Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote loses $863 million in one day

Africa’s wealthiest man Aliko Dangote saw his billion-dollar year-to-date wealth gains turn into a $66-million year-to-date loss, as his net worth dropped by $863 million at the end of business on Tuesday.

This multimillion-dollar drop in his wealth was caused by a decrease in the market value of his stake in his cement company, Dangote Cement Plc. 

Dangote Cement is Africa’s largest cement manufacturer thanks to its 51.55-million-tonne cement production capacity spread across 10 African countries.

According to data obtained by Billionaires.Africa, Dangote’s net worth has dropped from nearly $20 billion to just $19 billion in the past 24 hours, placing him as the 80th richest man in the world, down from the 71st spot.

With the recent decline in his net worth, he joins a long list of African billionaires whose net worth has decreased noticeably since the beginning of the year.

The drop in his net worth can be attributed to a nine-percent decrease in the share price of his cement company from N265 ($0.634) to N241 ($0.576), fueled by recent selling pressures on the Nigerian Exchange.

The drop in the company’s shares was caused by investor reactions to a double-digit decline in the group’s profit in the first half of 2022 due to higher energy costs and unrealized foreign exchange losses.

According to the group’s recently published financial results, its profit decreased by more than 10 percent in the first half of 2022, falling from N191.63 billion ($460.8 million) in the first half of 2021 to N172.1 billion ($413.8 million).