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Japan used to have a lot of billionaires before the collapse of their real estate market. Japan has the second most millionaires.The Merrill Lynch - Capgemini World’s Wealth Report 2009 defines HNWIs as those who hold at least US$1 million in financial assets and Ultra-HNWIs as those who hold at least US$30 million in financial assets, with both excluding collectibles, consumables, consumer durables and primary residences. The number of ultra high net worth individuals worldwide is estimated at about 95,000.

ABU DHABI—News Corp.'s Fox International Channels said Monday it is basing the Middle East operations of its global online advertising network in Abu Dhabi and setting up an office here for its documentary-production arm. Fox International said it would also move some broadcasting operations related to its Mideast channels from Hong Kong and other locations to Abu Dhabi. The moves are the latest by a handful of large, international media outlets to establish footholds in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The city-state, in an effort to diversify away from oil, has set out to lure a...

It's not a secret that billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) CEO Warren Buffett is a supporter of President Barack Obama - having endorsed and raised money for him. But has Buffett's approval of the president mirrored the declining marks he's getting from the rest of America? No, according to Buffett, Obama's earned "high marks." Buffett appeared on CNBC's March 1 "Squawk Box" and assessed Obama's presidency to date. "Well, I'm very glad I voted for him," Buffett said. "That has not changed. I think the problems he has run into are monumental, particularly in terms of the economy. I...

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu isn't just one of The New York Times Co.'s creditors anymore -- he's now one of their biggest stockholders, according to a Security and Exchange Commission filing Friday. Slim exercised warrants for 15.9 million in Class A shares for a strike price of $6.3572 through his companies Inmobiliaria and GFI, raising his stake in the Times Co. to 16.3% from 6.9% at the time he was approached to loan a substantial sum to the venerable publisher. Slim got the warrants in January 2009 when he lent the Times Co. $250 million. The company said that...

Investors withdraw up to €10bn from Greece as government prepares tax crackdown to cut down deficit staggering €8bn-€10bn (£7bn-£8.7bn) may have been taken out of Greece by private investors since it became engulfed by economic turmoil in November. Under pressure from the European Union and international markets to rein in the nation's €300bn debt, socialist prime minister, George Papandreou, announced last week that he would have to enforce tough deficit-cutting measures. But the coming austerity package is leading panicked wealthy Greeks to divert their savings out of the country.

If you're a certain sort of still-employed media person, you're probably wondering how much longer you can hold on to your job. But the larger question might be: Just how unreal -- illusory, delusional, unmoored from the realities of the marketplace -- has your job been all along? I've been thinking about this a lot lately in regard to the coming passing of the media billionaires. Nobody likes to admit this, but much of the best of contemporary journalism has been produced, and continues to get produced, simply because of the largess -- and the emotional needs -- of a...

Meg Whitman is running for the California governorship. Obviously, Whitman very much wants Californians to cast a vote for her this year. And then, apparently, she wants to stop Californians from casting a vote on much of anything else in the future. Repeatedly, the billionaire former CEO of eBay has attacked California's ballot initiative and referendum process. Last May, right after California voters clobbered a number of issues referred to the ballot by legislators, measures that would have raised taxes and played three card monte with parts of state spending, Whitman told an audience, "In many ways, the proposition process...

Bill Gates made the largest ever single charitable donation when he pledged $10billion (£6billion) to develop and distribute vaccines. The Microsoft founder hopes the money, to be spent over the next ten years through his foundation, will save the lives of more than eight million children in the world's poorest countries. 'We must make this the decade of vaccines,' he said. 'Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives. 'Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.'

(Not to our advantage to say the least--Alwaleed bin Talal is now the 2nd largest shaeholder at Fox...translated: no Obama eligibility coverage or else) "...met with Rupert Murdoch on Jan. 14 in a meeting that "touched upon future potential alliances with News Corp., " Saudi billionaire eyes new links with News Corp. By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer – Sun Jan 17, 8:15 am ET CAIRO – The Saudi billionaire whose investment firm is one of the biggest stakeholders in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. said he is looking to expand his alliances with the media giant, in the latest indication...

CAIRO – The Saudi billionaire whose investment firm is one of the biggest stakeholders in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. said he is looking to expand his alliances with the media giant, in the latest indication that his appetite for growth remains robust even as his company retrenches.

