A New Rank of the World's Richest

It says something about just how much money the richest people in the world have when the guy at the top of the list can lose $478.4 million in a day due to stock market fluctuations and still have second place beat by $6.1 billion.

Forbes

Forbes

No, the billionaire list hasn’t been released yet. Bloomberg has just stolen ’ thunder with the release of its daily

daily

— yes, — ranking of the world’s richest people. This just two days before Forbes would reportedly release its annual list.

Now, you can follow daily changes to the worth of the world’s 20 richest people.

Forbes'

Business Insider

“Bloomberg's daily index, which changes depending on stock movement and financial/company news, would erase any anticipation for yearly lists,” boldly claimed.

Even better, the brain behind Bloomberg’s index was the man who spearheaded Forbes’ list for years. But he’s clearly decided to tweak the concept.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index updates each day at 5:30 p.m. EST using changes in the market. A person’s stake in a company is calculated using the more recent closing price of the company’s shares. A private company can be value in several ways, depending on the firm’s industry and size. Dividends are also taken into account.

So not only can the lists be different as a person’s wealth fluctuates over the course of a year, but the calculation is slightly different. For instance, Sweden’s Ingvar Kamprad was ranked 162 by Forbes because he says he isn’t the owner of IKEA. However Bloomberg says he is, and therefore Kamprad lands at number four on the daily list.

For the most part the top 20 are relatively similar — and right now the Bloomberg index is restricted to only 20. In fact the top three are the same: Carlos Slim Helu, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, in descending order.

There are minor differences in order, such as France’s Bernard Amault ranked fifth by Bloomberg and fourth by Forbes. But given the daily, and thus more timely nature of Bloomberg’s list, there are other, more notable differences.

India’s Lakshmi N. Mittal was ranked sixth by Forbes, but he is 16 for Bloomberg because shares of ArcelorMittal — which he owns 41% of — dropped 40% last year.

Forbes

Forbes

The list was always a hotly anticipated feature. Does the arrival of Bloomberg’s daily index mean ’ annual list is a thing of the past? Or will keeping constant tabs on the world’s richest cause the rest of us to lose interest?