Currently, Johann Rupert is Africa’s richest man, with a net worth $1 billion dollars above that of Dangote.
The South African billionaire, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, is worth $14.2 billion with a last change in valuation coming in at +$874M, and a year-to-date (YTD) change of +$1.83B, which makes him the 157th richest person in the world.
On the other hand, Dangote’s net worth still remains $13.1 billion, a figure he has hovered around for 2 months.
His last change in valuation is +$11.6M and his YTD change is -$1.96B, placing him at the 175th position, his lowest levels observed by Business Insider Africa.
Back and forth between Dangote and Johann
Earlier in September, Dangote’s last change in valuation came was around-$26.4M while his YTD change swung around -$1.84B.
Johann, on the other hand recorded a last change of-$234M, while boasting a YTD change of +$668M.
Then Dangote held the top spot in Africa with a net worth of $13.2 billion compared to Johann’s $13.1 billion and maintained it till very recently.
However, this was not a result of Dangote’s ascension but an effect of Johann’s steep decline.
Now Johann boasts numbers even higher than his August net worth of $13.6 billion which he had attained to usurp Dangote for the first time in months.
Earlier last year, Dangote held a commanding lead on Africa’s richest persons ranking, with $20 billion, outpacing Johann Rupert by more than $7 billion.
However, by June, a sharp dip in Dangote’s net worth to $10.8 billion from $13 billion, which had previously fallen from $20 billion, coincided with Johann’s surge to $12 billion, signaling the start of a cat and mouse game between the billionaires.
From then, Dangote would ultimately reclaim the title of richest African, but never with a commanding lead.
Since June 2023, the gap between the two billionaires has been so tiny that at any time, any of them might be the continent’s richest person.
