Obama Administration to Develop Action Plan for Minority Business

Posted By Joyce Jones On July 9, 2009

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Luisa Kroll, Matthew Miller and Tatiana Serafin 03.11.09, 6:00 PM ET

The world has become a wealth wasteland. Like the rest of us, the richest people in the world have endured a financial disaster over the past year. Today there are 793 people on our list of the World's Billionaires, a 30% decline from a year ago.

Of the 1,125 billionaires who made last year's ranking, 373 fell off the list--355 from declining fortunes and 18 who died. There are 38 newcomers, plus three moguls who returned to the list after regaining their 10-figure fortunes. It is the first time since 2003 that the world has had a net loss in the number of billionaires.

In Pictures: The 50 Richest People In The World

The world's richest are also a lot poorer. Their collective net worth is $2.4 trillion, down $2 trillion from a year ago. Their average net worth fell 23% to $3 billion. The last time the average was that low was in 2003.

Bill Gates lost $18 billion but regained his title as the world's richest man. Warren Buffett, last year's No. 1, saw his fortune decline $25 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway fell nearly 50% in 12 months, but he still managed to slip just one spot to No. 2. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helú also lost $25 billion and dropped one spot to No. 3.

It was hard to avoid the carnage, whether you were in stocks, commodities, real estate or technology. Even people running profitable businesses were hammered by frozen credit markets, weak consumer spending or declining currencies.

The biggest loser in the world this year, by dollars, was last year's biggest gainer. India's Anil Ambani lost $32 billion--76% of his fortune--as shares of his Reliance Communications, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital all collapsed.

Ambani is one of 24 Indian billionaires, all but one of whom are poorer than a year ago. Another 29 Indians lost their billionaire status entirely as India's stock market tumbled 44% in the past year and the Indian rupee depreciated 18% against the dollar. It is no longer the top spot in Asia for billionaires, ceding that title to China, which has 28.

Russia became the epicenter of the world's commodities bust, dropping 55 billionaires--two-thirds of its 2008 crop. Among them: Dmitry Pumpyansky, an industrialist from the resource-rich Ural mountain region, who lost $5 billion as shares of his pipe producer, TMK, sank 84%. Also gone is Vasily Anisimov, father of Moscow's Paris Hilton, Anna Anisimova, who lost $3.2 billion as the value of his Metalloinvest Holding, one of Russia's largest ore mining and processing firms, fell along with his real estate holdings.

Twelve months ago Moscow overtook New York as the billionaire capital of the world, with 74 tycoons to New York's 71. Today there are 27 in Moscow and 55 in New York.

After slipping in recent years, the U.S. is regaining its dominance as a repository of wealth. Americans account for 44% of the money and 45% of the list's slots, up seven and three percentage points from last year, respectively. Still, it has 110 fewer billionaires than a year ago.

Those with ties to Wall Street were particularly hard hit. Former head of AIG Maurice (Hank) Greenberg saw his $1.9 billion fortune nearly wiped out after the insurance behemoth had to be bailed out by the U.S. government. Today Greenberg is worth less than $100 million. Former Citigroup Chairman Sandy Weill also falls from the ranks.

Last year there were 39 American billionaire hedge fund managers; this year there are 28. Twelve American private equity tycoons dropped out of the billionaire ranks.

Blackstone Group's Stephen Schwarzman, who lost $4 billion, and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts' Henry Kravis, who lost $2.5 billion, retain their billionaire status despite their weaker fortunes.

Worldwide, 80 of the 355 drop-offs from last year's list had fortunes derived from finance or investments.

While 656 billionaires lost money in the past year, 44 added to their fortunes. Those who made money did so by catering to budget-conscious consumers (discount retailer Uniqlo's Tadashi Yanai), predicting the crash (investor John Paulson) or cashing out in the nick of time (Cirque du Soleil's Guy Laliberte).

So is there anywhere one can still make a fortune these days? The 38 newcomers offer a few clues. Among the more notable new billionaires are Mexican Joaquín Guzmán Loera, one of the biggest suppliers of cocaine to the U.S.; Wang Chuanfu of China, whose BYD Co. began selling electric cars in December, and American John Paul Dejoria, who got the world clean with his Paul Mitchell shampoos and sloppy with his Patrón Tequila.

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Taylor Buley, 07.16.09, 6:50 PM ET

BURLINGAME, Calif. -

Facebook is the new Google, at least in the eyes of Twitter.

The San Francisco-based social messaging company isn't saying it explicitly, of course, but it doesn't have to: The tomb of strategic meeting notes published by TechCrunch makes the point painfully obvious. Compared to the enmity expressed over Facebook, the enumerated threats of Google--typically the go-to strategic threat in Silicon Valley--look rather banal.

According to TechCrunch editor Erick Schonfeld, much of the discussion in Twitter meetings dealt with both Facebook and Google. But while concerns about Google focused mostly on being out-hustled by Google's indexer, the ones about Facebook seem much more fundamental to Twitter's core vision.

"Google is old news," the notes read. And Facebook? Potentially lethal. A whole meeting at Twitter was devoted to this topic: "How could Facebook kill us?" The list, matched up to recent Facebook announcements, shows why Twitter management may have good reason to be nervous:

Facebook won't comment, won't confirm that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has seen the Twitter documents, and generally wants nothing to do with Twitter's newly public strategic positioning. Facebook public relations guru Brandee Barker sent a missive to Twitter Chief Executive Evan Williams early on: "I hope these documents will not be published," she tweeted.

