Many of the people on the list have seen their fortunes shrink over the past year and this Portuguese family has followed suit, losing £52m last year according to the Forbes listing.
The Amorim family's wealth, with businesses in cork, with Corticeira Amorim, in energy, with Galp Energia, and in tourism, with ventures such as the JNcQUOI restaurants, stood at 4.3 billion euros last year.
This amount placed the family in 580th place on the list last year, but Forbes also has a list that is updated daily and, at this moment, Maria Fernanda Amorim and family appears in 568th, with a fortune of around 4.38 billion euros.
As Forbes points out, Corticeira Amorim was founded in 1870 and has dominated the cork industry ever since. Still, the Amorim family's biggest asset is an estimated 18% stake in Portuguese oil and gas company Galp Energia, chaired by Maria Fernanda Amorim's eldest daughter, Paula Amorim.
Galp Energia practically doubled profits in 2022, a year that was marked by the energy crisis and the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The oil company's net result was positive at 881 million euros, the highest in its history and a growth of 93% compared to the previous year. Looking only at the performance of the fourth quarter, Galp's profits grew by 143% year-on-year, to 273 million euros.
It should be noted that last year, Paula Amorim donated the entire amount of her remuneration to the Galp Foundation.
Despite the growth in profits from these companies, the family's wealth suffered from the crisis. Forbes points out, this was the second consecutive year in which the number of billionaires in the world decreased – from 2,668 in 2022 to 2,640 this year – and total wealth also decreased, by 500 billion dollars , to 12.2 billion. Nearly half of the world's billionaires are poorer than they were a year ago.
Quote from above: "Nearly half of the world's billionaires are poorer than they were a year ago." All I can say is... Agge shame! What about the rest of us?
By NN from Beiras on 07 Apr 2023, 14:16
Wait!! What??
The fact that oil and gas profits almost doubled is blamed on the “energy crisis” and the war. They doubled their profits from greed, plain and simple. Cuz they could…. Happy shareholders!!
By A V from Algarve on 07 Apr 2023, 17:35
The English and statements in this story are inaccurate. The headline should read "Which is the richest family in Portugal", not "Who". And the story goes on to say that the Portuguese family is ranked 580 in an article about the Top 25 wealthiest families in the world. That makes no sense. Love reading The Portugal News, but these were oddities.
By Michael Stahlschmidt from Algarve on 08 Apr 2023, 12:36