Forbes/Bloomberg declare Lowy No 1

March 12, 2009 by J-Wire
Read on for article

Frank Lowy has been reported to be the wealthiest Australian by prestigious financial publications Forbes and Bloomberg.

The 78-year-old Slovak-born shopping centre magnate has passed James Packer and Andrew Forrest on the road to the top spot.

A spokesperson for Westfield, the company Lowy chairs, told J-Wire: “There has been speculation over the last six months that this has already happened…but it was never substantiated.”

Westfield, headed by Lowy and  his three sons, owns or runs 119 malls in Australia, the United States, New Zealand and the U.K.

The news was broken by Forbes after its rich list revealed Forrest had lost $4.6 billion in the recent market collapse. Lowy and his family were not immune to the world economic crisis, but the 9% they own of  Westfield, the world’s largest shopping mall company, was enough to secure Lowy the top spot.

Lowy, a Holocaust survivor and a commando member of the Golani Brigade which fought to win Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, opened his first mall in 1959 in the outskirts of Sydney.

A former board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Lowy has now achieved another of his life ambitions in becoming a member of the FIFA World Cup Organising Committee. He is heading a bid to have the world’s supreme soccer event held in Australia in 2018 or 2022.

AAP’s global ranking places Lowy as the world’s 234th richest person.

Speak Your Mind

Comments received without a full name will not be considered
Email addresses are NEVER published! All comments are moderated. J-Wire will publish considered comments by people who provide a real name and email address. Comments that are abusive, rude, defamatory or which contain offensive language will not be published

Got something to say about this?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.