- published: 03 Oct 2015
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According to the 2012 Forbes Billionaire List, Nigerian business magnate Aliko Dangote with a net worth of $11.2 billion is the richest Black person in the world. The other Black billionaires on the 2012 list are Nigeria's Mike Adenuga with $4.3 billion, South African gold magnate Patrice Motsepe with $2.7 billion, and American Oprah Winfrey at $2.7 billion.
From 2001 to 2003, Forbes listed American television network executive Bob Johnson as a billionaire, but dropped him after his fortune was split in his divorce.[when?] He returned to Forbes Billionaire list in 2007 with a net worth of $1.1 billion. In 2008 Johnson's wealth dropped further to approximately $1.0 billion and in 2009 he dropped off the list again.
Nigerian petroleum executive Femi Otedola briefly emerged as a billionaire in 2009, but was not listed as one in 2010, 2011 or 2012.
Multiracial billionaires with partial Black ancestry have also been identified over the years. Saudi Arabian billionaire Mohammed Al Amoudi, of Hadhrami Yemeni and Ethiopian descent, has been on the Forbes billionaire list since 2002 and in 2012 had a net worth of $12.5 billion. Also included is Mo Ibrahim, a British billionaire of Sudanese Arab and Nubian ancestry, who has been on the Forbes Billionaire list since 2008 and in 2012 had a net worth of $1.1 billion.Michael Lee-Chin of Canada, who is Jamaican of Chinese and Black ancestry was on the list from 2001 to 2010, but dropped off in 2011. However as there are competing claims as to what degree multiracial individuals should be considered Black, these individuals have not been universally regarded as being Black billionaires.
The term black people is used in some socially-based systems of racial classification for humans of a dark-skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups represented in a particular social context. Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class and socio-economic status also play a role, so that relatively dark-skinned people can be classified as white if they fulfill other social criteria of "whiteness" and relatively light-skinned people can be classified as black if they fulfill the social criteria for "blackness" in a particular setting.
As a biological phenotype being "black" is often associated with the very dark skin colors of some people who are classified as "black". But, particularly in the United States, the racial or ethnic classification also refers to people with all possible kinds of skin pigmentation from the darkest through to the very lightest skin colors, including albinos, if they are believed by others to have African ancestry, or to exhibit cultural traits associated with being "African-American". As a result, in the United States the term "black people" is not an indicator of skin color but of socially based racial classification.