10 billionaires who have lost all their billions

They had everything, and now - only debts

Sometimes the higher the rise, the harder they fall. Before you - a list of ten billionaires, for various reasons lost their capital.

1. Equity Icelandic millionaire zero

Previously considered the second richest man in Iceland Gudmundsson Bergolfur billionaire in 2009, the year declared his bankruptcy. Although its main business is considered the production of beer, the billionaire has earned its status as a shareholder "Landsbanki", the second largest bank in Iceland, and the owner of the football club, "West Ham".

Now his debt of $ 1, 4 billion. His financial empire collapsed after the almost total collapse of the Icelandic banking system a year earlier, during the crisis, bringing his net worth became zero.

2. Allen Stanford has evolved from a billionaire in the prisoner

In the native Texas Allen Stanford had everything: their own planes, yachts and personal professional cricket team. At his peak, he was recognized as one of the richest men in America and entered the list of 400 richest people in the world according to "Forbes" magazine. Its capital, according to preliminary estimates amounted to $ 2, 2 billion.

In 2009, the year Stanford was found guilty of fraud, his offshore bank in Antigua gave customers certificates of deposit at exorbitant interest, and then the banker used clients' money for their own needs, in particular, to maintain an extremely profligate lifestyle. At the moment, the return of their money expects about 20 thousand investors, and Stanford is serving a sentence for stealing $ 7 billion in the amount of 110 years.

3. The billionaire Sean Quinn has lost all property in the Irish property scam

In 2008, Sean Quinn was considered the richest man in Ireland - the value of its assets estimated at $ 6 billion In 2007, the Quinn has invested much of his personal fortune into Anglo Irish Bank, to lend to the construction in Ireland.. Within just a few months, investments Quinn suffered huge losses because the construction business in the country has become unprofitable.

Ireland nationalized the bank in a year to prevent further depreciation of assets, but Quinn investment of $ 2, 8 billion were destroyed. The new bank, "IRBC", took possession of his property, including the company "Quinn Group". As a result, Quinn and his family left just $ 15,000 on three bank abacus.

4. Japanese businessman Masayoshi San lost the largest personal fortune in the history of

Masayoshi San lost a whopping $ 70 billion of equity capital, but it is still the second richest man in Japan. In 1981, the San, called "Japanese Bill Gates", founded the company "SoftBank", which later became the largest telecommunications and Internet corporation in Japan. During the dot-com boom "SoftBank" was estimated at $ 180 billion, and San possessed a fortune of $ 78 billion.

During the collapse of the Internet in 2004, the value of corporate shares fell 98%, while the San lost a huge amount of money - in fact, no one lost more in the history of mankind. San did not despair - in a few years the value of shares "SoftBank" rose again. With the acquisition of the company "Sprint" "SoftBank" now has a real chance to become the third largest mobile phone company in the world. As for Sanaa, the bulk of his fortune he had already returned.

5. The eighth richest man in the world has lost billions after oil deposits were depleted

The Brazilian Eike Batista was the eighth richest person in the world. He often boasted that one day will be the number one in the world. Instead, he lost much of his fortune - $ 33 billion - 16 months after it was under the control of the company for the exploration of oil fields "OGX" bankrupt.

Batista built drilling rig is a five-hour drive north of Rio de Janeiro, buy truckers and oil tankers - all of it was meant for the development of allegedly found "OGX" rich oil fields. However, the amount of oil reserves in the company were exaggerated, and Batista promises to investors have become nothing more than hot air. Four of the five oil fields since abandoned.

6. One of the five wealthiest people in the world have lost $ 40 billion

Yasumitsu Shigeta, the founder of the mobile telecommunications company "Hikari Tsushin", was formerly one of the richest people in the world. His property was estimated at $ 42 billion, but then there was a crisis affecting Japan's IT-industry. Total cost per day Shigeta assets fell to $ 5 billion.

As a result, "Hikari Tsushin" fund companies fell sharply, and Shigeta has lost $ 40 billion By 2009, the year its share in the company was reduced to just $ 600 million Undeterred, Shigeta directed activity "Hikari Tsushin" in new industries -.. Such as insurance and stationery. This expansion, combined with aggressive sales tactics saved him and his company from bankruptcy.

7. Bill Gates has lost the title of the richest man in the world after the billions donated to charity

Bill Gates, the founder of "Microsoft", lost the title of the richest man in the world in 2010, when he gave billions of charities. Gates and his wife have donated more than $ 28 billion for various charity events: one-third of the state has left "the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation", which aims at the development in the US education and health. Although the current state of the Gates is estimated at about $ 67 billion, the businessman said that after a certain point, money is no longer for him to mean anything: much more useful to allocate part of its resources to those who really need them.

It should be noted that the state of Gates declined because of the donations - he did not lose control over their money. However, his great contribution to charity, too, making it to some extent, the richest man in the world - though not on the size of funds in the bank account.

8. The former billionaire gave on his own recognizance, but asked for permission to visit the opera

Alberto Vilar has lost much of his fortune in 2011, when the technology market underwent a slight decline. However, even worse, that the famous investor and philanthropist was convicted of cheating their customers, whose investments in the amount of several million dollars used for their own needs.

In 2008, the year Vilar was sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud. He appealed against his sentence, but he was found guilty again. However, it can get a shorter term because the errors were detected, admitted during the trial. Now Vilar in anticipation of the new sentence was on his own recognizance. He appealed to the authorities to allow him to visit the opera and received permission - old habits die hard.

9. The founder of the "Ikea" on their own have lost $ 17 billion

The founder of the "Ikea" Ingvar Kamprad, known for his modesty bordering on eccentricity: he drives a 20-year-old "Volvo", re-brew tea bags, and furnishes his home furnishings brand "Ikea", which collects itself.

According to rumors, Mr Kamprad property is estimated at $ 23 billion, however, in 2010, the year its capital was reduced considerably, since he voluntarily gave up $ 17 billion:. His lawyers have proved that most of the money actually belongs to his foundation (which also owns part of the company "Ikea") and is not part of his personal wealth.

Although Mr Kamprad says it has little control over the "Ikea" and its assets, it is, according to data from several independent sources, retains full control and authority over the company. In addition, its foundation is based in one of the countries with the most stringent tax laws - Liechtenstein.

10. The brothers from India have lost billions when the devaluation of the rupee

Within ten years after the death of his father and billionaires Anil Marques fought a war against each other. Marques, the richest man in India, owned by telecommunications giant "Reliance Industries", and his brother, Anil owns "Reliance Communications", whose services are used more than 150 million mobile subscribers. The company owns millions of kilometers of fiber-optic cable, and tens of thousands of cell towers. In 2013, the brothers decided to combine the two companies and make a relationship between them less tense. A few minutes after application the growth of value of the shares of both companies ceased. Somewhat later, in May-2013, the Indian rupee was worth much less in the global financial market. As a result, Marques has lost $ 5, 6 billion of his personal wealth for four months and his brother Anil over the same period has lost $ 1, 3 billion. However, after some time, the rupiah has stabilized, so that the money the brothers eventually returned.