Further proof that the recession is dead and buried: Bloomberg LP is getting into the booming "listing rich people" game. By entering a market formerly cornered by Forbes, Bloomberg, which may soon partner with ABC, intends to get a taste of some of that sweet lucre generated by writing about people with lucre. Forbes's annual 400 list of Richest Americans is still a big breadwinner for the struggling publication, but there's been increased competition with rival lists of rich people originating in countries like China, which claims to have "the world's third-largest population of billionaires." But will Bloomberg's global rich list prove one list too many?
The Wall Street Journal frets, "There is also the risk that at some point such lists become redundant to readers." NEVER! Especially not when each list is so unique and special in its own way. Forbes alone puts out the richest in America list, the global billionaires list, the richest celebrities list, and (we're not making this up) the richest fictional characters list. Everybody's a winner: The ruling class likes to read about their rankings, the upwardly striving lower orders can keep their eyes on the prize, and the rabble can, oh, we don't know, write bitter blog posts about it.
