his company Amazon, with $ 194.8 billion; the third is for the French Bernard Arnault, with $ 175.7 billion cemented in the business of luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton.
From the fourth to the tenth place, only one is not a tycoon of a technology company, although he has a large participation in firms in this field such as Apple: Warren Buffet. The rest have spent decades creating products and services for the world of computing: Bill Gates (Microsoft), Larry Page Y Sergey Brin (Alphabet, owner of Google), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta, owner of Facebook), Steve Ballmer (Microsoft), Larry Ellison (Oracle).
Without a doubt, investments in this area have grown exponentially in recent decades. Investors have looked to the technology and its various innovative applications, many of which have come closer to the pandemic now than before. This, added to the personal brand that several of them have created, has given them credibility. Some like Musk and Gates maintain public relations that always put them in the news.
Danny Barbery, dean of Communication at the Espírito Santo University of Specialties, says that a lot has to do with how the world is betting on technology. “It also has to do with the globalization of this type of business. A physical business, not a virtual one, normally requires a lot of investment (…). While at a virtual level the market can be amplified. The difference in where the investment in digital business lies is in the logistics, security and technological infrastructure that must be managed. Now (these people) are not only involved in technology businesses, but they diversify the risk, ”says Barbery.
Another point that stands out is the massification of their products and that when they develop large databases of users this allows them to generate much more attractive content for them and begin to generate advertising. They become very powerful intermediaries.
Franklin Velasco, research professor in the marketing area at the San Francisco de Quito University, also mentions that from the investors’ point of view, the businesses that these people have are good in terms of profitability -sometimes immediate-, so the They are always looking, whether to associate or buy their shares. Also, especially at the beginning, it is a bet speculating that it will be successful studying various factors, as is now the case with the metaverse, for example.
“An agile distribution system such as Amazon, luxury goods, technology – to name the businesses of the first three people on the list – is the ideal portfolio for an investor because it is ensuring that return on their investment,” he says. Velasco, who adds that from the demand, due to the effect of the pandemic, more efficient channels and effective distribution are needed where there is less contact between the consumer and the employee who serves at the retail. So the level of sales that Amazon generates in this scenario is higher, it obtains more income, more profitability and therefore more people want to invest and its shares cost more.
The same occurs with technology and even with luxury goods, which has a fairly stable demand, despite the fact that we are now re-evaluating our role as human beings and sustainability, but even there products such as Musk’s Tesla or receiving packages enter. even by drones with Amazon, or it can be a luxury accessory that can cause someone a moment of happiness, regardless of whether others agree or not with the expense.
This, without forgetting the knowledge they have acquired in market and consumer trends and where they are going. They also think not of emerging markets such as Ecuador, but of those that have a population with purchasing power and there are rules and regulations that facilitate large ventures, also where there is the know how with approaches with capital funds and between private companies with academia, says Velasco.
Musk finished the year with 116 billion more than in 2020, which allowed him to displace Bezos, who only increased 1.100 million, from the first place.
In the case of Arnault, despite what happened in the world, sales of luxury products have been maintained and grew during the last twelve months from 113,000 million to almost 176,000 million.
Overall, billionaires increased their fortunes by 30%. Something that also causes criticism from sectors that promote more taxes for the super-rich.
The second year of the pandemic has marked that the 50 richest people in the world have accumulated $ 3.4 billion in total.
The first woman on the list appears at number 11, Francoise Bettencourt Meyer, owner of the L’Oréal group of beauty products.
Three of the Walton brothers (Jim, Rob and Alice), owners of the giant of the retail Walmart are also among the 20 most millionaires in the world.
Velasco also believes that it should be known what they do with these fortunes in terms of philanthropy, social aid, care for the environment, sustainability projects. (I)
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