User:Sharadbob/List of Wealthiest Historical Figures

The list of the most wealthy historical figures of 2008 is based on research done around the world by Forbes magazine in 2007 and other sources of information, and has been adjusted for 2007 US dollars. This is a list of historical figures who lived during the Industrial age,  Information Age, Middle Ages, Ancient world and is solely based on net worth accumulated by inheritance or personal earnings. The ranking process is done by the percentage of the total GDP of the nation they live in. The estimated net worth of these people is calculated into inflation-adjusted 2007 dollars, from when historical figures were at the peak of their net worth. In order to be inflation adjusted for 2007 dollars, the bearer of wealth at time of death or at highest point must be at least 16 years ago. For last year's figures, go to Wealthy Historical Figures 2007.

Background on the list
There are some changes since the Wealthy historical figures 2007, and also some returning members. There are new rules and outlines defining a historical figure, rules that are only needed to make the list more simple. There are also members from Ancient Rome, such as Marcus Licinius Crassus, who in the 1st century B.C. was the wealthiest person alive. For more on the GDP of that time, go to List of regions by past GDP (PPP).

There have been other recent changes to the list over the span of a year:
 * The 17 year limit has been lowered to 16 years due to excessive length.
 * Andrew Carnegie has been doubled in fortune due to new information regarding his previous wealth, Andrew Mellon has been tripled in fortune and H.L. Hunt has been demoted due to lack of information to support his previous wealth estimate.
 * If there is no photo of a member, the logo of their company is inserted until a replacement can be found.
 * There are usually 100 members in the list, now there are 200 on the list, including modern billionaires.
 * Only billionaires qualify for this list, no modern millionaires.

The Walton family has decreased because of the death of Helen Walton and her personal fortune being donated to charities, the estimated decrease of money is expected to reach $69.1 billion by 2009, until then, the level is roughly half that. The families on this are based on their current wealth, not at the time of when it was the highest, as it says on the top of the list. John D. Rockefeller has increased his fortune number faster than the GDP calculations per year should do, the explanation for this is that in 1937, he had a fortune of $1,800,000,000, $1,000,000,000 in 1916, and $900,000,000 in 1913, which at that time, was the highest share of GDP in his monetary history. The other lists, however, were based on the other estimates. We are sure that this is the most accurate number and remain hopeful that there will be no more changes, if there is any new information claiming that there was a higher point in the GDP percentage and it is proven, it will be put on the list as soon as possible.

The number of members has also increased due to the expansion of the internet, plus the growing number of billionaires and reference to them, there is now over 200 members than the past one hundred last year, most of this information comes from Forbes. The next list is expecting to come out on January 2009, when the GDP of 2008 is documented.