New Delhi, December 4 – A report by Huffington Post World on the richest world leaders which had placed United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi (with a net worth of $2 billion) above Queen Elizabeth, Sultan of Oman, Prince of Monaco and Sheikh of Kuwait has now taken Gandhi’s name off the list.
The Huffington Post report now carries a footnote at the bottom of the article, saying “Sonia Gandhi and the former Emir of Qatar Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani have been removed from this list… Our editors have been unable to verify the amount, removed the link, and regret any confusion.”
Earlier on Monday, HuffPost World claimed it had compiled a list of the 20 richest world leaders currently in power, based on available data and had placed Gandhi at the 12th position.
Although earlier this year Business Insider had listed Gandhi as the fourth richest world leader, there is some dispute about her actual net worth. While Forbes doesn’t list it, India’s National Election Watch of the Association for Democratic Rights has listed it at Rs.1.38 crore.
Initially, Huffington Post had not disclosed the methodology by which it arrived at these conclusions; neither had it revealed its sources of information. However, in its note of regret while taking Gandhi’s name off the list, the website said, “Gandhi was originally included based on a listing on a third party site which was subsequently called into question.”
It has now emerged that Huffport World’s calculation of Gandhi’s wealth came from the website CelebrityNetWorth.com.
The controversial website founded in October 2009 in Los Angeles, California has since grown to become one of the most popular and influential celebrity finance outlets on the internet-certainly not without its share of controversies and major goof-ups.
The website claims that its figures are acquired from all publicly available information including salaries, real estate holdings, divorces, record sales, royalties and endorsements. The estimated net worth come from a formula that takes out taxes, manager’s fees, agents’ fees, and lifestyle.
However, the website also has a disclaimer, saying that all information presented on CelebrityNetWorth.com is “gathered from sources which are thought to be reliable, but the viewer should not assume that such information is up to date or completely accurate or final”.
On Gandhi’s wealth, the website says, “Sonia Gandhi is the President of the Indian National Congress and has a net worth of $2 billion. Sonia Gandhi has made her net worth from her many years in politics and was the longest serving President in the past 125 years. She was born in Lusiana, Veneto, Italy and has been involved in politics for over 13 years.”
It is to be noted that there is no public information available regarding Gandhi’s wealth that could have helped the website arrive at the USD 2 billion figure. IT remains a mystery how CelebrityNetWorth.com calculated the laughable figure.
Even in the past, several celebrities have mocked CelebrityNetWorth.com’s headline-grabbing figures about their wealth which they found laughable.
Comedian Ricky Gervais, after the website claimed in 2011 that he was worth USD 80 million, jokingly announced plans to take over Libya with that kind of wealth. Taking a realistic view of Gervais’s wealth, The Guardian wrote, “Gervais’s net worth will no doubt have climbed a million or two following his hosting appearance at last month’s Golden Globes, which made headlines around the world.”
An incident like this must give our readers an idea about the credibility of CelebrityNetWorth.com. For those who don’t get it, keep a salt shaker at hand.
–Indiatoday
