Forbes has been chronicling the ups and downs of the richest people on the planet for a quarter of a century, annually publishing the rankings of the 400 richest Americans and the World’s Billionaires. In recent years, thanks to leaps in technology and the internet, we’ve been updating those figures more frequently while also continuing to enrich and expand our wealth coverage. Over the past year, we’ve built more than 2,000 wealth list profile pages that pull together real-time content, data, and social connections.  Today marks another leap forward. For the first time we are now tracking the biggest gains and losses for the public holdings of a select group of 50 high-profile billionaires. The value of the billionaires’ top public holdings, each worth at least $700 million, are updated on a 15-minute delay every five minutes from the time the New York Stock Exchange opens at 9:30 until the market closes. (Click here to read the full methodology).  A rotating cast of the five winners and losers throughout the day is featured at the top of the page followed by the complete list of 50 individuals listed in order of their March 2012 billionaire rankings.  So who’s getting rich right now? At any given moment, the answer may change. In fact, expect to see some heady swings in fortunes each day. Yesterday, for instance, only one person had eked out a gain in the first two hours of trading; that was Groupon’s Eric Lefkofsky, who was up $5 million. Less than two hours later, Carlos Slim’s holding in Mexican telecom America Movil had bounced up $500 million. By day’s end the world’s richest man’s most valuable holding was worth $1 billion more than the previous trading day.  The losses were more staggering as the holdings of 42 of 50 real-time billionaires slipped. The biggest losers were Europeans apparently hit by political news in the region that ignited concerns about support for Eurozone rescue measures. The value of Bernard Arnault’s LVMH holding dropped by $1.1 billion while Stefan Persson’s H&M stake fell by $1.05 billion. The Waltons each lost more than $900 million apiece, as Wal-Mart’s shares tumbled 4.7%, dragged down by news of a bribery scandal involving the retailer’s business in Mexico.  What will today bring? Follow the action at Real-Time Billionaires.  Follow me on Twitter at @luisakroll or subscribe to my facebook page.
Our newly released Real-Time Billionaires list tracks the movements of 50 billionaires' top public holdings throughout the trading day.