After losing out to Moscow last year, New York is once again the primary residence of more billionaires than anywhere else on Earth. And that's after it lost more than a fifth of its billionaires.
Last year the Big Apple had 71 billionaires within its borders. Today there are 55.
Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, chaos on Wall Street has wreaked havoc on the fortunes of New York's financiers. Private equity billionaire Stephen Schwarzman has lost $4 billion in the past year. KKR's Henry Kravis is down $2.5 billion.
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Maurice (Hank) Greenberg lost his billionaire status as his fortune was wiped out amid the demise of AIG. Worth $1.9 billion last year, he has a net worth of less than $100 million today. Also gone from our list of the World's Billionaires is former Citigroup Chairman Sandy Weill. His Citi shares have lost nearly all of their value.
Other notable New York residents who have lost significant wealth: News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, shareholder activist Carl Icahn and real estate titan Donald Trump.
New York's richest resident, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, actually saw his net worth rise. Gotham's chief executive bought back a 20% stake in his financial data and news firm, Bloomberg LP, last year from Merrill Lynch, revaluing the company at a much higher price. Today he is worth $16 billion.
Moscow fared far worse. Last year, the Russian capital claimed 74 billionaires. Two-thirds of those are now gone. Today Moscow has only 27 billionaires.
Causing the carnage: plunging oil, real estate and commodity prices, plus a decline in the value of the Russian ruble against the U.S. dollar. Among the drop-offs is Dmitry Pumpyansky, an industrialist from the resource-rich Ural mountain region, who lost $5 billion as shares of his pipe producer, TMK, sank 84%.
Moscow is still home to Russia's richest man, metals mogul Mikhail Prokhorov, worth $9.5 billion.
Rounding out the top three billionaire cities is London, taking second place with 28 billionaires. London continues to attract the wealthy from other countries, like Indian citizen and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, Russian oil and chemicals tycoon Leonard Blavatnik and Dutch Heineken heiress Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken.
Hong Kong retains its title as the most popular city for Asian billionaires, with 21 living in the former British colony. Its richest resident is Li Ka-shing, head of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings, the 16th richest man in the world with a $16.2 billion fortune.
Other notable Hong Kong residents are Henderson Development Chairman Lee Shau Kee and the Kwok family. The Kwoks are behind one of Hong Kong's most storied real estate firms, Sun Hung Kai Properties.
There are two new locales in our list of the top 10 billionaire cities: Chicago and São Paulo, Brazil, which tied for ninth place with Mumbai and Tokyo. Each of those cities has 10 billionaires in residence.
São Paulo is the only South American city in the top 10. Nearly 11 million people live in the teeming metropolis, including Joseph Safra, head of Banco Safra and Dorothea Steinbruch, who controls one of Brazil's largest steelmakers, Companhia Siderurgica Nacional.
The U.S. has more cities in the top 10 than any other country: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and Los Angeles.
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