Finance & Mortgage

Forbes Sizes Up Real Estate Wealth of Donald Bren and other Global Billionaires

Real estate mogul Donald Bren's worth has been pegged at $15.1 billion according to a recently published Forbes list of billionaires worldwide. He holds the world's 54th most valuable global personal fortune and the third largest individual real estate empire.

The vast real estate wealth of Donald Bren has been put into context with a list of billionaires, compiled by Forbes magazine. The publication took a crack at sizing up Bren's Orange County fortune.

Real estate network Bloomberg used its real-time wealth tracker to value Bren's fortune at $16.5 billion which is the third largest property portfolio and 45th largest overall fortune. The amount is the overall tally of the 83-year-old's wealth including those held by Irvine Co., owner of over 40 shopping centers, 500 office facilities and 40,000 apartment units, according to a report from the OC Register.

On the other hand, Forbes says the largest personal real estate fortune is held by China's Wang Jianlin. Forbes estimates the 61-year-old's wealth at $28 billion which is the world's 18th-largest fortune. This includes ownership of the movie-theater chain AMC Entertainment. Second is Hong Kong's Lee Shau Kee's wealth which is worth $22 billion.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg ranks Li Ka-Shing as the world's wealthiest real estate developer with fortunes fluctuating around $27 billion. Li Ka-Shing's fortune originated from a bet on Hong Kong real estate in the 1960s. Kee was fourth wealthiest at $16.2 billion.

Now, Bren is not the only Orange County real estate empire billionaire on the Forbes list, as reported on the Business Insider. The real estate fortune of Igor Olenicoff ranked 40th among the world's personal portfolios at $3 billion. His primary properties are in Newport Beach. And veteran Orange County developer George Argyros ranked 90th globally with $1 billion in real estate wealth.

The real estate billionaires list by Forbes and Bloomberg still pegs Bren's Irvine Co., however, as more valuable than all but 16 of these real estate giants taken at market value.


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