Patrick Soon-Shiong, the South African-born millionaire recognized for pioneering cancer treatment efforts, has recovered $260 million from past losses this year, owing mostly to his investments in ImmunityBio, a late-stage immunotherapy startup.
Soon-Shiong’s net worth has increased by $260 million in the last 23 days, rising from $9.12 billion on July 1 to $9.38 billion at the time of writing, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which analyzes the fortunes of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
This surge has increased his fortune to more than $9.3 billion, establishing him as one of Africa’s richest billionaires and a prominent participant in the global healthcare business.
Soon-Shiong’s net worth dropped earlier this year, falling from $9.93 billion to $9.07 billion between May 8 and July 1. However, the recent market upturn has more than made up for those losses, bringing his year-to-date fortune gains to more than $400 million.
Soon-Shiong is now ranked 235th among the world’s richest people, lagging only slightly behind fellow South African billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer, who is currently worth $9.4 billion.
The recent increase in his money can be linked to the strong performance of his private investments, which account for a sizable amount of his fortune.
These private investments came after he sold two pharmaceutical companies, APP Pharmaceuticals and Abraxis BioScience, to Fresenius Medical Care and Celgene, respectively, for $4.6 billion and $2.8 billion in 2008.
Furthermore, the South African-born millionaire owns an 80% ownership in ImmunityBio, a late-stage immunotherapy firm at the forefront of creating cutting-edge cell and immunotherapy treatments. His stake in the company is today worth $908 million, which contributes significantly to his billion-dollar fortune.
Patrick Soon-Shiong is a transplant surgeon, business billionaire, bioscientist, and media mogul. He created the medicine Abraxane, which became well-known for its effectiveness against lung, breast, and pancreatic cancer.
Soon-Shiong is the founder of NantWorks, a network of healthcare, biotech, and artificial intelligence startups; a visiting professor at Imperial College London and Dartmouth College; and an adjunct professor of surgery and executive director of the Wireless Health Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Soon-Shiong has more than 100 scientific papers to his credit, as well as more than 230 issued patents on breakthroughs in technology and medicine.