WHERE THE WEALTHIEST LIVE: CITIES WITH THE MOST BILLIONAIRES

WHERE THE WEALTHIEST LIVE: CITIES WITH THE MOST BILLIONAIRES

It’s official: There are more billionaires than ever spread across the globe. FORBES released their 2017 list of 2,043 richest spans six continents, 71 countries and territories and hundreds of cities.

You’re most likely to have a 10-digit neighbor if you live in the United States, China or India, but which are the cities where the most billionaires reside?

Here’s FORBES’ top 10 this year:

#1 New York

Billionaire population: 82

Combined net worth: $397.9 billion

Richest individual: David Koch ($48.3 billion)

New York City continues to boast more billionaires than any other city in the world. David Koch is the city’s richest resident, followed closely by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

That’s a flip-flop from the Forbes 400 List of richest Americans in September 2016, when Bloomberg was richer than Koch.

#2 Hong Kong

Billionaire population: 75

Combined net worth: $297.8 billion

Richest individual: Li Ka-shing ($31.2 billion)

In a city that’s home to more than seven million people, it’s easy to see how real estate has made the fortunes of so many. Some 25 of those billionaires get the bulk of their fortune from real estate. One of the more colorful ones is Joseph Lau (net worth: $15 billion), who bought space in Hong Kong newspapers in November to announce that he was no longer with his longtime lover and mother of two of his children and was planning to marry former journalist Kimbee Chan. He then appointed Chan executive director of his real estate firm, Chinese Estates Holdings.

#3 Moscow

Billionaire population: 73

Combined net worth: $297 billion

Richest individual: Leonid Mikhelson ($18.4 billion)

Russia’s largest city is home to many billionaires who have made their fortunes from industries ranging from steel, metals, oil, coal and natural gas — including all ten of Moscow’s richest people.

Vladimir Lisin, the country’s biggest gainer, saw his fortune climb $6.8 billion in one year (to $16.1 billion) thanks in part to rallying steel prices and a stronger Russian ruble. He chairs NLMK Group, one of the world’s largest steel producers, whose shares rose 69% in a year.

#4 Beijing

Billionaire population: 54

Combined net worth: $161.3 billion

Richest individual: Wang Jianlin ($31.3 billion)

Beijing’s richest individual, Wang Jianlin, has been expanding his real estate empire.

His Dalian Wanda Group opened Wanda City, a $3 billion theme park complex last May in Nanchang, in the southeastern Jiangxi Province, in an attempt to compete with Walt Disney’s theme parks.

#5 London

Billionaire population: 50

Combined net worth: $217.3 billion

Richest individual: Len Blavatnik ($20 billion)

Philip and Cristina Green (net worth: $4.8 billion) made news this year, mostly because they are perhaps among London’s least popular residents.

Since their home retailer, BHS, collapsed, 19,000 British workers’ pensions have been at risk. In October 2016, the parliament voted to strip Philip Green of his knighthood. In late February, he agreed to pay about $450 million to cover the pension deficit.

#6 Mumbai

Billionaire population: 41

Combined net worth: $149.1 billion

Richest individual: Mukesh Ambani ($23.2 billion)

Since first making the FORBES billionaires list in 2003, Ambani has been Mumbai’s richest resident every year.

His Reliance Industries is locked in a legal battle with the government over developing a gas field. The company’s 4G phone service Jio, which launched last September, has secured 100 million subscribers to date.

#7 Shanghai

Billionaire population: 40

Combined net worth: $91.9 billion

Richest individual: Liu Yongxing ($6.6 billion)

China’s largest city remains in the seventh spot on our list despite adding 14 new billionaire residents since last year.

Among them is Yu Huijiao (net worth: $3.6 billion), who took his delivery business YTO Express public via a reverse merger on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in October 2016.

#8 Seoul

Billionaire population: 37

Combined net worth: $91.4 billion

Richest individual: Kun-Hee Lee ($15.1 billion)

Seoul is home to Korea’s biggest and best known conglomerate, Samsung, and the city’s richest man remains Samsung chairman Lee Kun-Hee, whose wealth rose $5.5 billion in the past year to $15.1 billion. In February 2017, his only son and heir to the Samsung empire, Jay Y. Lee, was arrested, indicted and jailed on bribery charges. He is accused of paying around $38 million to a longtime confidante of impeached President Park Geun-hye to secure a controversial merger, which prosecutors say was key to consolidate control of the company. Jay Y. Lee denied wrongdoing.

#9 Shenzhen

Billionaire population: 35

Combined net worth: $129.4 billion

Richest individual: Ma Huateng ($24.9 billion)

Of this Chinese city’s 35 billionaires, six are new this year, including Zhang Fan ($2.9 billion), chairman of biometrics company Shenzhen Huiding Technology; and Wu Lanlan ($2 billion), vice chairman of Shenzhen Yuto Packaging.

Robotics, real estate and electronics helped mint many of the resident billionaires, including the world’s first drone billionaire, Frank Wang ($3.6 billion). Wang is the founder and CEO of drone maker SZ Dajiang Innovation Technology.

#10 San Francisco

Billionaire population: 32

Combined net worth: $86.6 billion

Richest individual: Dustin Moskovitz ($10.7 billion)

All 32 of San Francisco’s wealthiest, including three new billionaires, saw their fortunes remain the same or rise over the last year, indicating the continued strength of the tech hub.

Companies such as Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest and Twitter all have founders or executives in our ranks.

forbes.com