Billionaire Portfolios: They’re Just Like Ours!

Had some fun playing with the Bloomberg Billionaire tool this morning, located here.

Some of the data I was able to pull about YTD dollar and percentage gains in billionaire net worth tells an interesting story about what’s worked this year (tech and activism) and what has not (emerging markets and commodities). It’s amazing how this mirrors what’s worked and not worked in a typical investor’s portfolio.

Some tidbits:

Tech has been great in 2013, especially old tech like Microsoft:

Bill Gates, retired, is the biggest winner of 2013 in dollar terms. His net worth is up 23% YTD to $77.7billion, reclaiming the top spot.

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) December 3, 2013

Emerging markets like Latin America, not so much:

Carlos Slim, the world’s #2 billionaire, actually managed to lose money this year, net worth down $3.7 billion YTD (too much EM exposure).

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) December 3, 2013

And don’t even get me started on metals and other commodities:

The biggest billionaire loser is Chilean copper heiress Iris Fontbona, who lost $6 billion or 20% of her fortune in 2013. Commodities.

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) December 3, 2013

And the year’s big Wall Street winner was Carl Icahn – everything this guy touched turned to gold:

Carl Icahn surpassed George Soros this year in net worth. $23.7 billion vs $22.9 billion. Carl made 8 billion dollars this year, OMG.

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) December 3, 2013

Have some fun with the data on your own, click below:

Bloomberg Billionaires Ranking