Fortunes of world's richest 5 men doubled since 2020 as billions became poorer

Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The world's five richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020, while almost 5 billion people around the world became poorer, according to a new report that calls for public action to confront growing inequality.

Released Monday to coincide with the start of The World Economic Forum, Oxfam's Inequality Inc. states that the past three years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a solidification of "a supercharged surge in extreme wealth" while global poverty remains at pre-pandemic levels.

As an example of the growing inequality, the report states that the five richest men of Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Warren Buffett saw their wealth jump 114% in the past three years, while the bottom 60% of the world's population lost a collective $20 billion, a decline of 0.2%.

And if current trends continue, it said, the world will have its first trillionaire within 10 years and that it will take almost 230 years before the number of people living under the World Bank poverty line of $6.85 is reduced to zero.

"We're witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division, with billions of people shouldering the economic shockwaves of pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires' fortunes boom," Oxfam International interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar said in a statement.

"This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else."

The report continues that large companies set record profits last year, with 148 of the world's biggest corporations generating $1.8 trillion in total net profits, representing a 52% increase compared to average net profits from 2018 to 2021.

However, it also found that for every $100 of profit made by 96 corporations between July 2022 and June, $82 went to their shareholders.

"Through squeezing workers, dodging tax, privatizing the state and spurring climate breakdown, corporations are driving inequality and acting in the service of delivering ever-greater wealth to their rich owners," the report states.

"To end extreme inequality, governments must radically redistribute the power of billionaires and corporations back to ordinary people."

The report calls for the revitalizing the state to provide robust public services and regulate corporations, including breaking up monopolies, putting a cap on CEO pay and instituting new taxes on the super rich and corporations.

A wealth tax on the world's millionaires and billionaires could generated $1.8 trillion, Oxfam has calculated.

"We have the evidence. We know the history. Public power can rein in runaway corporate power and inequality -- shaping the market to be fairer and free from billionaire control," Behar said.

"Governments must intervene to break up monopolies, empower workers, tax these massive corporate profits and, crucially, invest in a new era of public goods and services."

The World Economic Forum is being held through Friday, attracting the world's richest and most powerful people to Davos, Switzerland, where they will discuss shaping global, regional and industry goals.