Top 10 World’s Billionaires in 1987

The 1987 original Forbes World Billionaires List featured names you might not even recognize: Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, for instance, was the world’s richest man in that year. The hotel, train, and real estate mogul was worth $20 billion in 1987 but was subsequently the subject of lawsuits and accusations of fraud. He’s since been removed from the Forbes list entirely. Examining our list of the richest person in the world by year, one can see how the Lost Decade, a period of economic collapse in the early 1990s, had a huge impact on Japan’s wealthiest.

The list has gotten whiter, and it’s also stayed male. As of now, no self-made female billionaire has made more than $10 billion. That being said, big earners like Oprah Winfrey and Diane Hendricks working their way up the list has been a good thing. Who knows? Maybe we’ll have a female billionaire on the top 10 list in the future.

This is a list of Top 10 World’s Billionaires in 1987

The World’s Richest People in 1987

1. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi — $20 billion
2. Taikichiro Mori — $15 billion
3. Shigeru Kobayashi — $7.5 billion
4. Haruhiko Yoshimoto — $7 billion
5. Salim Ahmed bin Mahfouz — $6.2 billion
6. Hans and Gad Rausing — $6 billion
7. Paul Reichmann and Brothers — $6 billion
8. Yohachiro Iwaski — $5.6 billion
9. Kenneth Thomson — $5.4 billion
10. Keizo Saji — $4 billion