Dangote loses $900m in 24 hours

Aliko Dangote
Aliko Dangote

The net worth of the president of Dangote Group Aliko Dangote dropped by $900 million last Friday after his flagship company emerged the biggest loser at the end of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The incident pushed Dangote to 114th position in the wealthiest people in the world list, down from 106th last Thursday.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, showed that his wealth fell from $18.4 billion on Thursday to $17.5 billion on Friday.

Dangote closed 2020 at $17.8 billion. He gained $600 million in the first seven days of 2021, but lost all of it and more last Friday.

The share price of Dangote Cement Plc, the country’s biggest listed company and Africa’s largest cement producer, tumbled by 8.13 per cent to close at N225 on Friday from N244.90 on Thursday.

“The majority of Dangote’s fortune is derived from his 86 per cent stake in publicly traded Dangote Cement. He holds the shares in the company directly and through his conglomerate, Dangote Industries,” Bloomberg said.

His most valuable closely held asset is a fertiliser plant with capacity to produce up to 2.8 million tonnes of urea annually, according to the international news agency.

Dangote’s $12 billion oil refinery which is currently being developed in Lagos was not included in Bloomberg’s valuation.