The super-yacht Octopus. The ultimate symbol of Paul Allen’s wealth. Photograph: Armando Pietrangeli/Rex Features
The ultra rich are getting poorer! They control only $19.3tn in assets, down from $22tn the year before. But sales of super-yachts rose 40% last year!
(abstracted from Julia Kollewe The Guardian) The global super rich continued to splash out on super-yachts and luxury goods last year, despite a decline in their overall wealth in the wake of financial market turmoil.
According to the latest wealth report from estate agents Knight Frank, published on Wednesday, sales of super-yachts – boats longer than 24 metres – soared 40% in 2015, with the rich roaring off to ever more far-flung destinations, such as the Antarctic and outposts in Asia, rather than their traditional ports of call in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Read more about Paul Allen.