Australian woman poised to top rich list: report

Gina Rinehart, an Australian business woman who inherited a debt-ridden mining company from her father 20 years ago, is predicted to become the world’s richest person, a media report said on Tuesday.

Gina Rinehart, an Australian business woman who inherited a debt-ridden mining company from her father 20 years ago, is predicted to become the world’s richest person, a media report said Tuesday.

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Rinehart, 57, is the richest Australian and her fortune has more than doubled in the past year because of a commodities boom, the Telegraph said.

She is on course to overtake Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, worth $73 billion, and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, worth $55 billion, Citigroup has estimated — mainly as Rinehart owns her companies outright and has no shareholders.

“If Rinehart was a company and valued using the same 11-times price-to-earnings ratio as her partner, Rio Tinto, she would be worth $30 billion, putting her in the top 10 of the Forbes rich list,” SmartCompany, an Australian business website, said.