According to Lenta.ru, the first place went to the hero of Disney's 'DuckTales' Scrooge McDuck with $28.8 billion earned through hard work. Let us recall that in his youth, Uncle Scrooge barely made ends meet in Glasgow working as a shoe shiner, then moved to America, where he built his empire practically from scratch. Being an unparalleled treasure hunter, Scrooge often travels the world in search of his next trophy, accompanied by his three nephews. Perhaps someday they will set up their own offshore companies and become heirs to their uncle's company. By the way, Forbes attributes McDuck's success to the rise in gold and precious stones prices - in 2006, Scrooge was only in third place in the ranking.
The top three in this year's ranking have completely changed. In second place is the dictator from the planet Mongo, Ming the Merciless, appearing on the list for the first time, with $20.9 billion, the main villain of comics and sci-fi films about astronaut Flash Gordon. In 2006, the second spot with $36.6 billion was held by General Oliver Warbucks, nicknamed Daddy, who became a victim of terrorists during a visit to Iraq this year and, due to this sad event, left the ranking altogether.
If not for the terrorists, Ming could have mercilessly pushed off the third place the richest boy on Earth - Richie Rich, who moved up one spot compared to last year. Rich increased his fortune from $10.7 billion to $16.1 billion thanks to the rise in shares of Facebook and Cisco Systems. The young entrepreneur wisely bought a controlling stake in the first company and became the main shareholder of the second. Apparently, even drawn children understand that the future lies with technology.
The production of robots (the same high technologies) helped Mom from the animated series 'Futurama' enter the ranking. Her fortune, estimated by Forbes at $15.7 billion, lifted her to the fourth spot on the list.
It is also useful, as they say, to 'sit on a pipeline.' Jed Clampett, the hero of the TV series 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' who made his fortune on oil and gas, became $2.3 billion richer by the time the ranking was compiled due to rising energy prices. For the same fifth place in the list, he needed $7.7 billion last year, but this year it was already $11 billion. Including thanks to a swamp with oil deposits, the head of the Addams family, Gomez, also managed to enter the ranking, taking the 12th spot with two billion dollars.
Military orders also help to run business. Thanks to supplies to the Pentagon and the CIA, Batman (Bruce Wayne), Iron Man (Tony Stark), and the hero of the TV series 'Gilligan's Island' Thurston Howell III managed to retain their places in the ranking.
It is also good to have some media outlet at your disposal. For example, another debutant on the list, one of the characters from the animated series 'Family Guy,' Carter Pewterschmidt, won the CNN television channel from Ted Turner and immediately landed in seventh place with a fortune of $7.2 billion. Chocolate production (Willy Wonka in 13th place) and magical cauldrons (one of Harry Potter's enemies, Lucius Malfoy, in 14th place) still bring benefits.
That the future, besides technology, minerals, and media resources, also belongs to various connoisseurs and protectors of nature, was apparently understood by Mr. Montgomery Burns from the animated series 'The Simpsons.' His nuclear plant was closed by the Environmental Protection Agency, and his mansion was looted by the residents of Springfield. Not surprisingly, his fortune halved - from $16.8 billion to $8.4 billion, and he himself slid from second all the way to sixth place.
The total wealth of all fifteen comic and cartoon characters included in the ranking reached $137 billion this year. According to Forbes, in the real world this would be enough to give $20 to every person on Earth. If we compare fictional and real business, it turns out that in both cases businessmen make fortunes on the same things - energy and natural resources, precious metals and stones, high technologies, military orders, and media resources.
If only in the real world one could earn money as easily.