Too late. Now that the news is out, Facebook's standing in the eyes of Twitter is now much more clear. Twitter wants to be the first Internet site to reach a billion users. Facebook is already a quarter of the way there.

Let the race begin.

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Having a positive attitude, even striving for cheerful, in the workplace isn't always easy. Pat Heim recalls a conference room confrontation between two men that had the executives shouting over each other and pounding their fists on the table. Heim was one of the uncomfortable bystanders and, for her, it was an object lesson in how moods matter at work.

That kind of outburst is bad form for any professional, but it's worth noting up front that overly emotional or moody behavior is often judged more harshly when it comes from a woman, says Heim, CEO of the Heim Group, a consulting firm that specializes in gender differences in the workplace, and author of Hardball for Women: Winning at the Game of Business.

In Depth: Mind Over Mood

"A woman can be perceived as Miss Congeniality for six or seven months, but she does that one bitchy thing and that label will stay with her for a year or two," agrees Courtney Lynch, co-founder of Lead Star, a leadership consulting group out of Fairfax, Va.

While the implications of an angry outburst--or even a sarcastic eye roll--can have a long-lasting impact on an executive's authority, it can also rock her entire team. Research confirms that a sour mood has a ripple effect. Sigal Barsade, Ph.D., an associate professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has done several studies on "emotional contagions" in professional settings and found that, yes, you can catch a bad mood.

Not quite up there with swine flu, but certainly no manager wants negativity spreading throughout her office--especially if she herself is Ground Zero.

The ability to manage your emotions is an essential leadership skill and responsibility. The best managers make the connection between negativity in the workplace and a negative balance sheet. To make the obvious and opposite point, according to Professor Barsade's 2007 study co-authored by Donald Gibson, who is an associate professor of management at the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University: "Expressing positive emotions and moods tends to enhance performance at individual, group and organizational levels."

"Especially with the economy right now, people look to leaders for calm in a chaotic environment," says Lynch, co-author of Leading from the Front: No-Excuse Leadership Tactics for Women.

People generally experience a bad or angry mood as a response to fury, fear or failure--real or perceived. So what do you do when a phone call from your sitter reporting that your twins just flooded the bathroom--again--strikes just as you're heading into that client meeting?

The first step is self awareness followed by self control. Admit to yourself that, yes, you're in bad mood, and then make sure you keep your crabbiness under wraps. "Some people think, 'This is just my thing--I cry, I scream, I get moody,'" says Lynch. "But that the type of stuff alienates people and erodes your credibility."

What can you do? ForbesWoman asked experts in integrative medicine and psychology to share the advice they tell their clients. Some of their suggestions offer a new take (who knew the benefits of a little foot stomping?) while others are wise words worth repeating.

Be Here Now

When you're feeling cranky, it's often easy to pinpoint (or point fingers at) the problem: your boss, your husband, traffic. But while any one or all may be a problem at the moment, they are not in control of your reaction to them. You are.

Managing how you respond to others is oftentimes simply a matter of managing your thoughts, says Steven Alper, LSCW, a consultant with the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine who teaches stress-reduction techniques to executives. For example, if your boss gives you an extremely tight deadline for a project, it's easy to get caught in an endless spin cycle of whining: I can't believe she did this to me again! Doesn't she realize I have 10 other things to do this week? Not to mention a family at home that needs me--not that she would know what that's like.

In other words, you're wasting precious time and energy ruminating about the past (all those other 11th-hour assignments) and fretting about the future (not finishing in time to get your kids from daycare). The solution, instead, is to bring yourself into the present. Either get to work, recruit help or explain to your boss why the deadline is unrealistic.

Get Grounded

To short-circuit those recurring negative thought patterns, Alper recommends thinking not on, but with your feet. "We literally feel the thinking in our heads, so you want to get away from where the thinking is going on and drop into the body," he says.

Place your feet firmly on the floor (either standing or sitting--and it's OK to stomp each foot just once) and feel the sensation of the soles of your feet pressing on the surface. This will help you get you out of fantasyland and onto solid ground.

Take a Deep Breath

A foul mood may start in the brain, but it also has a physical effect--calling for a physical solution. Proper breathing techniques can help keep a bad mood from turning into a raised voice or nasty IM.

Alper explains that the value of "taking a breath" isn't simply a matter of pushing the pause button. When something upsets us, like a hostile co-worker, we often freeze--and stop breathing. "When we perceive a threat, the primitive part of our brain prepares the body to fight, flee or freeze by sending blood to our arms and legs--and away from the brain--so you feel more confused," he says.

Slow, deep and rhythmic breathing can dissipate that response. "When you take a deep breath, the message that goes to the brain is, OK, all clear,'" says Alper.

To get the most out of deep-breathing strategies, he recommends practicing them for at least 10 minutes each day; otherwise it will be very difficult to access that relaxation state in a moment of crisis. "It's like batting practice or basic training in sports," he says. "You have to learn the basic skills so that you can deploy them in a game situation."

Hit the Pavement

Exercise is another very simple, effective way to check out of the brain and into the body. Unfortunately, when the client meeting is in 15 minutes, you can't exactly duck out for a Pilates class or a five-mile run.

Fortunately, you don't have to. Robert Thayer, a professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, found that mood improves dramatically after a brisk walk of only about 10 to 15 minutes. "It has an immediate and positive effect," says Thayer, who is the author of several books on mood, including The Origin of Everyday Moods. "It both releases tension in the muscles and energizes the body."

Bad moods are inevitable, but there are even more ways to work past them

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