Is Abortion Allowed In Monaghan’s Ave Maria? By MARIELENA MONTESINO de STUART“Now a lie is directly opposed to truth. Therefore dissimulation or hypocrisy is also” — St. Thomas Aquinas.Appearances Are DeceivingAppearances are deceiving — and such is the case in the Town of Ave Maria — a town named after the moment of conception of Our Lord and after the Blessed Virgin Mary.On November 5, 2009, during a press conference at Ave Maria University, the administration, various faculty members, and selected students proudly honored and gave a standing ovation to Tom Golisano, a billionaire with a long history of supporting...

NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg sought to strike a humble tone Friday as he began his third term by promising "to listen and to lead" and to take a fresh look at the challenges facing the city. The 67-year-old billionaire acknowledged the unusual circumstances that landed him on the steps of City Hall to take the oath of office for another four years. A city term-limit law had barred officeholders from seeking a third, consecutive term, but he orchestrated a last-minute law change that let him run again in 2009. "This term is a special opportunity, one that comes...

UCD Study Shows Cost of Tiger Woods' Problems -- $12 billion Bill Lindelof Dec. 28, 2009 Two University of California, Davis, professors have pinned the loss to shareholders from Tiger Woods' marital infidelity at up to $12 billion. The researchers said the new study speaks to the question of whether celebrity sponsorship has an impact on a firm's bottom line. "Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods' stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too," said Victor Stango, professor of economics. Stango and fellow economics professor Christopher Knittel studied the...

Ivana Trump, the first ex-wife of billionaire Donald Trump, was escorted by sheriff's deputies off a flight Saturday afternoon at Palm Beach International Airport after she screamed and cursed at children, authorities said. Trump, 60, of Palm Beach, was seated in first class and apparently became irate because children were running up and down the aisle and screaming, Palm Beach County sheriff's officials said.

Sheldon Adelson on his casino company's plans for Macau, Singapore--and, perhaps, Europe. In 2007 Sheldon Adelson was America's third richest man. Before the collapse of the markets last year, shares of his Las Vegas Sands casino company traded at more than $140 a share, maxing out his personal fortune at nearly $40 billion. These days he's worth a mere $9 billion, 26th on the most recent Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. "The Forbes 400 is a report card for the wealthy, and seeing it this year hurt," he says. "I got a bad report card." Now he's vowing...

People such as George Soros and Michael Moore certainly talk a good game, but the next Mother Teresa they are not. Mother Teresa never criticized the free-market system; wealth just wasn't for her. Soros and Moore are quite the opposite. They will never take a vow of poverty and dedicate themselves to helping the poor. They just want our civilization to take a vow of poverty and become poor. This has caused many to wonder: How can someone preach socialism while being the most rapacious "capitalist" imaginable? Well, I have a theory about this. It has often been observed that...

I had lunch last week with Rolfe Winkler, who is an up and comer in the blog world, a thinking man’s Felix Salmon. He is similarly annoyed with St. Warren — but rather than engage in my sophmoric venom spew, he went to the spreadsheet to discover that Buffet owns major stakes in 8 companies that have received more than $100 billion in government bailouts. Capitalist? Hardly. Sounds more like just another crony to me. Rolfe also posts this fabulous chart:

Arthur Laffer said-- "You can't raise taxes on the rich. These people know how to get around taxes," says Laffer. "Warren Buffett pays no taxes because all of his wealth is in unrealized capital gains. There's no tax on unrealized capital gains, so how do you get it? You have to tax poor people." LINK Warren Buffet sure talks about taxes a lot for someone who essentially doesn't pay any since the vast bulk of his wealth consists of unrealized capital gains. Appreciation of Berkshire Hathaway stock that he just sits on and never sells anyWarren Buffet lives modestly...

Bill Gates took on the Famine Lobby while addressing a forum on the world food supply in Iowa. Speaking at the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines, Gates took aim at the chorus of environmental leftists and organic food advocates who believe Africans should starve rather than eat genetically modified (GM) foods. “Some voices are instantly hostile to any emphasis on productivity. They act as if there is no emergency, even though in the poorest, hungriest places on earth, population is growing faster than productivity,” he said.The opposition is significant, because Gates is left-of-center himself. The Bill and Melinda...

Oct. 25, 2009— The man who made $7 billion in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, Jeffry Picower, was found dead in his Palm Beach, Fla., swimming pool Sunday. The Palm Beach Fire Department told ABC News that Picower had no pulse when fire rescue workers arrived at his oceanfront mansion after his wife called 911. She and his housekeeper pulled his body from the pool shortly after noon. No one benefited more from the Madoff scheme that Picower, according to bankruptcy lawyers who sued him and alleged he had taken out $7 billion more than he had put in. Click...