As of February 12, 2010, Oppenheimer is South Africa’s highest-ranking billionaire at No. 154. He made his $5 billion fortune from the De Beers diamond mining company and its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Company. He also has a large financial interest in the diversified mining company Anglo American.
Motsepe and Rupert are joint place at No. 421, both with $2.3-billion; a gain on their 2009 rankings.
Self-made mining tycoon Motsepe, who is South Africa's first black billionaire, moved from No. 559 last year. Forbes attributed his worth to rising stock prices and the South African Rand's strength against the dollar.
Taking over in April as interim Chief Executive of his family's publicly traded Swiss luxury group Richemont, which owns Cartier, Dunhill and other premium brands, 59-year old luxury goods magnate, Johann Rupert, moved up from No. 601 last year.
Forbes attributed the wealth increase to “stock doubling in the past year helped by Christmas sales that were ahead of expectations” and “bullish growth in the Asia-Pacific region”.
The Forbes list shows that the number of billionaires in the world has increased from 793 to 1011.
Forbes list of billionaires 2010