26 Aug 2015

How to lose $3.6 billion in one day

9:46 am on 26 August 2015

Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin, Asia's richest person, lost $US3.6 billion on Black Monday, when the Chinese stockmarket dropped 8.5 percent.

Wang Jianlin

Wang Jianlin Photo: AFP

With billions of dollars wiped from stockmarkets around the world on Monday when the Chinese market plummeted, the biggest losers were some of the richest people in the world.

Wang, who is the 17th-richest man in the world, suffered the biggest losses in one day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Wang's stake in Dalian Wanda commercial properties dropped by $US2 billion when it fell by 17 per cent, and a 10 per cent drop at his Wanda Cinema Line, the world's largest cinema operator, saw him lose another $1 billion.

Wang - who also has a 20 percent stake in Spanish La Liga football club Atlético Madrid - is still worth about $US31 billion.

Two dozen billionaires - many based in Asia - saw their wealth fall by more than $US1 billion on Monday, according to Bloomberg. Microsoft founder Bill Gates - the richest man in the world - lost $US3.2bn on Monday, the biggest decline after Wang, although his net worth is still valued at $US79.2 billion.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs