Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-05-27)

$210b

Marcus Licinius Crassus (c. 115 B.C.-53 B.C.): Roman

politician-general beat back Spartacus’ slave revolt

$28b

Gaius Appuleius Diocles (b. 104): The charioteer’s

winnings could’ve provided grain for Rome for a year

$25b

Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122-1204): The queen

consortandduchessownedvastEuropeanestates

$203b

Alan the Red (c. 1040-1093): William the Conqueror’s

cousin held much land after the Norman Conquest

$53b

John Spencer (d. 1610): Merchant who traded with

Spain and Turkey and became lord mayor of London

James Brydges (1673-1744): Became the first non-

landed British millionaire in the South Sea Bubble

$41b

$169b

JohnJacobAstor(1763-1848):Merchantwho

investedin NewYorkrealestate

$238b

CorneliusVanderbilt(1794-1877):Shippingand

railroadtycoonwhobuiltGrandCentralTerminal

Bloomberg Businessweek

(USPS 080 900) May 27, 2019 (ISSN 0007-7135) S Issue no. 4616 Published weekly, except one week in February, April, June, July,

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68

$213b

$331b

BillGates(b.1955):MicrosoftCorp.co-founder

whosefoundationalonehasa $51billionendowment

JohnD. Rockefeller(1839-1937):Oilmagnate

usuallyconsideredtheworld’sfirstbillionaire

$321b

$93b

AndrewCarnegie(1835-1919):Soldhissteel

companytoJ.P.Morganfor$480millionin 1901

WarrenBuffett(b.1930):BerkshireHathawayInc.

chairmanknownforfrugality(bybillionairestandards)

Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, is worth $117 billion.

L’Oréal SA heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the rich-

est woman, has $54 billion. But how do their fortunes com-

pare with those of past plutocrats? There are those who

could claim to be richer. John D. Rockefeller made about

$1.5 billion in his career, according to his 1937 New York

Times obit—about $26 billion in today’s dollars. A better

comparison, says Samuel Williamson, an economist who

runs measuringworth.com, might be “relative output,” the

ratio of wealth to gross domestic product. Rockefeller’s

$1.5 billion was about 1.6% of the economy in 1937. Were

he to own the same percentage today, his fortune would

be almost triple Bezos’. Here’s what some of history’s rich-

est people at the height of their wealth might be worth now

using this approach. —Tom Metcalf

ANALTERNATIVE

WAYTOVALUE

FAMOUSFORTUNES

“Relativeoutput”mightbetter

measurewealthovertime

PHOTOS: BLOOMBERG (1), GETTY IMAGES (4), ALAMY (3), SHUTTERSTOCK (1), FLIKR (1). DATA: BLOOMBERG BILLIONAIRES INDEX, LAPHAM’S Q

UARTERLY,

MEASURINGWORTH.COM, “THE RICHEST OF THE RICH” BY PHILIP BERESFORD AND WILLIAM D. RUBINSTEIN