According to Wealth X, the specialist data service focused on ultra-high net worth individuals, the average billionaire owns art worth $31 million or 0.5% of their net worth. However, the top 10 billionaire art investors have on average invested 18% of the net wealth.
Wealth-X estimates that there are 2,170 billionaires in the world.
It says that Nasser Khalli, a British-Iranian property tycoon is the billionaire with the greatest proportion of his wealth invested in art. He has spent almost all of his $1billion fortune of art. Khalli specializes in Islamic works, Japanese and Swedish art and ceramics.
David Lawrence Geffen has the largest collection out of all billionaires with Wealth-X estimating it at $1.1 billion. Geffen is a keen buyer of modern American art.
The consultancy estimates that Francois Pinault, the owner of Christie’s, has invested in art worth more than $1 billion. Pinault’s collection is often exhibited in his Palazzo Grassi modern art museum in Venice.
The World’s Top 10 Billionaire Art Investors
| Rank | Amount invested in art ($ billion) | Full name | Estimated net worth ($ billion) |
| 1 |
1.1 |
David Geffen |
5.5 |
| 2 |
1 |
Steven Cohen |
8.3 |
| 3 |
1 |
Eli Broad |
6 |
| 4 |
1 |
Boris (Bidizina) Ivanishvilli |
6.4 |
| 5 |
1 |
Francois Pinault |
9.9 |
| 6 |
0.95 |
Nasser Khalli |
1 |
| 7 |
0.9 |
Norman Braman |
1.6 |
| 8 |
0.8 |
Doris Fisher |
2.3 |
| 9 |
0.75 |
Leonard Black |
3.4 |
| 10 |
0.7 |
Samuel Newhouse Jnr. |
7.1 |
Source: Wealth-X.com
