- Bonfire of the Billionaires
- A term for the sudden abbreviation of Britain’s roster of billionaires.
The 2009 edition of the Sunday Times of London’s annual Rich List indicatedthat Britain’s thousand wealthiest individuals have collectively lost $225 billion (more than a third of their wealth) in the recession. Alastair McCall and David Smith wrote:
In a bonfire of the billionaires, the number in this year’s Rich List has fallen from 75 to 43. Between them, people ranked in the top 100 lost £92 billion. Only three saw their wealth increase.While some billionaires have slipped into mere millionaire status, others have disappeared from the list altogether. …Over the past five years the bottom line required for a place in the Rich List has risen from £30m in 2003 to £80m [$134m] last year. Now a fortune of £55m [$80m] is sufficient to make the top 1,000.The Rich List’s combined wealth adds up to £258.27 billion [$375.4 billion], compared with £412.8 billion [$599.9 billion] last year.(In March 2009, Forbes reported that the number of billionaires in the world had fallen from 1,125 to 793. ¶ One billion is one thousand million, or 1,000,000,000. Click here for an illustration.)
Dictionary of unconsidered lexicographical trifles. 2014.
