Portugal has only one person on the Forbes rich list, the billionaire widow of cork magnate, Américo Amorim.
Maria Fernanda Amorim appears in position 382 on the Forbes list with a fortune valued at 5.1 billion dollars (€4.1 billion), all of which was inherited from her husband (pictured) who died last July.
The last rich list showed Portugal with three entries but Belmiro de Azevedo (died in 2017) and Soares dos Santos have been dropped.
Forbes stated of Amorim's widow, "She and her three daughters have inherited the fortune," noting that since the last ranking, the fortune has increased by €100 million.
Américo Amorim, explains Forbes, was a "self made man" who built a cork empire. The billions he left to his family stem from the business of Corticeira Amorim, SGPS, SA, but also from interests in other sectors, namely Galp Energia," as 'diversification' was his mantra, hence Amorim's widow now has an estimated 18% stake in Galp Energia.
And so to Isabel dos Santos, the controversial Angolan businesswoman whose State protected business exploits in Angola have enabled her to built up several sizeable investments in Portugal, including in Galp Energia. Her ranking fell this year from number 630, with $3.1 billion, to $2.6 billion in 2017, relegated to number 924.
The daughter of the former president of Angola, who was unceremoniously sacked from running Angola’s state-owned oil company, Sonangol, is now locked in a legal and reputational battle with her former employer.
At the top of the Forbes list is Jeff Bezos of Amazon, who knocks Microsoft’s Bill Gates from the number one spot. Bezoz now is worth $112 billion, compared to Mrs Amorim’s €5 billion - truly America is the land of opportunity.
Bill Gates is the second richest being on the planet with $90 billion. The Sage of Omaha is in third place and many were shocked, shocked to read that fourth place goes to a Frenchman, Bernard Arnault who somehow has amassed $72 billion from the public’s saddening obsession with designer labels and perfumes.
