Wealth of global billionaires fell in 2018 for first time in three years

Excessive wealth has become an increasingly contentious issue globally, with some US presidential candidates making it central to their campaigns

The world’s billionaires saw their collective fortunes dip in 2018 for the first time in three years, erasing $388 billion of their net worth.

Asia was hardest hit, as slowing growth in China and rising US interest rates resulted in an 8% wealth drop among that continent’s richest people, according to the UBS/PwC Billionaires Report released Friday. Those in the US fared better, fueled by tech billionaires who numbered 89 by the end of 2018, up from 70 a year earlier.

The billionaire boom “has now undergone a natural correction,” Josef Stadler, head of ultra-high net worth at UBS Global Wealth Management,