IN 2010, amid the global boom in billionaire fortunes, I began combing the annual Forbes list for clues to which countries were most vulnerable to anti-rich populist revolts. When I last published the results in 2021, warnings were flashing red for France, where billionaire wealth was rising fast and concentrating in family firms such as LVMH, the luxury goods conglomerate. 

Earlier this year, LVMH chair Bernard Arnault was a prime target of Paris protests when demonstrators rallying against pension reform stormed his headquarters. LVMH, which has nothing to do with pensions, has become a symbol of the new gilded age.

The 2023 Forbes list shows that, worldwide, billionaires are down slightly in numbers and wealth from the pandemic peaks, but still up sharply over the past two decades. There were almost 500 billionaires worth a total of less than US$1 trillion in 2000; now there are more than 2,500 worth over US$12 trillion.