Forbes billionaire list sees fortunes of Ireland's richest fall

Just one of the nine listed billionaires, Cork-born Dermot Desmond saw his net worth rise in 2023

Patrick and John Collison, co-founders of Stripe.

Almost all of Ireland's richest saw their fortune decrease this year, according to the latest rankings by Forbes Magazine.

Nine Irish people are included in Forbes' 2023 ranking of the world's wealthiest billionaires who combined, had a net worth of more than $36bn.

This year, just one billionaire on the list, Cork-born businessman, Dermot Desmond, saw his net worth rise.

Beginning a career in finance at Citibank, Mr Desmond later worked for the Investment Bank of Ireland and PricewaterhouseCoopers, with the financier seeing his net worth increase from $2.1bn to $2.2bn in 2023.

Limerick co-founders of Stripe, John and Patrick Collison saw their net worth fall by more than $4bn, dropping from $9.5bn last year to $5.5bn in 2023. 

Despite his fall in earnings, 32-year-old John was the 17th youngest billionaire ranked by Forbes, with brother, 34-year-old Patrick Collison coming in at 22nd. The Limerick entrepreneurs are the third-richest billionaires in Ireland.

Last year, Stripe announced it would cut 14% of its global workforce, admitting the company had been too optimistic in its forecasts. Just last month, the firm raised €6.15bn in a funding round led by existing and new investors at a sharply reduced valuation of $50bn, down nearly 50% from two years ago.

Coming in behind the Collison Brothers was Cork-born businessman and Digicel founder, Denis O'Brien.

Last month, it was reported that O'Brien was on course to lose majority control over Digicel after the Caribbean telecoms firm he founded over two decades ago was forced to strike a “comprehensive” €1.7bn deal to reduce its huge debt burden.

The entrepreneur saw his net worth fall from $3.8bn in 2022 to $2.7bn in 2023.

Coming in as Ireland's richest billionaire was construction tycoon, Shapoor Mistry, who controls the 157-year-old engineering and construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group. After inheriting his father's fortune in 2022, the magnate recorded a net worth of $7bn in 2023.

The next richest billionaire listed in the Republic was Irish-American businessman, John Grayken, founder and owner of Lone Star Funds, a private equity firm that focuses on real estate investments based in Dallas, Texas. 

In 2021, Grayken had a net worth of $7.6bn, falling in 2022 to $6.5bn and again in 2023 to $6.3bn.

Coming in sixth place behind Denis O'Brien was heir to the Campbell Soup Fortune, John Dorrance III saw his net worth fall from $2.7bn to $2.6bn in 2023. 

In seventh place was co-founder and chief investment officer of Egerton Capital, John Armitage, whose hedge fund firm manages $16bn. This year saw Armitage's fortune fall by more than $600m from $2.9bn to $2.3bn.

In ninth place, behind Dermot Desmond was Kinspan Group founder, Eugene Murtagh, who founded the building material firm in 1965. The entrepreneur's net worth fell from $2.8bn to $2.1bn in 2023.

Looking at a total of 2,640 billionaires, down from 2,668 last year, the world's richest are now worth $12.2 trillion, down $500bn from the previous year.

Nearly half the list is poorer than a year ago, with falling stocks, wounded unicorns and rising interest rates forcing down earnings for the World's most well-off. 

Twitter and Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk fell to second place this year, overtaken by Bernard Arnault, head of luxury goods giant LVMH. Reporting a net worth of $211bn, it marks the first time a citizen of France leads the ranking.

The United States still boasts the most billionaires, with 735 list members worth a collective $4.5 trillion.